
Comparison


Comparative forms of modifiers and (especially stative) verbs are
formed with the suffixes {-sra} "more" and {-jxar} "less".  Applied to
modifiers formed from quality-stems, they come before
the {-box} adjectivizing suffix:

hum			depth
hum-box			deep
hum-sra			quality of being deeper than something else
hum-sra-box		deeper
hum-jxar-box		less deep
hum-cox			height
hum-cox-box		high, tall
hum-cox-sra		quality of being higher/taller than something else
hum-cox-sra-box		higher, taller
hum-cox-jxar-box	less high, shorter


Applied to other modifiers, formed with suffixes other than {-box},
the {-sra} and {-jxar} normally come at the end of the word.  For
instance, with the causative suffix {-fwa}:

prym			appreciation of beauty
prym-fwa		beautiful
prym-fwa-sra		more beautiful

but this is also possible, though rarer:

prym-sra		more intensely/vividly appreciating something's beauty
prym-sra-fwa		causing someone to more vividly appreciate something's beauty


With most other modifier suffixes this inversion wouldn't make sense,
though:

raxm-tan-sra		more catlike
zqaxj-dox-jxar		less sinful
pwiqm-da-sra		wetter
dxax-ja-jxar		less logical
lju-gox-sra		more worth reading


When turning one of these comparative modifiers into a stative verb, 
replace {-box} with {-van} or add {-van} after the comparative suffix:

hum-sra-van		to be deeper
prym-fwa-sra-van	to be more beautiful


gjax-zym-byn doesn't have a morphologically distinct comparative and
superlative.  If a comparative modifier or verb form occurs with an
explicit standard of comparison, it would generally be translated into
English as "more/less X" or "X-er"; if it occurs with no standard of
comparison, the implicit comparison may be, depending on context, to
the same entity in the past, or to all other things of the kind, or
all things of that kind that are in context at the moment; in the
latter cases it would be translated as "most/least X" or "X-est".
Inexplicit comparison can be in attribute form (a modifier applying to
a head noun or verb within a single noun phrase or verb phrase) or
predicate form (the modifier being in a separate comment or state
postpositional phrase, applying to a head noun that's in a topic or
experiencer phrase):

mwiql-sxra-van        tax     %%jxiqn-sra%%     jqaxr-i.
sleep-tending-V.STATE sibling %%young-COMP%% experiencer-at
The youngest of the siblings is sleepy.

%%saxr-jxar%%    nxiqn-i  peq'pax-daj poq.
%%order-COMP.NEG CMT-at   paper-mass  that
That mass of papers is less orderly [than other such] / is the least orderly.

%%huw-sra%%    jax-i    max-baxm   koq.
%%happy-COMP%% state-at person-new this
This baby is happier [than other [recently mentioned?] babies] / is the happiest.

Or a comparative modifier can be an attribute of a verb, i.e.  an
adverb:

!vxax-tq-zox          %%jxwy-sra-box%%  mwe.
go.adjustable-2-V.ACT %%fast-COMP-ADJ%% IMP
Walk/run faster!



gzb has two ways of relating the head noun of the comparative modifier
or the subject of the comparative verb to the standard it's being
compared with.  One is with the comparative conjunction {txe} (as,
than); this is archaic, the comparative conjunction usually being used
now only for equality-comparison, primarily with
link: semantic.htm#section4  mathematical equation sentences.  
In this form the subject of the comparison is linked
within its postpositional phrase with the standard of comparison:

*hwoq, %%laxnx-sra-van%%     twax-cu-txunq         koq  %%txe%% {gormenhqast-wam}   miq-i.
 INT   %%long-COMP-V.STATE%% sentence-system-story this %%than%% Gormenghast-NAME.P TOP-at
Whoa, this novel is longer than _Gormenghast_!

More commonly nowadays, the standard of comparison is put in a
separate postpositional phrase marked with {dix'fu-i}, "compared
with".  ({dix'fu} derives from the name of the Unix command "diff".)

squn   koq  i  %%mixr'su%%   %%dix'fu-i%%   %%nax-sra%%     nxiqn-i heqm'lu  miq-i.
region this at %%mulberry%%  %%compare-at%% %%common-COMP%% CMT-at  magnolia TOP-at
Around here magnolias are more common than mulberry trees.



- use of -sra and -jxar with {jum} such as {renx}, etc...?
- explicit comparison to a standard
- inexplicit comparison
- attribution (adjectival, check; add adverbial example, maybe with zqu-jxar-box and jxwy-sra-box)
- predication (both jax-i and nxiqn-i  examples)
- qualified comparatives (pp. 44-46 of April 2009 notebook)
  - one of the most X
  - second-, third-most X
- positive comparison, P is as Q as R ... prob these still use {txe}...? 
- examples with distinct entities, and with same entity at different times



There are a couple of kinds of qualified comparatives; they occur only
as predicates, not as attributes.  Subset comparison corresponds to
English "one of the most/least...", and uses the subset postposition
{muw-i}:

rix'max  hum-cox-sra-box    muw-i     rix'max-zxa  siqrz-gam    miq-i.
building deep-OPP2-COMP-ADJ subset-at building-AUG Sears-NAME.G TOP-at
The Sears Tower is among the tallest buildings.


Ranked comparison corresponds to English "the second-most X", "the
third-least Y", etc.  It is unique in not actually using the suffixes
{-sra} and {-jxar} at all, but an ordinal number in a comment phrasee
with the compared quality in a generic relational phrase:

pxu  dxiq-i          %%cxu-pa%%  nxiqn-i tam-ram  miq-i.
mass relationship-at %%two-ORD%% CMT-at  Tom-NAME TOP-at
Tom is the second most massive. (= With respect to mass, Tom is second.)

nxy      dxiq-i          %%se-cxu-pa%%     nxiqn-i  kentaxwrus-wam   miq-i.
distance relationship-at %%minus-two-ORD%% CMT-at   Centaurus-NAME.P TOP-at
Centaurus is second least distant / second nearest. [In a discussion of stars; Sol of course is the nearest.]

....................versions of above with explicit comparison, e.g., Tom is most massive of the firefighters in Enigma Ga., Centaurus is the star second-least-distant *from Earth*, etc...............................


..........?? max joqm dix'fu-i ~~~~
..........?? max ble dix'fu-i ~~~  / dxe {max jqoq dix'fu-i ~~~})


The comparative suffixes generally don't apply to entity stems.
However, they are occasionally used with number or unit-of-measure
stems, meaning "more than" or "less than" the amount specified by the
stem:

tiqm-sra		a set with more than a hundred members
tiqm-sra-box		more than a hundred
giq-sra-gla		a time later than eleven o'clock
kix'grax-jxar		less than a kilogram


With verbs (whether active or stative) derived from process stems, the
comparative suffixes mean "to do said action/undergo said process
more/less intensely":

....................examples with all four verb forms, with
and without standard of comparison

griq-jxar-van             sqiqm-cxa      koq.
function-COMP.NEG-V.STATE algorithm-tool this
This computer functions less well [than other computers].

cax-sra-zox    mwe  ...........
try-COMP-V.ACT IMP
..... should try harder to ........



