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Re: ANADEWISM: Natlangs that do comparison with true verbs?

From:Rene Uittenbogaard <ruittenb@...>
Date:Sunday, November 7, 2004, 21:42
Philippe Caquant wrote:

 >  --- Carsten Becker skrev:
 >
 > > Hello!
 > >
 > > I have a problem with Ayeri in that it uses true
 > > verbs for the comparison of adjectives: "to be as
 > > ... as", "to be more ... as", "to be less ... as" etc.
 > > Are there any natlangs that do comparison the same
 > > way, where I can ste... get ideas from?
 > >
 >
 > L'homme égale le loup en férocité (Man equals wolf as
 > far is ferocity is concerned)
 >
 > L'homme l'emporte sur le loup en férocité (Man is
 > superior to wolf as far as ferocity is concerned).
 > L'homme dépasse (surpasse) le loup en férocité (id)
 >
 > Le loup n'arrive pas à la cheville de l'homme pour la
 > férocité (Wolf doesn't get to the level of man's
 > ankles for ferocity). Le loup n'atteint pas le niveau
 > de l'homme... etc.

It seems there are more languages with verbs like these.
To stick with the same examples, here are the same
comparisons in Dutch:

De mens evenaart de wolf in wildheid.
Man equals wolf in ferocity. (evenaren = to equal)

De wolf overtreft de mens in wildheid.
Wolf surpasses man in ferocity. (overtreffen = to surpass)
(Deu. übertreffen)

De mens doet onder voor de wolf in wildheid.
Man is inferior to wolf in ferocity. (onderdoen voor = to be
inferior to)

(I'm not sure about the choice of the preposition "in" in that
last English sentence; is that correct?)

And even though it's not a natlang, I really like the way in
which Lojban handles this (but I don't know it well enough to
translate "wolf" and "ferocity"):

ti barda zmadu do
this big-exceeds you
This is bigger than you.

ti barda mleca do
this big-is_less you
This is less big than you.

This is one of a few types of tanru that I find especially
appealing. :)

Éylo,

René

Reply

Keith Gaughan <kmgaughan@...>