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Adjectives

• Comparative
• Superlative

Adjectives

Adjectives are rather verbs. However, some things are typical for adjectives, i.e., verbs describing properties of things.

One thing typical for Tyl-Sjok is that it is unmarked whether an adjective is used selectatively or describingly:

Selection: those cars that are red

Description: cars, which, as you know, are red

FIXME: Have ways to clarify what is meant..

As mentioned before, the adjective either preceeds are follows the word it belongs to, depending on whether the predicate is controlled or not.

Comparative

There is no comparative as a special form in Tyl-Sjok. Usually, the verb `to exceed' is used to express comparisons. The construction `A is stronger than B' translates to `A's strength exceeds B's'. You would not say `A's exceeds B's strength', because you want to stress that A is strong, not B.

A more precise translation is `A, who is strong, exceeds B'. This means: A is the agent of `exceed'. Furthermore, `exceeds' is the head of the matrix clause, not of the sub-ordinate clause. This is important, because the reference particle REF will mark A, i.e., neither B nor `strong'.

An example:

big A, exceed B.

big REF A, exceed B. A is bigger than B `(The) size (of) A exceeds (that of) B.'

A violent, exceed B. A is more violent than B A exceeds the violence of B.

It is interesting to see here that the assignment of A as an agent to `violent' is overt in English: `violent' is derived from a latin present active participle: `violans' or the verb `violare'.

good drink, A, exceed B. A tastes better than B

It was thought about using `to compare' as in Mandarin for this construction, but the problem is that it is ambiguous due to the nature of relative clauses. Imagine a sentence like the following in Tyl-Sjok (the structure is the same in Mandarin: `A bi B hao.'):

*A good, compare B. ?A is (behaves) better than B. ?B is (behaves) better than A.

The problem is that neither A nor B are marked with a REF particle, so it is unclear whether A or B is exported into the matrix clause to be predicated good. Because the reference particle is considered more awkward for this construction than using the verb `to exceed', this is how Tyl-Sjok does it now.

Using question words is straight-forward:

big WHICH car, exceed? Which car is bigger?

In that sentence, the compared referent is not mentioned, but that's not problem. No pronoun is needed. A possible answer would be:

red car exceed The red car is bigger.

good drink YN tea, or YN coffee, exceed?

good drink YN tea, YN coffee, exceed? Which tastes better: coffee or tea?

or is often dropped in sequences combined with YN particles, since it is redundant there.

Do you find it strange that in this sentence, the patient is mentioned before the verb `to be good to drink'? It isn't. The matrix clause YN tea, YN coffee, exceed subordinate(x) contains the patients x of the sub-ordinate clause good drink x. If you want to stress this, you might use good drink REF he/she/it as a sub-ordinate clause.

See the following sentence, where one of the patients is in the sub-ordinate clause:

good drink, tea, YN exceed, coffee? Does tea taste better than coffee?

Of cause, an agent may be added:

you like drink, YN tea, YN coffee, exceed? You one do you like better: coffee or tea? `Is it coffee or tea that exceeds the other in how much you like to drink it?'

good drink YN tea exceed coffee? Is it tea that tastes better than coffee?

Superlative

There is no superlative as a special form in Tyl-Sjok. Instead, a system similar to Japanese is used: simply use an ordinal expression with the verb:

good one, drink tea. Tea tastes best.

Other numbers are possible:

good two, taste beer. Beer tastes second best.

large three, peter. Peter is the third largest.

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