234 Ho-min SohnAdjective: *acik celm-e issta
still young-iNF exist
'still stay young'Third, only adjectives and adverbs can be compared and thus occur in compara-
tive and superlative constructions as gradability' is one of their prototypical se-
mantic properties (Croft 1991). The typical comparative and superlative patterns
are given in (20).
(20) (a) A-ka B-pota te + ADJECTIVE
A-NOM B-than more
'A is more ADJECTIVE than B'
(b) A-ka X-cwung-eyse kacang/ceyil + ADJECTIVE
A-NOM X-among-from most/utmost
'A is the most ADJECTIVE among Xs'
In casual speech, an adverb can often be omitted in a comparative or superlative
construction, as in A nun B pota te (manh-i) ka-ss-ta A went more than B' and A-ka
X cwung-eyse kacang (manh-i) nol-ass-ta 'A played most among Xs', where manh-i
is an adverb meaning 'much'.
Furthermore, the idiomatized superlative phrase -ki ccak-epsta 'matchless'
occurs only with adjectives. Thus, kippu-ki ccak-epsta 'happy beyond measure' is
natural but nol-ki ccak-epsta 'play most' is unacceptable.
Fourth, the 'purposive' phrase -ki wiha-ye (NR for) 'in order to, with a view
to' and the desiderative phrase -ko siphta 'wish to, want to' occur only with verbs
before them.
(21) Verb: mek-ki wiha-ye ilha-n-ta
eat-NR for work-iN-DC
'work in order to eat'
ca-ko siph-ta
sleep-to wish-DC
'want to sleep'
Adjective: kippu-ki wiha-ye nolayha-n-ta
happy-NR for sing-iN-DC
'sing in order to be happy'
*kippu-ko siph-ta
happy-to wish-DC
'want to be happy'
Fifth, verbs can take many more auxiliary predicates than adjectives. Auxiliaries
like pelita 'finish doing', cwuta 'do for', twuta get it done just in case', nohta 'do for
later', kata 'continue', pota 'try', and malta 'end up' occur only with verbs, whereas
ppacita 'complete' and pota 'appear' can occur with both. The second verb in each
example in (22) is auxiliary.