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          <h1 id="working-group-on-comparative-constructions">Working Group on Comparative Constructions</h1>

<p>A prototypical comparative construction involves a quality or property whose
extent is compared, the entity being compared, and the standard of comparison.
Thus in [en] <em>Stephan is taller than Joakim,</em> Stephan is the entity compared,
Joakim represents the standard of comparison to which Stephan is compared,
and the adjective <em>taller</em> denotes the quality that is compared, i.e.,
tallness.</p>

<p>Adverbs can be compared as well, e.g. in
[cs] <em>Michal mluví lépe než Miloš</em> “Michal speaks better than Miloš”,
the word <em>lépe</em> is an adverb and it denotes the quality of Michal’s speaking
rather than of his personality in general.</p>

<p>Finally, we can also compare quantities, as in
<em>Melanie has more money than Sue,</em> or in
<em>There is more than one way of doing it;</em>
in the latter example, the standard of comparison is conflated with the entity
counted. Similarly, there are sentences where both the standard of comparison
and the new value are hidden in the verb:
<em>The prices of homes have more than doubled.</em></p>

<p>The syntax of comparative constructions poses various challenges for linguistic
theory. For English, many of these are discussed in Bresnan (1973) and
Huddleston and Pullum (2002, chapter 13). A cross-linguistic survey of equality
comparison is provided in Haspelmath (2017).</p>

<p>There are no UD relations designed specifically to mark comparative
constructions. This page documents what regular UD means are used to analyze
these constructions and how they are applied.</p>

<h2 id="equality-direction-and-degree">Equality, Direction and Degree</h2>

<ul>
  <li>Equality comparison [en]: <em>The car is as big as mine.</em></li>
  <li>Equality comparison [cs]: <em>To auto je stejně velké jako moje.</em> “The car is as big as mine.” Alternatives: <em>To auto je tak velké jako moje. To auto je velké jako moje.</em></li>
  <li>Similarity comparison [cs]: <em>To auto je podobně velké jako moje.</em> “The car is similarly big to mine.”</li>
  <li>Inequality non-scalar comparison [cs]: <em>To auto je jinak velké než moje.</em> “The car’s size is different from mine.” (lit. “The car is differently big than mine.”)</li>
  <li>Scalar decreasing comparison (inferiority) [cs]: <em>Loňský model byl méně propracovaný než letošní.</em> “The last year’s model was less elaborated than this year’s.”</li>
  <li>Scalar increasing comparison (superiority) [cs]: <em>Letošní model je propracovanější než loňský.</em> “This year’s model is more elaborated than last year’s.”</li>
  <li>Superlative [en]: <em>This is the biggest car of all.</em></li>
  <li>Superlative [cs]: <em>Tohle je největší auto ze všech.</em> “This is the biggest car of all.”</li>
  <li>Decreasing superlative [cs]: <em>Letošní model je nejméně propracovaný za posledních pět let.</em> “This year’s model is the least elaborated of the previous five years.”</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="coding-strategies-across-languages">Coding Strategies across Languages</h2>

<h3 id="morphological-gradation-of-adjectives-and-adverbs">Morphological Gradation of Adjectives and Adverbs</h3>

<p>Adjectives in some languages have an inflectional category that expresses
degree of comparison. Special forms are used when the adjective appears in
an inequality scalar comparison: A form called <em>comparative</em> is used when
the modified noun has a greater degree of the quality denoted by the adjective
than the standard of comparison. A form called <em>superlative</em> is used when
the modified noun has a greater degree of the quality denoted by the adjective
than all entities in a certain set. In UD, morphological comparatives and
superlatives are tagged using the <a href="">Degree</a> feature: <code>Degree=Cmp</code> and <code>Degree=Sup</code>,
respectively. If a language has morphological comparative and/or superlative,
then the base forms of ajdectives should be tagged as the <em>positive</em> degree
(<code>Degree=Pos</code>). Note that the positive degree should not be confused with the
positive <a href="">Polarity</a>. Even negative adjectives can be compared, therefore they
can also have the positive (basic) degree.</p>

<p>Czech:</p>

<pre><code class="language-conllu">1	Martin	Martin	PROPN	_	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	Gloss=Martin
2	je	být	AUX	_	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act	3	cop	_	Gloss=is
3	inteligentní	inteligentní	ADJ	_	Case=Nom|Degree=Pos|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	0	root	_	Gloss=intelligent|SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	_	3	punct	_	Gloss=.

</code></pre>

<pre><code class="language-conllu">1	Martin	Martin	PROPN	_	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	Gloss=Martin
2	je	být	AUX	_	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act	3	cop	_	Gloss=is
3	inteligentnější	inteligentní	ADJ	_	Case=Nom|Degree=Cmp|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	0	root	_	Gloss=intelligent
4	než	než	SCONJ	_	_	5	case	_	Gloss=than
5	Vojta	Vojta	PROPN	_	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	3	obl	_	Gloss=Vojta|SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	_	_	3	punct	_	Gloss=.

