Universal #1001

Legacy number: 1002

 Number  998
 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.
 Formula  Exceed-1 Comparative ⇒ adjectives are verby
 Keywords  comparative, word class, adjectives, verb
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  statistical
 Basis  sample of 110 languages
 Source  Stassen 1985: 180

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Discussion
Notes
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’.
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
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'.