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Equative with AP object of comparison
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An equative construction establishes an identity relation between two elements with respect to some kind of degree. An example is given below:

1
Jouke is like tûk as Romke
Jouke is as smart as Romke
Jouke is as smart as Romke

Jouke and Romke are ascribed the same degree of smartness, and that degree must be high, perhaps for pragmatic reasons. Equatives may not only take a Noun Phrase (NP) as object of comparison, but also an Adjective Phrase (AP) object.

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Equatives may be used as high degree intensifiers in case they take an AP object of comparison:

2
Jan is like sleau as âld
Jan is as slow as old
Jan is as slow as he is old. (i.e. very slow and very old)

Logically, the comparison of two adjectives does not need to say anything about the degree at which the two adjectives are compared. The sentence above, however, entails that the two adjectives both involve a high degree, which must therefore be a property of the construction as a whole.

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