Naisek – A Constructed Language

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Comparison Syntax

This chapter discusses all syntax, morphology, and words related to comparison.

Five Things

1. the subject of comparison,
2. the standard of comparison,
3. the scale of comparison,
4. the directionality of comparison,
5. and the degree of comparison

Subject and Standard

• The subject of comparison is what's being compared and the standard of comparison is what it's being compared to.
• How the standard is expressed depends on the type of comparison.

Scale and Directionality

• The scale of comparison is the attribute being used to compare the subject of comparison to the standard. It can be any quality denoted by an adjective to which degree can apply or it can be a quantity.
• The directionality of comparison has to do with whether the subject of comparison may be said to have a higher, lower, or equal degree of the attribute.
• Like most languages, Naisek  has distinct words for the positive and negative directionalities of each scale of comparison, with the positive used when the subject has more of the attribute than the standard does and the negative when it has less. In other words, the positive and negative refer to opposite qualities, e.g. "hot" and "cold".
• In addition, Naisek  has words for the neutral directionality, which are derived from the positive words.

Degree of Comparison

• The degree of comparison has to do with how much difference there is between the subject of comparison and the standard.
• An exact degree of comparison consists of a quantified unit of measurement word preceded by the preposition ren (Deg). These act like other prepositional phrases syntactically.
• There are also words for inexact degrees such as juku "very" and piku "slightly"; these are placed before the adjective.

Absolute Positive

• The absolute positive isn't really a comparison, it only specifies the degree of some quality which an entity has, in absolute terms.
• Only the scale, subject, and degree are used; all of these are required.
• Also, only positive words are normally used; negative words may be used, but they have the same denotation in this construction.

Relative Positive

• Either the positive, negative, or neutral directionality is used.
• The standard of comparison isn't specified, but is an implicit norm determined by the scale and type of subject of comparison; that is, the positive form indicates that the subject's degree is greater than that of the norm, while the negative form indicates that the subject's degree is less than that of the norm and the neutral form indicates that the subject's degree is (more or less) the same as the norm's.
• An explicit degree of comparison can't appear.

Hi kloba pinkti.	- "The house is small."
Ha potspa (large)ti.	- "The cockroach is large."
Jafa daxme launalti.	- "That woman's neither beautiful nor ugly."

Explicit Comparatives

• The comparative construction uses the conjunction tep to introduce the standard of comparison, which has the form of a defective clause (where only the contrasting elements are used); this is usually a phrase with the same case as the subject of comparison.
• Original comparisons use the comparative form (-Cmp) of the adjective:

  Johanum kloba kanosti tep Tomasum.	- "John's house is redder than Tom's."

• Opposite and neutral comparisons place the particles gos or fen, respectively, before the simple form of the adjective:

  Johanum kloba gos kanti tep Tomasum.	- "John's house is less red than Tom's."
  Johanum kloba fen kanti tep Tomasum.	- "John's house is as red as Tom's."

• Neutral comparatives are called equatives.
• Note that an original comparison using a negative adjective has the same meaning as an opposite comparison using a positive adjective and that an opposite comparison using a negative adjective has the same meaning as an original comparison using a positive adjective.
• Note that the logical negation of these (using ga) is strictly that:

  Johanum kloba ga fen kanti tep Tomasum.	- "John's house is either more red or less red than Tom's."

• Note also that the scale of comparison isn't always the head of the clause and that the subject of comparison isn't always the subject of the clause:

  Johana sta lompin sippossu tep Tomasa.	- "John runs faster than Tom."
  Paula sofata jukossi jande tam gofwe tep hali brutseli.	- "Paul gave more food to his dog than to the orphans."

• If the degree of comparison appears, it denotes a degree relative to that of the standard. Degree can't be used in equatives.

Temporal Comparatives

• A temporal comparison is when the standard of comparison has the same referent as the subject of comparison, but at an earlier time.
• A temporal comparison is constructed like an explicit comparison, but with the standard of comparison omitted.

Mariyar sta lalbin launossingo.	- "Mary sings more beautifully (than she used to)."

Superlative of Selection

• The superlative construction consists of the superlative form (-Sup) of the adjective placed before a partitive construction. The superlative word agrees with the noun in gender and with the quantifier in number and case.

  Banampala tona hatsu kattotsu stor lompok.	- "The youngest three of the cats are running."

• The superlative construction may omit the quantifier:

  kanampi kesitsu klobatsu	- "the reddest (one) of these houses"
  kanampil kesitsu klobatsu	- "the reddest (more than one) of these houses"

Absolute Superlative

• As an absolute superlative is actually an absolute positive where the degree is the highest (or lowest) possible, it could be expressed as such with words indicating maximum (or minimum) degree. However, the construction in common use is simply the superlative form (-Sup) of the adjective without the partitive construction,

Mariyar sata lalbok launampingo.	- "Mary couldn't have been singing more beautifully!"

• Each of these consists of a comparative clause and a result clause (or sentence). They're basically the same construction, the difference being that a satisfactive or excessive construction uses the subjunctive mood in the result part, while a result construction uses some other mood (which may be a contrafactual conclusion with or without condition).
• The comparative clause and result part are coordinate; neither is introduced by any conjunction. The two parts can appear in either order, although putting the comparative clause first is more common.
• In one version of the comparative clause, a positive or negative adjective (indicating scale and directionality) is used along with the degree adverb turen "so/to such a degree" (this parallels the use of curen "how/to what degree"). Turen usually, but not necessarily, appears at the end of the comparative clause.

Johan kwerbita turen, glefa.	- "John was so drunk, he fell."
Johan kwerbita turen, glefaxo.	- "John was drunk enough to fall."
Johan kwerbita turen, glefuro.	- "John was so drunk, he would have fallen."

• A satisfactive can be turned into an excessive (or vice versa) by using the opposite adjective in the comparative clause and adding (or removing) a logical negation in the result part; the difference between the two may be more a matter of translation than anything else.

Tomas (sober)ta turen, ga glefaxo.	- "John was too sober to fall."

• In another version, the comparative clause contains the adverb tingo "in such a manner" (which parallels cingo "in what manner"). Like turen, tingo usually appears at the end of the clause. As no scale, directionality, or subject of comparison is used, this isn't exactly a type of comparison; however, it uses similar syntax!

Johana sata lalbok tingo hal jemo lalbato.	- "John was singing in such a way that the people laughed."

page started: 2007.Jan.04 Thu
last modified: 2009.Jan.21 Wed
content and form originated by qiihoskeh

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