The Arden Reference Grammar

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Comparative Particles

Comparison is done by means of two complementary sets of particles: one introducing the first term of comparison and another one introducing the second term of comparison.

The first term particles are three: deli for comparison of minority, lá for equative comparison, and uborr for comparison of majority.

The second term particles, which mark the kind of comparison, are four: lyes for simple comparison, talla for superlative comparison, ilan for deontic comparison, and mesi for standards comparison.

The latter two particles don't introduce a term of comparison, but stand on their own. Deontic comparison means that the object of comparison is too much, too less or exactly as needed with respect to an optimal measure. Standards comparison means that the object of comparison is less, as much as or more than what is considered the standard amount that should be present.

A further possibility is to entirely omit the second term of comparison. This construction is equivalent to an absolute superlative in English.

In the formal language, it is a requirement that the two terms of comparison are logically and grammatically parallel.

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