Languages & Linguistics
Superlative Adjectives
Superlative adjectives are used to compare three or more things, emphasizing the highest degree of a quality. They are formed by adding the suffix "-est" to the base form of the adjective, or by using the words "most" or "least" before the adjective. Superlative adjectives are commonly used in language to express the highest level of comparison.
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eBook - PDF- Ana Aguilar-Guevara, Violeta Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado, Julia Pozas Loyo(Authors)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Language Science Press(Publisher)
In Greek, as illustrated below, there is a split between quantity and quantity ad-verbials (‘talk the most’ vs. ‘talk the fastest’): quantity adverbials are obligatorily defnite-marked and quantity adverbials obligatorily lack defniteness-marking. All other superlatives have a defniteness marker, relative and proportional read-ings of quantity superlatives included. So, in all of these languages, superlatives are generally formed by combining a defniteness-marker with a comparative, yet in some o f these languages, superla-tives may lack a defniteness-marker. Tis is certainly surprising i f the superlative interpretation is supposed to rest fully in the hands of the de fnite determiner. Generally, there are several analytical options we could consider for def + cmp superlatives. Te one we have just ruled out (at least for some of these languages) is that the defnite article itsel f is the marker of the superlative. Another is that the comparative is lexically ambiguous between a comparative and a superlative. Another would build on the stance argued for by Bobaljik (2012), where superla-tives are composed of comparatives and a bit that means ‘of all’. Tis la ter piece could be taken to be silent in def + cmp languages; see Szabol csi (2012) for a for-mal analysis of the more in English along these lines. A fourth possibility is that a superlative interpretation arises more or less directly from the composition of a comparative meaning and the meaning of the de fnite article, just as the sur face form suggests. We show that a moderate instantiation of the last-mentioned strategy is vi-able, both for d ef + cmp languages and for certain cases in English like the more qualifed candidate ( of the two ). In a nutshell, the standard argument of the com-parative is saturated by a degree-type pronoun.
eBook - PDFThe Lexicogrammar of Adjectives
A Systemic Functional Approach to Lexis
- Gordon H. Tucker(Author)
- 1999(Publication Date)
- Continuum(Publisher)
14 5.6.13 Superlatives and finishers Superlatives, like comparatives, associate with meanings realized through the finisher element of structure. The main option available involves the specifica-tion of the set from which the superlative members are drawn. In a sense it par-allels the finisher with comparative, as is shown in (76) and (77). (76) The most beautiful of all (77) More beautiful than all the others The descriptive dilemma lies in the similarity between these apparent finish-ers and what might be seen as the rest of the nominal group. Clearly, in (78) the material after the superlative contains the head to which the superlative applies. 86 The syntax of adjectives: the quality group The function of of the lot in (79) is less clear. (78) The most beautiful of the girls (79) The most beautiful of the lot The status of the q/-expression can be tested by attempting to add a noun after the superlative. With the examples above, this would prove successful for (79), i.e. the most beautiful girl of the lot, but not for (78), e.g *the most beautiful girl of the girls. This test rests on Fawcett's selection principle, which was introduced in the last section. In (78) the superlative determiner constitutes a further selection from the girls. In (79), it is a selection from some referent Thing, either covert when the superlative is in the nominal group at Subject, or recoverable anaphorically when the superlative is a quality group at Attribute in the clause. In the second instance, the expression of the lot is an aid to the recoverability of the referent Thing. The test also differentiates between the closely related expressions of them and of them alias illustrated in (80) and (81), and would indicate that the latter is a finisher, whereas the former contains the head of the nominal group. (80) *The biggest liar of them (81) The biggest liar of them all Unavoidably, the superlative-finisher structure involves discontinuity wherever a nominal head is realized.
- Frede Jensen(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- De Gruyter(Publisher)
In Late Latin, the relative su-perlative had been replaced by the comparative, as shown by the gloss optimos: meliores 'best' in the Glossary of Reichenau, but a formal dif-ferentiation becomes possible again in Romance with the introduction of the article, a word category which Latin did not possess. S. de Vogel (§ 24) describes the fluctuation in article use with the superlative as being hi-storically determined by the slow or gradual penetration of the article in Romance, and he gives seventeenth-century examples of the lack of an article, while the earliest documentation for a superlative preceded by an article dates back to the thirteenth century (Gamillscheg, p. 53). It is quite difficult to formulate precise rules for article use with the superlative. Tobler (I 176-177) takes issue with Diez' claim that comparatives tend to replace the Latin superlative in relative clauses, yet it is an easy matter to find passages that lend support to this broad explanation: car c'est li che-valiers el monde en cuigraindreproece abonde (Bel Inconnu 5048) 'for he is the knight in this world in whom the greatest prowess abounds'. The pro-blem is essentially that the explanation is too broad, and that at the same time it does not cover all occurrences of this feature. Turning to the syn-tactical function of the adjective in the sentence for an explanation, To-geby (§ 74,4-6) views non-expression of the article as a pronounced trend with predicates, direct objects and prepositional complements: Mordres vint as barons, a ceus qui estoient plus poissant (Mori Artu 136.23) 'Mor-dres came to the barons, to those who were the most powerful'; la chose 71 doni il en plus desirranz (Qneste 91.32) 'the thing he wanted the most'; cil qui ot plus isnel cheval vint devant (Cliges 3648) 'the one who had the fastest horse came forward'.
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