Article

Name: Ways of expressing comparison in the Ulch language

Authors: Viktoriya A. Gorbunova

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract:

The paper summarizes the mechanisms used in the Ulch language to denote comparison as a broad cognitive category. Referring to numerous studies of various languages, the author examines a variety of possible comparative relations between objects and events and divides them into four types: comparative and superlative (inequality group), equative and simulative (equality group). Each type features a set of linguistic means used to verbalize a specific degree of similarity or superiority, including syntactic constructions, grammatical markers, and lexical units. The analysis has revealed that all four types can be found in the Ulch folklore texts. A conclusion is drawn that the Ulch language lacks a holistic grammatical category of comparison of adjectives or adverbs, resulting in a diverse but economic set of means of expressing comparison. Overall, the comparative mechanisms in Ulch cover the syntactic (two-noun constructions in nominative and instrumental cases in comparative structures or the conjunction umutu/omoto in simulative ones), grammatical (suffixes -achi/machi and mat/mot/meti), and lexical (adverbs of degree: chӯ, tes, badi, ӡin-ӡin, and others) levels. Considerable overlap between equative and similative subtypes has been identified. In addition, the adverbs of degree typically describing superlative relations can also be used in comparative constructions and, in some cases, in constructions describing equality relations. Consideration is also given to the basic components of various comparative structures (objects of comparison, standards, parameters, etc.) for each subtype, highlighting the elements essential for modeling a comparative situation and those that may be included or omitted depending on the context.

Keywords: Ulch language, Ulch grammar, comparison, comparative structures, comparative markers, comparatives, superlatives, equatives, similatives

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