Comparative case
The comparative case (abbreviated COMP) is a grammatical case which marks a nominal to indicate comparison with another entity through the designation of a case marker. It is not to be confused with the semblative case, a discrete grammatical case which expresses the similarity of one entity to another. The comparative case is distinct from comparative degree in that the comparative case involves morphemes appearing on nouns, while in comparative degree morphemes appear on adjectives or adverbs.
Examples
[edit]An example of a comparative case which designates similarity to something is found in Mari, where the comparative case is the suffix -la (-la) as in (1):[1]
kolla
kol-la
fish-COMP
kolla
kol-la
fish-COMP
'like fish'
Mari also uses the comparative case in regards to languages, when denoting the language a person is speaking, writing, or hearing. Then, however, the accentuation varies slightly from the standard case. Usually, the suffix is not stressed. When it is used with languages, however, it is stressed.[clarification needed]
In another Uralic language, Erzya-Mordvin, the comparative case suffix is -ska. The case is generally used to indicate similarity in size or quantity, e.g.:
kudoshka
kudo-ska
house-COMP.INDEF
kudoshka
kudo-ska
house-COMP.INDEF
'as big as a house'
veteshka
vete-ska
five-COMP.INDEF
veteshka
vete-ska
five-COMP.INDEF
'about five'
An example of the comparative case marking the noun serving as the standard of comparison comes from the Chechen suffix -l.[2] For example, in (2) it appears on sha 'ice' in shal shiila 'cold as ice':
sha-l
ice-COMP
shiila
cold
sha-l shiila
ice-COMP cold
'as cold as ice'
Similarly, in the Turkic language Sakha (Yakut), the noun serving as the standard of comparison can be marked with the comparative case suffix -TAGAr as in (3):[3]
bu
Bu
DEM
yt
it
dog
attaag'ar
at-taagar
horse-COMP
turgennik
turgennik
quickly
suurer
suur-er
run-PRES
bu yt attaag'ar turgennik suurer
Bu it at-taagar turgennik suur-er
DEM dog horse-COMP quickly run-PRES
'This dog runs faster than a horse'
Nivkh is another language with this comparative case suffix (-yk/-ak), as in (4):
Tlani
reindeer
kann-ak
dog-COMP
eg-d
be.fast-PRES
Tlani kann-ak eg-d
reindeer dog-COMP be.fast-PRES
'A reindeer is faster than a dog'[4]
This latter sense of comparative case is similar to locational comparatives,[5] where a locational case such as the ablative marks the noun in a standard of comparison, found in Turkic languages like (5) from Uzbek:
ot-am
father-POSS.1SG
u
that
odam-dan
man-ABL
yos
young
ot-am u odam-dan yos
father-POSS.1SG that man-ABL young
'My father is younger than that man'
The comparative case can also be found in Archi, a Northeast Caucasian language:[6]
Ruli-xur
dog-COMP
boso
big
Ruli-xur boso
dog-COMP big
'Bigger than the dog.'
See also
[edit]- Semblative case
- Formal case
- Equative case
References
[edit]- ^ Zorina, Z. G.; Krylova, G. S.; Iakimova, E. S. (1990). ariiskii iazyk dlia vsekh, ch. 1. Ioshkar-Ola: Mariiskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo.
- ^ Dotton, Zura; Doyle, Wagner John (2017). A Grammar of Chechen (PDF). Duke University.
- ^ Krueger 1962, p. 89.
- ^ Gruzdeva 1998, p. 19.
- ^ Stassen 2013.
- ^ The Oxford Handbook of Case. 2008. pp. 672-674.
Bibliography
[edit]- Krueger, John R. (1962). Yakut Manual. Bloomington: Indiana U Press.
- Gruzdeva, Ekaterina (1998). Nivkh. Munchen: Lincom Europa.
- Stassen, Leon (2013). "Comparative Constructions". In Dryer, Matthew; Haspelmath, Martin (eds.). The World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Archived from the original on April 1, 2022. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- Zorina, Z. G., G. S. Krylova, and E. S. Iakimova. Mariiskii iazyk dlia vsekh, ch. 1. Ioshkar-Ola: Mariiskoe knizhnoe izdatel'stvo, 1990;
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