How to be positive
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2020 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Glossa : a journal of general linguistics |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/gjgl.1114 |
| Keywords | adjectives; gradability; positive; comparative; containment |
| Description | In this paper, we discuss a cross-linguistically rare pattern of comparative formation found in Slovak. This pattern is theoretically interesting, because it violates a candidate universal on the relationship between the positive and the comparative degree. The universal, discussed in Grano & Davis (2018), says that the comparative is always either identical to, or derived from, the positive degree. This universal is violated by a number of adjectives in Slovak. These adjectives have a suffix -k in the positive degree, which is absent in the comparative. We capture this pattern in terms of a non-containment structure of the positive and the comparative degrees and the nanosyntax model of spellout (Starke 2009 et seq.). |
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