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Chapter ##

COMPARATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS

ike all other Chadic languages and like African languages in general, Bole
expresses comparison by using verbs that state a relation between the comparee
and the comparand rather than by altering the form of the quality expression that
states the standard of comparison, as in European languages. The primary verbs
of comparison in Bole are &ya\ ‘surpass’ and aæla\ = maæna\ ‘be equal to, be

as…as…’. The verb ê ‘do’ can also express the equative relation. The Hausa loanward

ka¥su ‘fail, fall short’ allows direct expression of a ‘less than’ relation. There are also a few
other costructions with unrelated syntax that have comparative meaning.

All the verbs of comparsion can be used in two configurations:

• comparee + verb + comparand (+ bo\ quality)
• quality-of comparand + verb + that-of comparee

We illustrate expressions of comparison according to these configurations.

1. Comparee + Verb + Comparand (+ bo

¥ Standard)

The direct object of the verb of comparison is the comparand, i.e. the entity to

whom/which the subject is being compared. The quality that expresses the standard of
comparison is in a phrase introduced by bo¥, which has the base meaning ‘mouth’ but which
serves as a preposition expressing a variety of functional relations. The words expressing
the standard of comparison may be of any lexical category that can represent a quality,
including nouns, such as da\tì ‘height’, adjectives (##), such as sêrì ‘big’ or pe¥tìlaæ ‘white’,
and ideophonic adjectives (##), such as kaækkìfiaæk ‘hard’ or sho¥ro¥ro¥ ‘watery. In
comparative constructions expessing a current state, verbs of comparison are in the
completive, the normal TAM for expressing a state, and they always take the totality
extension -tu\ (##) in “ neutral” affirmative statements. Certain types of constructions,
notably negatives and questions, systematically exclude the totality extension, an exclusion
that equally holds for comparative constructions.

Comparatives

Bamoi &ya\-tu¥

Dêsaæ bo¥

sêrì

‘Bamoi is bigger than Disa’

Bamoi

surpass(cpl)-tot Disa

concerning bigness

næ &ya\-tu¥ Bamoi bo¥ da\tì

‘I am taller than Bamoi’
i.e. ‘I surpass Bamoi concerning height’

ka &ya\tu¥ ina bo¥ goæΩ

‘you are better looking that me’
i.e. ‘you surpass me concerning beauty’

monde¥mu &yantuæn mìssu bo¥ geæfieæu

‘our women are stronger than theirs’

teæmshi ye &yattuæk koæm ye bo¥ pe¥tìlaæ

‘the sheep is whiter than the cow’

soni &ya\tu¥ shukuær bo¥ daælìntaæ

‘honey is sweeter than sugar’

L

2

kuæfia eme\ &ya\tu¥ ama\ bo¥ ndaæfiaΩ

‘this pot is heavier than that one’

fiinsa du¥mo &ya\tu¥ n; ya\wi bo¥ kaækkìfiaæk

‘a guinea fowl egg is harder than that of a
chicken’

biyeæ kuæshi &ya\tu¥ n; fiassuæm bo¥ sho¥ro¥ro¥

‘the baobab sauce is more watery than the
vegetable (sauce)’

shonshoæne\ &yaæla ye &ya\tu¥ n; kisa\toæ bo¥ shoææmshoæm ‘today the grain is more fermented

than it was yesterday’

Equatives (any of the verbs aæla\ ‘reach’, ê ‘do’, maæna\ ‘suffice’ could be used in these
examples)

næ aæla\-tu¥

ishi bo¥

geæfieæu

‘I’m equal to him in strength’

I

reach(cpl)-tot him

concerning strength

Bamoi ê-tu¥

Dêsaæ bo¥

sêrì

‘Bamoi is as big as Disa’

Bamoi

do(cpl)-tot Disa concerning bigness

eme\ maæna\tu¥

ama\ bo¥

koæfifie‘this one is as fat as that one’

this

suffice(cpl)-tot that

concerning fatness

teæmshiye aælattuæk¶attuæk

koæm ye bo¥

pe¥tìlaæ

‘the sheep is as white as

sheep

the reach(cpl-f)-tot/do(cpl-f)-tot cow

the concerning whiteness

the cow’

næ ê-tuæ Bamoi bo¥ da\tì

‘I am as tall as Bamoi’
i.e. ‘I do Bamoi concerning height’

so\ni aæla\tu¥¶êtu¥ shukuær bo¥ daælìntaæ

‘honey is as sweet as sugar’

kuæfia eme\ aæla\tu¥¶êtu¥ ama\ bo¥ ndaæfiaΩ ‘this pot is as heavy as that one’

gam eme\ maænta\tu¥ koæm ama\ bo¥ do\do ‘this ram is as expensive as that cow’

i.e. this ram suffices that cow concerning money

“Less than”

næ ka¥su-tu¥ Bamoi bo¥

da¥ti

‘I am not as tall as Bamoi’

I

fail(cpl)-tot Bamoi concerning height

Bamoi ka¥sutu¥ Dêsaæ bo¥ sêrì

‘Bamoi is not as big as Disa’
i.e. ‘Bamoi fails Disa concerning size’

The comparand or the standard of comparison may be omitted if the individual or set to

which the comparee is being compared are known from context. The bo¥ phrase expressing
the standard of comparison may be omitted if the quality being compared is known from
context. Both comparand and quality may even be omitted with enough context.

