comparative case

An example of a comparative case which designates similarity to something is found in Mari, where the comparative case is the suffix {{Lang|chm|-la|italic=yes}} ({{Lang|chm|-ла|italic=no}}) as in (1):{{cite book| first1=З. Г.|last1=Зорина|first2=Г. С.|last2=Крылова|first3=Э. С.|last3=Якимова|title=арийский язык для всех, ч. 1|publisher=Йошкар-Ола: Марийское книжное издательство|year=1990}}

{{fs interlinear|lang=chm|number=(1)

| колла

| kol-la

| fish-COMP

| 'like fish'

}}

Mari also uses the comparative case in regards to languages, when denoting the language a person is speaking, writing, or hearing. Then, however, the accentuation varies slightly from the standard case. Usually, the suffix is not stressed. When it is used with languages, however, it is stressed.{{Clarification needed|date=March 2022|These sentences are unclear, and I'm not sure they need to be here in the first place.}}

An example of the comparative case marking the noun serving as the standard of comparison comes from the Chechen suffix {{Lang|ce|-l}}.{{Cite book|title=A Grammar of Chechen|url=https://slaviccenters.duke.edu/sites/slaviccenters.duke.edu/files/file-attachments/chechen-grammar.original.pdf|publisher=Duke University|year=2017|first1=Zura|last1=Dotton|first2=Wagner John|last2=Doyle}} For example, in (2) it appears on {{Lang|ce|sha}} 'ice' in {{Lang|ce|shal shiila|italic=yes}} 'cold as ice':

{{interlinear|lang=ce|number=(2)

| sha-l shiila

| ice-COMP cold

| 'as cold as ice'

}}

Similarly, in the Turkic language Sakha (Yakut), the noun serving as the standard of comparison can be marked with the comparative case suffix -TĀGAr as in (3):{{sfn|Krueger|1962|p=89}}

{{fs interlinear|lang=sah|number=(3)

| бу ыт аттааҕар түргэнник сүүрэр

| Bu ït at-taaɣar türgennik süür-er

| DEM dog horse-COMP quickly run-PRES

| 'This dog runs faster than a horse'

}}

Nivkh is another language with this comparative case suffix (-yk/-ak), as in (4):

{{interlinear|lang=niv|number=(4)

| Tlaņi ķanņ-ak eɣ-d

| reindeer dog-COMP be.fast-PRES

| 'A reindeer is faster than a dog'{{sfn|Gruzdeva|1998|p=19}}

}}

This latter sense of comparative case is similar to locational comparatives,{{sfn|Stassen|2013}} where a locational case such as the ablative marks the noun in a standard of comparison, found in Turkic languages like (5) from Uzbek:

{{interlinear|lang=uz|number=(5)

| ɔt-am u ɔdam-dan yɔš

| father-POSS.1SG that man-ABL young

| 'My father is younger than that man'

}}

The comparative case can also be found in Archi, a Northeast Caucasian language:{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Case |date=2008 |pages=672-674}}

{{interlinear|lang=aqc|number=(6)

| ʁuli-xur bošo

| dog-COMP big

| 'Bigger than the dog.'

}}

• Semblative case
• Formal case
• Equative case

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | first=John R. |last=Krueger | title=Yakut Manual | location=Bloomington | publisher=Indiana U Press | year=1962}}
• {{cite book| first=Ekaterina| last=Gruzdeva| title=Nivkh| location=München| publisher=Lincom Europa| year=1998}}
• {{cite book| first=Leon| last=Stassen| chapter=Comparative Constructions| editor-first1=Matthew| editor-last1=Dryer| editor-first2=Martin| editor-last2=Haspelmath| title=The World Atlas of Language Structures Online| year=2013| publisher=Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology| location=Leipzig| url=https://wals.info/chapter/121| access-date=April 3, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401073624/https://wals.info/chapter/121|archive-date=April 1, 2022}}
• Зорина, З. Г., Г. С. Крылова, and Э. С. Якимова. Марийский язык для всех, ч. 1. Йошкар-Ола: Марийское книжное издательство, 1990;

{{Grammatical cases}}

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Category:Grammatical cases

Category:Comparisons