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Attributive comparatives without article and agreement

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Attributive comparatives may occur without agreement and without a preceding indefinite article in case they are used in a negative sentence.

In better-e bolle wie der net

a better.CG bull was there not

There was not a better bull

Better bolle wie der net

better bull was there not

There was not a better bull

Der is in better-e bolle

there is a better.CG bull

There is a better bull

*Der is grif better bolle

there is surely better bull

There is surely a better bull

Such comparatives without agreement and unaccompanied by the indefinite article, as in (1b), will be referred to as bare comparatives. Since the phenomenon of bare comparatives is especially found in negative sentences, it is actually an instance of negative polarity. The phenomenon can also be found in affirmative sentences, provided that the verb creates an intensional context:

Hy socht lytser fyts as dat ik tocht hie

he looked.for smaller bicycle than that I thought had

He looked for a smaller bicycle than I had thought

This may be taken as an indication that free choice interpretation is somehow involved. Certain items, like English any, have properties both of negative polarity items and of free choice items. The bare comparative seems to fall in the same class of phenomena. The loss of agreement and the loss of the indefinite article must go hand in hand. One without the other is ungrammatical, as shown by the following two sentences:

*In better bolle wie der net

a better bull was there not

There was not a better bull

*Better-e bolle wie der net

a better.CG bull was there not

There was not a better bull

The phenomenon can also occur in plural Noun Phrases (NPs):

Better bollen wiene der net

better bulls were there not

There were not any better bulls

A characteristic property of bare comparatives is that they may not be preceded by quantifiers, except for the negative quantifier gjin no:

*Trije heger tuorren wiene der mar

three higher towers were there only

There were only three higher towers

*Hoefolle heger tuorren wiene der?

how.many higher towers were there

How many higher towers were there?

Dat nea gjin heger bigearten yn him opkommen

that never no higher desires in him arose

How is it possible that there never arose higher desires in him

En yn jierren gjin heger klanken heard hiene

and in years no higher sounds heard had

And had not heart higher sounds in years

It may be supposed that bare comparatives occur in a quantifier position, which would explain why they may not co-occur with quantifiers themselves. This suggestion receives further support from the fact that bare comparatives cannot be stacked, unlike normal comparatives. This is shown in the following two examples:

In djoerder-e grutter-e auto wie der net

a more.expensive.CG bigger.CG car was there not

There was not a more expensive and bigger car

*Djoerder grutter auto wie der net

a more.expensive.CG bigger.CG car was there not

There was not a more expensive and bigger car

There is, however, one quantifier which may co-occur with bare comparatives: negation, a quantifier which itself combines with other quantifiers:

Der wie gjin rêder reedrider as Rintsje

there was no faster skater than Rintsje

There was not a faster skater than Rintsje

The fact that gjin no is the only quantifier allowed to precede bare comparatives indicates that negative polarity is a factor of relevance to this phenomenon, even though it cannot be the whole story, in view of the fact that some speakers accept examples with bare comparatives without negation. This is reminiscent of items such as English any, which combines properties of negative polarity items with those of free choice items. The bare comparative may also be derived from a nominalized adjective, which results in examples like the following:

Der stie in frommeske efter 'e taap, hy hie nea grouwer sjoen

there stood a woman behind the bar he had never fatter seen

There was a woman behind the bar, he had never seen a fatter one

Der binne wol folle jonger as ik dy't in bril ha moatte

there are MP much younger than I who a spectacles have much

There are much younger persons than me, who have to use spectacles

Der is gjin minder as pinemûle

there is no less than toothache

There is nothing worse than a toothache

The second example shows that the bare comparative can expand, as in folle jonger, like normal comparatives. Whereas ordinarily nominalized adjectives are marked with -e (see: Noun ellipsis), bare comparatives must remain unmarked even if they are nominalized. This indicates that the process of forming bare comparatives destroys the structural environment that causes the nominal -e to appear, while still allowing nominalization in itself.

The nominalized bare comparative may have a non-count interpretation which is compatible with a propositional interpretation for the comparative complement. An ordinary nominalized comparative preceded by the indefinite article receives a count interpretation, which is incompatible with a propositional interpretation. Compare the following two sentences:

Der is gjin minder as pinemûle

there is no less than toothache

There is nothing worse than a toothache

*Der is net in mindere as pinemûle

there is no less than toothache

There is nothing worse than a toothache

The ungrammatical sentence features a propositional interpretation for the comparative complement, seeing that the intended meaning for the comparative complement is having a toothache.

If the comparative complement is countable, then a sentence featuring an ordinary nominalized comparative is acceptable:

Ja de rjochtsback. Der is net in mindere as dizze

yes the right.wing.defender there is not a less than this.one

There is not a worse right back than this one

A bare comparative is compatible with a countable complement as well:

Ja de rjochtsback. Der is gjin minder as dizze

yes the right.wing.defender there is no less than this.one

There is not a worse right back than this one

Bare comparatives share their lack of agreement with certain quantifiers which lack agreement in case they are outside the agreement domain:

De hiel-e wrâld

the.CG whole.CG world

The whole world

Hiel de wrâld

whole the.CG world

The whole world

That bare comparatives lack an overt marker for agreement and nominalization is a property which they share with quantifiers as well:

Guon minsken

some people

Some people

Ik ha guon sjoen

I have some seen

I have seen some of them

extra

Literature

This section makes grateful use of an unpublished article by J. Hoekstra (1998).

References

Hoekstra, JarichBare comparatives in Frisian and the structure of quantified noun phrases 1998

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About this article

Author(s): Eric Hoekstra, Joke Weening

Category: Frisian Syntax

Keywords: attributive comparative

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Eric Hoekstra, Joke Weening	December 2015

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