6 Adjectives in Papantla Totonac 157(b) *ma:qalhtawaqi:nd tasi': Juan
ma:-qalhtawaqa-i:-nan-? ta-si':-ya: Juan
CAUS-recite/read-CAUS-iNDEROBj-NR iNGR-visible(Vst)-icpL Juan
'Juan looks like a teacher.'2.4. COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE
Comparatives and superlatives are done by periphrastic means. Comparative con-
structions of inequality employ an adverb borrowed from Spanish, mas 'more', that
introduces the basis of comparison, and a native item, katu:ni 'with regard to, in
comparison to' that introduces the compared term (19).
(19) xlama:s lanka'katu:ni akit
he more big with.respect.to I
'S/he is bigger than me.'
Comparisons of equality use the comparative adverb la: 'like, as', linking two nom-
inals, so they require the nominalization of the adjectives that yields abstract
names of quality, (20).
(20) xla ixli:kcund la: minqa'wasa.
xla ix-li:-akcu-nd? la: Bmin-qa'wasa
s/he 3POSS-iNST-small-NR like 2poss-boy
'S/he is as tall as your son.' (Lit. 'She, her size is like your son.')
The superlative construction also uses the Spanish mas 'more', but the adjective
that is the basis of comparison is obligatorily specified with xa-, as in (22). Here it
is very clear that xa- presupposes a set, and it selects one element out of it, the ref-
erent that has the quality of tallness to its highest degree.
(21) [...] La Torre Latinoamericana, ni:mama:s xa-ta:lhmd:nnakMexico.
REL more XA-tall LOG Mexico
[...] La Torre Latinoamericana, which is the tallest [building] in Mexico
3 Word formation and semantic classes
Observing property concepts based on morphological and semantic grounds also
lends support to a category of Adjective in PT.
3.1. MONOMORPHEMIC ITEMS
As in several other languages described in this volume (Tariana, Chapter 4;
Manange, Chapter 3) and elsewhere (for Ewe, see Ameka 1991; for several Afri-
can languages, see Dixon 1982), monomorphemic items constitute a smallish set,
thirteen members, ordered by semantic types as in (22).