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Minhast: Difference between revisions
→Degrees of Comparison
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To express the Comparative, Minhast employs a very different structure than English. Minhast uses a two-clause construction. The Comparee occurs in the first clause and is in the Absolutive, with the Standard either expressed as an oblique Dative argument. The verb for that clause is an intransitive stative verb. This verb serves as the Quality and is linked to the second clause with the General Subordinative clitic ''=mā''. The second clause of the construction contains either the verb ''annuk-an'' (to have the greater portion) or ''isp-an'' (to have the lesser portion). This verb in the second clause serves as the Marker. To illustrate, the sentence ''Anyar Narramitaran šimūzabammā annukaban >> Anyar Narramit=aran šimūz-ab-an=mā annuk-ab-an'' (Anyar=ABS Narramit=DAT to.be.hungry-IMPF-INTRANS=SUBORD have.greater.share-IMPF-INTRANS. | To express the Comparative, Minhast employs a very different structure than English. Minhast uses a two-clause construction. The Comparee occurs in the first clause and is in the Absolutive, with the Standard either expressed as an oblique Dative argument. The verb for that clause is an intransitive stative verb. This verb serves as the Quality and is linked to the second clause with the General Subordinative clitic ''=mā''. The second clause of the construction contains either the verb ''annuk-an'' (to have the greater portion) or ''isp-an'' (to have the lesser portion). This verb in the second clause serves as the Marker. To illustrate, the sentence ''Anyar Narramitaran šimūzabammā annukaban >> Anyar Narramit=aran šimūz-ab-an=mā annuk-ab-an'' (Anyar=ABS Narramit=DAT to.be.hungry-IMPF-INTRANS=SUBORD have.greater.share-IMPF-INTRANS. | ||
An alternative construction exists that is also very common, wherein the Comparee appears as an Ergative argument and the Standard appears in the Absolutive. This construction usually occurs where previous clauses were coordinated with the S/O pivot and the speaker wishes to maintain the pivot. In this case both the stative verb and the comparison verb serving as the Marker for the Comparee are converted to derived transitive verbs by AF using either the the Dative applicative affix ''-dut-'' or | An alternative construction exists that is also very common, wherein the Comparee appears as an Ergative argument and the Standard appears in the Absolutive. This construction usually occurs where previous clauses were coordinated with the S/O pivot and the speaker wishes to maintain the pivot. In this case both the stative verb and the comparison verb serving as the Marker for the Comparee are converted to derived transitive verbs by AF using either the the Dative applicative affix ''-dut-'' or Adversarial applicative ''-dāš-''. The previous example can thus be reformulated thus: ''Anyarde Narramit duštimūzabumā dutannukabu >>*Anyar=de Narramit dut-šimūz-ab-u=mā dut-annuk-ab-u''. Both the stative (Quality) verb and the Marker verb ''anuk-an'' are still semantically intransitive, nevertheless the surface structure resulting from these transformations by AF is still grammatically transitive. This structure allows the speaker to maintain Narramit as the Absolutive argument for both verbs. As a result, Narramit retains his status as the pivot in a multiclause sentence. | ||
The formation of the Superlative is rather straightforward in Minhast. It is identical to the first version of the Comparative phrase structure, with the addition of dropping the Standard, as in ''Anyar šimūzabammā annukaban''. The Dative oblique argument (Narramit) is simply dropped from the clause. If the Standard consisted of several entities, the Distributive affix is usually appended to the Marker | The formation of the Superlative is rather straightforward in Minhast. It is identical to the first version of the Comparative phrase structure, with the addition of dropping the Standard, as in ''Anyar šimūzabammā annukaban''. The Dative oblique argument (Narramit) is simply dropped from the clause. If the Standard consisted of several entities, the Distributive affix is usually appended to both the Quality and the Marker verbs, as in the sentence ''Anyar redadaran sararampimā, paħpartarabammā annuktararan >> *Anyar redad=aran sar-ar-an-pi=mā, paħpār-tar-ab-an=mā annuk-tar-ar-an'' (Anyar.ABS men=DAT see-PAST-INTRANS-ANTI=SUBORD, to.be.tall-DISTR-IMPF-INTRANS), which literally means "Anyar saw some men, he was strong ''across'' (each one) ", he held the greater portion ''across'' (each one) ". | ||
From the Minhast perspective, there is nothing remarkable about the structure of any of these sentences. They follow the standard rules of using an S/O pivot when co-reference between a PRO-dropped Absolutive argument must be maintained with that of the preceding clause. As far as Minhast is concerned, formation of a Comparative or Superlative phrase structure is simply another instance of valence operations that the language regularly employs. | From the Minhast perspective, there is nothing remarkable about the structure of any of these sentences. They follow the standard rules of using an S/O pivot when co-reference between a PRO-dropped Absolutive argument must be maintained with that of the preceding clause. As far as Minhast is concerned, formation of a Comparative or Superlative phrase structure is simply another instance of valence operations that the language regularly employs. Thus, the Minhast structure for both Comparatives and Superlatives can be compared vis-a-vis English as follows: | ||
# Comparee: The entity subject to comparison: may be in the Absolutive or the Ergative, dependent on the form needed to maintain the S/O pivot. | |||
# Quality: The property being compared. In Minhast, this is typically a stative verb, called the Quality verb. It may retain its intransitive form, or a derived transitive verb may be created using the Dative or Adversarial applicative, dependent on the form needed to maintain the S/O pivot. | |||
# Marker: A verb that indicates the level of comparison. As in the Quality verb, the Marker verb, either ''anuk-'' (having the greater portion) or ''isp-'' (having the lesser portion) may be promoted from an intransitive verb to a derived transitive with the Dative or Adversarial applicative affixes, dependent on the form needed to maintain the S/O pivot. | |||
# Standard: The entity that is being compared to. This is either an oblique Dative argument, or a derived Absolutive argument via AF, dependent on the form needed to maintain the S/O pivot. | |||
=== Word Order === | === Word Order === | ||