CONLANG: languages that do without comparatives (fwd)

["Peter L. Schuerman" <plschuerman@UCDAVIS.EDU>]

This reminded me of some of the things we'd been discussing...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 07:45:39 +0600
From: ocls@SIBYLLINE.COM
To: conlang@diku.dk
Subject: CONLANG: languages that do without comparatives

I would be interested to know what languages do without comparatives -- I
had assumed they were, loosely speaking, semantic universals. The closest
thing I know to "no comparatives" is the Kumeyaay languages, which has been
said to be without them. But if you ask a Kumeyaay speaker what he or she
would say to express the concept that Bill is taller than Tom, you will get
the following construction: Bill is tall; Tom is tall; Bill wins.

Suzette Haden Elgin