Comparative

Some verbs in certain uses can have an inherently comparative meaning. For instance, maag is already pragmatically interpreted as ‘is bigger than’ in these contexts:

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll jegan o- moʄ na ref omaak… Jegan Cl exceed Rel be Cl big \trans Jegan is older than... </gl>

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll mi maag -oon I-Emph big you-Acc \trans I am older than you. (lit. I exceed you) </gl>

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll wo maag -a xam you-Emph big 2sg me-Acc \trans You are older than me. </gl>

Others do not have this inherent ability to encode this comparative relation. For instance, in the same semantic context, ‘be younger than’ requires the comparative to be expressed separately from the verb:

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll mi moʄ -on o- ref ondeb I-Emph exceed you-Acc Cl be small \trans I am younger than you. </gl>

The comparative is then essentially a construction involving the verb/adjective moʄ ‘be a lot’ in one of the two adjectival morphologies (-u or na), where the first noun in the sentence is the one to which the post-verbal noun is compared:

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll omoon o leek moʄ -u meɗ o- xaana bottle sg-Cl Dem exceed Adj sg-Cl Dem-Dist \trans This bottle is heavier than that one. </gl>

<gl id="ex2" fontsize=12> \gll ondeb onge moʄ -u njool okoor oxe boy Det exceed Adj tall man Det \trans the boy is taller than the man </gl>

 ondeb onge moj na njool okoor oxe arefa ondeb
 ‘The boy that is taller than the man is young.’

In this sense, the comparative involves a layering of two adjectives, or an adverb and an adjective, equivalent to the comparative in English with ‘more~’. However, in Sereer there is no conjunction such as ‘than’ in English, and the compared item is placed directly after the lexical-content-bearing adjective.

There is also a way to convey comparison using the verb xupu 'to surpass':

 otew oxum xupu a Jegan
 'Which woman surpasses Jegan?'

In this case, it is understood from context what attribute is being compared.

Go back to: Degrees of Comparison

Oana 23:38, 7 December 2012 (UTC)