Bamoi &ya\tu¥ bo¥ da\tì

‘Bamoi is taller’

ka &ya\tu¥ bo¥ goæΩ

‘you are better looking’

Bamoi &ya\tu¥ Dêsaæ

‘Bamoi is better than Disa’

ka &ya\tu¥ inaæ

‘you are better than me’

concoæne\ karaæi &yantuæn (m mba¥no) bo¥ ja]u ‘goods are more expensive (than they were

last year)’

karaæikoæ aæ &ye\naæti bo¥ pe¥tìlaæ (ba¥ ka pu\shuwo¥ gaæ Omo) ‘your clothes will be whiter (if

you wash them with Omo)’

Bamoi &ya\-tuæ-wo

‘Bamoi is better, Bamoi is best’

Bamoi

surpass-tot-cpl

3

In the negative and in word questions (“ wh-questions” ), verbs in comparative

constructions do not bear the totality extension because of a general grammatical restriction
against the totality in such sentences (##).

Negatives

Bamoi &ya\ Dêsaæ bo¥ da\tì sa

‘Bamoi is not taller than Disa’

ka &ya\-na\ bo¥ goæn sa

‘you are not better looking than me’

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næ &ya\-ka\ sa bo¥ da\tì ≠ næ &ya\-ka\ bo¥ da\tì sa ‘I am not taller than you’

Bamoi &ya\ Maduæ sa bo¥ da\tì ≠ Bamoi &ya\ Maduæ bo¥ da\tì sa

‘Bamoi is not taller than Madu’

shukuær &ya\ so\ni sa bo¥ daælìntanta ≠ shukur &ya\ so\ni bo¥ daælìntaæ sa

‘sugar is not sweeter than honey’

da\nde¥ko &yan mìnno sa bo¥ wa¥yo ≠ da\nde¥ko &yan mìnno bo¥ wa¥yo sa

‘your children are not smarter than mine’

Bamoi ê Dêsaæ bo¥ gaæran sa

‘Bamoi is not a big as Disa’

eme\ maæna\ ama\ sa bo¥ sêrì ≠ eme\ maæna\ ama\ bo¥ sêrì sa

‘this one is not as big as that one’

Questions

&ya\

Maduæ bo¥

da\tì ye loæ@

‘who is taller than Madu?’

exceed Madu

concerning height PS who

but *&ya\tu¥ Maduæ bo¥ da\tì ye loæ@

with totality extension -tu¥

Bamoi &ya\

loæ bo¥

da\tì@

‘who is Bamoi taller than?’

Bamoi

exceed who concerning height

but *Bamoi &ya\tu¥ loæ bo¥ da\tì@

with totality extension -tu¥

Bamoi &ya\

Maduæ gaæ taæn@

‘in what way is Bamoi superior to Madu?’

Bamoi

exceed Madu

with how

but *Bamoi &ya\tu¥ Maduæ gaæ taæn@

with totality extension -tu¥

2. Quality-of Comparand + Verb + that-of Comparee

Another means of expressing comparison consists of a genitive noun phrase stating the

quality of the comparand followed by a comparative predicate.

da¥ti-no &ya\-tu¥

m;

Bamoi

‘I am taller than Bamoi’

height-my surpass(pf)-tot that-of Bamoi

kaækkìfiaæk fiinsa du¥mo &ya\tu¥ n; ya\wi

‘the hardness of a guinea fowl egg is greater
than that of a chicken’s’

sho¥ro¥ro¥ biyeæ kuæshi &ya\tu¥ n; fiassuæm bo¥ sho¥ro¥ro¥

‘the wateriness of the baobab sauce is greater
than that of the vegetable [sauce]’

1

Note that in the affirmative ka &ya\tu¥

INA

bo¥ goæΩ ‘you are better looking than

ME

’, the object pronoun

comparand (in small caps) is an independent pronoun, whereas in the negative ka &ya\-

NA

| bo¥ goæn sa ‘you

are not better looking than me’, the object pronoun is a clitic. Direct object pronouns are always in the
independent form following the totality extension (##).

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shoæmshoæm &yaæla ye &ya\tu¥ n; kisa\toæ

‘the fermentedness of the grain is greater than
yesterday’s’

so'n-no êtu¥

m;

Bamoi

‘I am as old as Bamoi’

year-my do(cpl)-tot that-of Bamoi

waænshuærto êtu¥ mìnno

‘she is as grey-haired as me’
i.e. ‘her grey-hair does mine’

da¥tino ka¥sutu¥ m; Bamoi

‘I am less tall than Bamoi’
i.e. ‘my height falls-short-of that of Bamoi’

3. Miscellaneous Constructions Expressing Comparison

There are a couple of additional ways to express equation. One is to use mo\fiì ‘one, the

same’ as the predicate, with no verb. The other is the structure

comparee (+ quality) + mana ‘like’ + comparand

Bamoi gaæ Dêsaæ da\tìsu mo\fiì

‘Bamoi and Disa are the same height’
i.e. ‘(as for) Bamoi and Disa, their height [is] one’

goæm-mu mo\fiì

‘we are equally good looking’
i.e. ‘our-attractiveness [is] one’

so\ni daælìntaæ mana shukuær

‘honey is as sweet as sugar’
i.e. ‘honey is sweet like sugar’

cf. gam eme\ mana ama\

‘this ram is like that one’

One verb, sÏru ‘be older than’, includes the notion of comparison within its meaning.

The base for this verb is the adjective sêrì ‘big, important’. Bole does not have a productive
process for deriving verbs from adjectives, however, and for the one other existing verb with
a related adjective, mànshu ‘grow old’ (< mànshù ‘old’), the verbal meaning is not
comparative.

sÏru-tu¥

inaæ

‘he is older than me’

be older(cpl)-tot me

Sentences with the verb kaæya\ ‘precede’ have the syntax of comparative constructions

see in §1, and such sentences sometimes lend themselves to a comparative in English
translation.

kaæya\tu¥ ina bo¥ nda¥ko

‘he came before me’, i.e. ‘he preceded me concerning coming’,
which would also be translated ‘he came earlier than me’