Degree: degree
| Values: | Abs | Aug | Cmp | Dim | Equ | Pos | Sup |
Degree of comparison is typically an inflectional feature of some adjectives and adverbs. A different flavor of degree is diminutives and augmentatives, which often apply to nouns but are not restricted to them.
Pos: positive, first degree
This is the base form that merely states a quality of something, without comparing it to qualities of others. Note that although this degree is traditionally called “positive”, negative properties can be compared, too.
Examples
- [en] young man
- [cs] mladý muž
Equ: equative
The quality of one object is compared to the same quality of another object, and the result is that they are identical or similar (“as X as”). Note that it marks the adjective and it is distinct from the equative Case, which marks the standard of comparison.
Examples
- [et] pikkune (pikkus+ne) “as tall as”
Cmp: comparative, second degree
The quality of one object is compared to the same quality of another object.
Examples
- [en] the man is younger than me
- [cs] ten muž je mladší než já
Sup: superlative, third degree
The quality of one object is compared to the same quality of all other objects within a set.
Examples
- [en] this is the youngest man in our team
- [cs] toto je nejmladší muž v našem týmu
Abs: absolute superlative
Some languages can express morphologically that the studied quality of the given object is so strong that there is hardly any other object exceeding it. The quality is not actually compared to any particular set of objects.
Examples
- [es] guapo “handsome”; guapísimo “indescribably handsome”
Dim: diminutive
Morphologically derived form of a noun that indicates small size, or, metaphorically, affection towards the entity described by the noun. While nouns are the prototypical category in which diminutives are formed, the feature is not restricted to nouns and in some languages similar morphology can be observed with other categories (adjectives, verbs).
Examples
- [cs] člověk “man”; človíček “little man”
- [nl] appel “apple”; appeltje “little apple”
Aug: augmentative
Morphologically derived form of a noun that indicates large size or force. While nouns are the prototypical category in which augmentatives are formed, the feature is not restricted to nouns and in some languages similar morphology can be observed with other categories (adjectives, verbs).
Examples
- [cs] chlap “guy”; chlapák “big guy, macho”
- [pt] apartamento “apartment”; apartamentão “big apartment”
Degree in other languages: [af] [bej] [bg] [cs] [cy] [el] [en] [es] [et] [fi] [ga] [grc] [gub] [hu] [hy] [it] [ka] [ky] [la] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [quc] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urj]