3.6. Comparative clauses
A comparative construction involves three things: a scale, which is usually encoded as a gradable predicate, and two objects: the first and the second term of comparison.
In this section, we will describe how comparatives are expressed in LIS, and we will show that degrees can be overtly realized as points in the signing space (i.e. loci).
The adjectives described in the chapter are all open scale gradable adjectives: they can be defined as gradable because they are compatible with the degree adverb very, and they are open scale because they are not compatible with adverbs like completely.
In LIS, comparative clauses there are two main strategies to convey more-comparatives. The first strategy, exemplified below, is an analytic form in which the lexical comparative marker more is used, which is a lexical sign with an invariant form. By pos we indicate a morpheme that refers to a point in the scale, in this case height.
man tall_αposβ woman more
‘The woman is taller than the man.’ (recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 16)
The second strategy, exemplified below, is a synthetic form, in which a morpheme that we gloss iconic_more is used. The initial and final place of articulation of iconic_more are the loci associated with the first term of comparison (in this case man) and a higher position in the scale.
man tall_αposβ woman tall.βiconic_moreγ
‘The woman is taller than the man.’ (recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 16)
The analytic form can be used with all the kind of open scale gradable adjectives. However only a particular class of open scale gradable adjectives allows the synthetic form; they are iconic adjectives that meet two crucial requirements: (i) they are all classifier signs of the Size and Shape type (MORPHOLOGY 5.2) (although many of them, like the one in the example, may have become lexicalized signs), (ii) the movement is always perpendicular to the orientation of the whole hand. Examples are tall (a), big (b), deep (c), shown in the videos below.
a. tall
(recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 14)
b. big
(recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 14)
c. deep
(recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 14)
Less-comparatives behave in a similar way: the comparison can be expressed by the analytic form using the lexical sign less, as in (a), or by a synthetic form glossed iconic-less, as in (b).
a. man tall_αposγ woman less
‘The woman is less tall than the man.’ (recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 18)
b. man tall_αposγ woman tall.γiconic_lessβ
‘The woman is less tall than the man.’ (recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 18)
The synthetic form iconic_less can be used only with the special class of adjectives that allow the synthetic form iconic_more.
From a syntactic point of view, comparatives involve coordination. In fact, it is possible to insert the conjunction but between the two clauses of the construction.
gianni tall_αposβ but maria tall.βiconic_moreγ
‘Gianni is tall, but Maria is taller (than him).’ (Aristodemo, 2017: 33)
gianni tall_αposβ but maria more
‘Gianni is tall, but Maria is taller (than him).’ (Aristodemo, 2017: 33)
The two parts are not equivalent, because the first contains the adjective in its neutral form, while the second one contains a comparative form. The inversion of the two sentences is not allowed.
It is possible to anaphorically refer to a visible or overt degree thanks to a pronoun that points to the locus in which the degree was previously established, as can be seen in the example below.
gianni tall_αposβ maria tall.βiconic_moreγ. ixβ one metre seventy. ixγ one metre eighty
‘Maria is taller than Gianni. This one (Gianni’s degree) is 1 metre 70 and that one (Maria’s degree) is one metre 80.’ (based on Aristodemo, 2017: 19)
The pronoun ixβ refers to the degree of Gianni’s height, while ixγ refers to the degree of Maria’s height. Once the scale is available, any degree on the scale can be used to establish a new locus that can be the antecedent for an anaphoric relation.
Iconic degrees and scales can be introduced also with non-iconic adjectives by using the modifier a_bit, followed by iconic_more or iconic_less. In a_bit iconic_more (a) the hand moves upward, while in a_bit iconic_less (b) the hand moves downward.
a. a_bit αiconic_moreβ
‘A bit more.’ (recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 40)
b. a_bit αiconic_lessβ
‘A bit less.’ (recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 40)
a_bit iconic_more and a_bit iconic_less can be used also with highly abstract adjectives, making their degrees visible, as in the example below.
gianni intelligent maria a_bit αiconic_lessβ
‘Gianni is smart, Maria is a bit less smart (than him)’ (recreated from Aristodemo, 2017: 41)
