Universal 998: Exceed-1 Comparative ⇒ adjectives are verby
- Original
- If a language has an Exceed-1 (i.e. a serial) Comparative, it is verby. If an Exceed language verby, it has an Exceed-1 Comparative.
- Standardized
- IF there is an Exceed-1 Comparative, THEN adjectives are verby.
IF adjectives are verby and there is an Exceed Comparative, THEN this comparative is of Exceed-1 type.
- Keywords
- comparative, word class, adjectives, verb
- Domain
- syntax
- Type
- implication
- Status
- achronic
- Quality
- statistical
- Basis
- sample of 110 languages
- Source
- Stassen 1985: 180
- Counterexamples
1. In Exceed-1 Comparative, the comparee NP is constructed as the subject of a verbal complex which contains both the comparative predicate and the exceed-verb (a so-called ‘serial-verb’-construction).2. The exceed comparative is an instance of fixed-case comparative constructions, in which the standard NP is invariably constructed as the direct object of a special transitive verb, the meaning of which can be glossed as ‘to exceed’, ‘to surpass’ or ‘to excel’.