GB273
Is there a comparative construction with a standard marker that elsewhere has neither a locational meaning nor a ‘surpass/exceed’ meaning?
This question is focused on comparative constructions that have a dedicated marker for the standard of comparison that does not fall under the umbrella of the locational comparative (GB266) or surpass/exceed comparative (GB265). Note that a language may have multiple comparative constructions, including a non-locational, non-surpass/exceed comparative as well as constructions that are described by those features.
Crucially, the dedicated marker in this construction must not elsewhere have a surpass/exceed meaning or a locational meaning. It may, however, have other functions (e.g. temporal adverb, conjunction, etc.). It is irrelevant whether this marker is phonologically free or not or whether it triggers agreement in case, noun class, etc.
Historically, comparative constructions with dedicated markers (sometimes called ‘particle comparatives’) grammaticalize from constructions of conjoined clauses. An example of a particle comparative would be the Germanic languages, such as English than. Note that any marking of the property word is not relevant here (e.g. English tall-er).
- If the language has a comparative construction with a dedicated marker of the standard of comparison that does not elsewhere have a surpass/exceed meaning or a locational meaning, code 1.
- If the language has comparative constructions with dedicated markers, but only constructions with markers that elsewhere have surpass/exceed or locational meanings, code 0.
- If the language has no comparative constructions with dedicated markers to identify the standard of comparison, code 0.
Gilbertese (ISO 639-3: gil, Glottolog: gilb1244)
Gilbertese forms comparative constructions using the form nakon, which means ‘than’ and does not have a more general locational or surpass/exceed meaning.
e rietaata riki te nii nakon te kaina
it tall more ART cococnut.tree than ART pandanus.tree
‘The coconut tree is taller than the pandanus tree.’
(Groves et al. 1985: 69; glosses partly derived from Bingham 1908)
Gilbertese is coded as 1 because the form that marks the standard of comparison in this example has neither a locational meaning nor a surpass exceed meaning. The fact that this marker is used in at least some comparatives is sufficient to trigger a 1 for this feature, regardless of whether there are other comparative constructions that employ markers with locational or surpass/exceed meanings (as it happens, there is no evidence for these other types of comparative markers in Gilbertese).
Stassen, Leon. 1984. The comparative compared. Journal of Semantics 3. 143–182.
Stassen, Leon. 1985. Comparison and Universal Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.
Ultan, Russell. 1972. Some features of basic comparative constructions. Working Papers on Language Universals 9. 117–162.
Bingham, Hiram. 1908. Gilbertese-English dictionary. Cambridge, MA: The University Press.
Groves, Terab’ata R., Gordon W. Groves & Roderick Jacobs. 1985. Kiribatese: An outline description. (Pacific Linguistics: Series D, 64.) Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University.
- GB265 Is there a comparative construction that includes a form that elsewhere means ‘surpass, exceed’?
- GB266 Is there a comparative construction that employs a marker of the standard which elsewhere has a locational meaning?
- GB270 Can comparatives be expressed using two conjoined clauses?
- GB275 Is there a bound comparative degree marker on the property word in a comparative construction?
- GB276 Is there a non-bound comparative degree marker modifying the property word in a comparative construction?
Hannah J. Haynie