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          <h1 id="working-group-on-comparative-constructions">Working Group on Comparative Constructions</h1>

<p>A prototypical comparative construction involves a quality or property whose
extent is compared, the entity being compared, and the standard of comparison.
Thus in [en] <em>Stephan is taller than Joakim,</em> Stephan is the entity compared,
Joakim represents the standard of comparison to which Stephan is compared,
and the adjective <em>taller</em> denotes the quality that is compared, i.e.,
tallness.</p>

<p>Adverbs can be compared as well, e.g. in
[cs] <em>Michal mluví lépe než Miloš</em> “Michal speaks better than Miloš”,
the word <em>lépe</em> is an adverb and it denotes the quality of Michal’s speaking
rather than of his personality in general.</p>

<p>Finally, we can also compare quantities, as in
<em>Melanie has more money than Sue,</em> or in
<em>There is more than one way of doing it;</em>
in the latter example, the standard of comparison is conflated with the entity
counted. Similarly, there are sentences where both the standard of comparison
and the new value are hidden in the verb:
<em>The prices of homes have more than doubled.</em></p>

<p>The syntax of comparative constructions poses various challenges for linguistic
theory. For English, many of these are discussed in Bresnan (1973) and
Huddleston and Pullum (2002, chapter 13). A cross-linguistic survey of equality
comparison is provided in Haspelmath (2017).</p>

<p>There are no UD relations designed specifically to mark comparative
constructions. This page documents what regular UD means are used to analyze
these constructions and how they are applied.</p>

<h2 id="equality-direction-and-degree">Equality, Direction and Degree</h2>

<ul>
  <li>Equality comparison [en]: <em>The car is as big as mine.</em></li>
  <li>Equality comparison [cs]: <em>To auto je stejně velké jako moje.</em> “The car is as big as mine.” Alternatives: <em>To auto je tak velké jako moje. To auto je velké jako moje.</em></li>
  <li>Similarity comparison [cs]: <em>To auto je podobně velké jako moje.</em> “The car is similarly big to mine.”</li>
  <li>Inequality non-scalar comparison [cs]: <em>To auto je jinak velké než moje.</em> “The car’s size is different from mine.” (lit. “The car is differently big than mine.”)</li>
  <li>Scalar decreasing comparison (inferiority) [cs]: <em>Loňský model byl méně propracovaný než letošní.</em> “The last year’s model was less elaborated than this year’s.”</li>
  <li>Scalar increasing comparison (superiority) [cs]: <em>Letošní model je propracovanější než loňský.</em> “This year’s model is more elaborated than last year’s.”</li>
  <li>Superlative [en]: <em>This is the biggest car of all.</em></li>
  <li>Superlative [cs]: <em>Tohle je největší auto ze všech.</em> “This is the biggest car of all.”</li>
  <li>Decreasing superlative [cs]: <em>Letošní model je nejméně propracovaný za posledních pět let.</em> “This year’s model is the least elaborated of the previous five years.”</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="coding-strategies-across-languages">Coding Strategies across Languages</h2>

<h3 id="morphological-gradation-of-adjectives-and-adverbs">Morphological Gradation of Adjectives and Adverbs</h3>

<p>Adjectives in some languages have an inflectional category that expresses
degree of comparison. Special forms are used when the adjective appears in
an inequality scalar comparison: A form called <em>comparative</em> is used when
the modified noun has a greater degree of the quality denoted by the adjective
than the standard of comparison. A form called <em>superlative</em> is used when
the modified noun has a greater degree of the quality denoted by the adjective
than all entities in a certain set. In UD, morphological comparatives and
superlatives are tagged using the <a href="">Degree</a> feature: <code>Degree=Cmp</code> and <code>Degree=Sup</code>,
respectively. If a language has morphological comparative and/or superlative,
then the base forms of ajdectives should be tagged as the <em>positive</em> degree
(<code>Degree=Pos</code>). Note that the positive degree should not be confused with the
positive <a href="">Polarity</a>. Even negative adjectives can be compared, therefore they
can also have the positive (basic) degree.</p>

<p>Czech:</p>

<pre><code class="language-conllu">1	Martin	Martin	PROPN	_	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	Gloss=Martin
2	je	být	AUX	_	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act	3	cop	_	Gloss=is
3	inteligentní	inteligentní	ADJ	_	Case=Nom|Degree=Pos|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	0	root	_	Gloss=intelligent|SpaceAfter=No
4	.	.	PUNCT	_	_	3	punct	_	Gloss=.

</code></pre>

<pre><code class="language-conllu">1	Martin	Martin	PROPN	_	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	Gloss=Martin
2	je	být	AUX	_	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act	3	cop	_	Gloss=is
3	inteligentnější	inteligentní	ADJ	_	Case=Nom|Degree=Cmp|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	0	root	_	Gloss=more-intelligent
4	než	než	SCONJ	_	_	5	case	_	Gloss=than
5	Vojta	Vojta	PROPN	_	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	3	obl	_	Gloss=Vojta|SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	_	_	3	punct	_	Gloss=.

</code></pre>

<pre><code class="language-conllu">1	Martin	Martin	PROPN	_	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	3	nsubj	_	Gloss=Martin
2	je	být	AUX	_	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin|Voice=Act	3	cop	_	Gloss=is
3	nejinteligentnější	inteligentní	ADJ	_	Case=Nom|Degree=Sup|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing	0	root	_	Gloss=most-intelligent
4	ze	z	ADP	_	_	5	case	_	Gloss=of
5	všech	všechen	PRON	_	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Plur|PronType=Tot	3	obl	_	Gloss=all|SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	_	_	3	punct	_	Gloss=.

</code></pre>
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