Comparative and superlative clauses 171
(124) Penter-ran Ita bi' Siti.
smart-AN Ita with Siti
‘Ita is smarter than Siti.’
The other major strategy for forming the comparative is to use the adver-
bial lebbi ‘more’, which modifies the adjectival predicate. This is the same
structure found in Indonesian.
(125) Ita lebbi penter dhari Siti.
Ita more smart from Siti
‘Ita is smarter than Siti.’
(126) Rudi lebbi kowat katembang Deni.
Rudi more strong than Deni
‘Rudi is stronger than Deni.’
A comparative can also be expressed with lebbi as a predicate. In this
structure, the property being compared occurs in a nominalized form and takes
the subject of the previous construction as its possessor. The nominalized verb
together with the possessor form the subject NP with lebbi ‘more’ as predicate
and the object of comparison again in a prepositional phrase. The sentence in
(127) expresses the same basic proposition as (123).
(127) Senneng-nga Dini lebbi katembang Lukfi.
happy-DEF Dini more than Lukfi
‘Dini is happier than Lukfi.’
lit. ‘Dini’s happiness is greater than Lukfi’s.’
In a parallel way, korang ‘less/lack’ can be the predicate of a clause that asserts
that one thing has less of some property than another. The sentence in (128)
denotes the same balance of happiness as (127).
(128) Senneng-nga Lukfi korang katembang Dini.
happy-DEF Lukfi less than Dini
‘Lukfi is less happy than Dini.’
lit. ‘Lukfi’s happiness is less than Dini’s.’
The object of comparison of the positive assertion becomes the possessor of the
nominalized verb of the negative assertion and vice versa.
To assert that two entities have equal amounts of some property, the same
basic structures can be used substituting padha ‘same’ for lebbi. Thus the sen-
tences in (129) are synonymous as are those in (130). For some speakers the
definite suffix on the property of comparison is optional, but the variant with it