Mandarin comparison

This file defines the Mandarin comparative of superiority, tā bǐ nǐ gāo 'she is taller than you': the compared item, bǐ 'compare with' followed by the standard, and the predicate naming the dimension. The standard is the object of bǐ, a role the construction fixes rather than one copied from the compared item, so the construction is an exceed comparative (Comparative.type). The comparatives of inferiority, with méi(yǒu) or bùrú, and of equality, with gēn … yíyàng, have the same shape, and the superlative is the adverb zuì 'most' before the predicate.

References

• [LT81]
• [Sta13b]

def Mandarin.Comparison.bi : Comparative

The bǐ-comparative, whose standard is the object of bǐ 'compare with'.

Equations

• Mandarin.Comparison.bi = { standardMarker := [Morphology.Morph.free "bǐ"], caseAssignment := Comparative.CaseAssignment.fixed, fixedEncoding := some Comparative.FixedCaseEncoding.directObject }

theorem Mandarin.Comparison.bi_type : bi.type = Comparative.ComparativeType.exceed

The bǐ-comparative is an exceed comparative.