Comparative case
Grammatical case
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Examples
Uralic languages
An example of a comparative case which designates similarity to something is found in Mari, where the comparative case is the suffix -la (-ла) as in (1):
(1)
колла
kol-la
fish-COMP
'like fish'
Mari also uses the comparative case when denoting the language a person is speaking, writing, or hearing. Then, however, the accentuation varies slightly from the standard case. Usually, the suffix is not stressed. When it is used to denote a language, however, it is stressed.
In another Uralic language, Erzya-Mordvin, the comparative case suffix is -ška. The case is generally used to indicate similarity in size or quantity.
(2) a.
кудошка
kudo-ška
house-COMP.INDEF
'as big as a house'
(2) b.
ветешка
veťe-ška
five-COMP.INDEF
'about five'
Caucasian languages
An example of the comparative case marking the noun serving as the standard of comparison comes from the Chechen suffix -l. For example, the comparative suffix appears on sha 'ice' in shal shiila 'cold as ice':
(3)
sha-l
ice-COMP
shiila
cold
'as cold as ice'
The comparative case can also be found in Archi, a Northeast Caucasian language:
(7)
ʁuli-xur
dog-COMP
bošo
big
'Bigger than the dog.'
Turkic languages
Similarly, in the Turkic language Sakha (Yakut), the noun serving as the standard of comparison can be marked with the comparative case suffix -TĀGAr .
(4)
бу
Bu
DEM
ыт
ït
dog
аттааҕар
at-taaɣar
horse-COMP
түргэнник
türgennik
quickly
сүүрэр
süür-er
run-PRES
'This dog runs faster than a horse'
This latter sense of comparative case is similar to locational comparatives, where a locational case such as the ablative marks the noun in a standard of comparison, found in Turkic languages such as Uzbek:
(6)
ɔt-am
father-POSS.1SG
u
that
ɔdam-dan
man-ABL
yɔš
young
'My father is younger than that man'
Language isolates
Nivkh is another language with this comparative case suffix (-yk/-ak):
(5)
Tlaņi
reindeer
ķanņ-ak
dog-COMP
eɣ-d
be.fast-PRES
'A reindeer is faster than a dog'