Abstract

Comparison can be divided into three types: comparison of equality, comparison of inequality and superlative. In this paper, comparative sentences refer to those that express comparison of inequality. We only focus on the affirmative forms of comparative sentences in Hui’an Southern Min, which is spoken in Hui’an County of Fujian province and belongs to the Quan-Zhang subgroup of Southern Min dialect family. The discussion here is based on the data from the Town of Luocheng, the county seat of Hui’an County. The data are collected mainly from two resources: (a) spoken data, i.e. natural occuring conversations and (b) field elicitation, i.e. the informants are asked to translate the Mandarin sentences into Hui’an Southern Min version. Heine (1997) points out that superior comparatives are based on propositions consisting of the following five elements: comparee, predicate, degree marker, marker of standard and standard. The following is an example provided by Heine (1997).

Highlights

  • Comparison can be divided into three types: comparison of equality, comparison of inequality and superlative

  • It should be noted that type (a), i.e. ‘comparee pi3 standard kha>6 predicate’, is the dominating type of comparative sentences, since only this type is found in the spoken data we collected except one example of type (c) i.e. ‘comparee kha>6 predicate standard’

  • This paper examines three types of comparative sentences which express comparison of inequality in Hui’an Southern Min, i.e. ‘comparee pi3 standard kha>6 predicate’, ‘comparee predicate khL5 standard’ and ‘compare kha>6 predicate standard’, in terms of (a) the main elements of comparative sentences; (b) the direction of marking and (c) the ordering of the standarnd and the marker of standard

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Summary

Introduction

Comparison can be divided into three types: comparison of equality, comparison of inequality and superlative. ‘comparee pi standard kha>6 predicate’, is the dominating type of comparative sentences, since only this type is found in the spoken data we collected except one example of type (c) i.e. The three types of comparative sentences in Hui’an Southern Min will be examined based on the parameters (i) (iii) and (iv) mentioned above.

Three types of comparative sentences
Comparee predicate khL5 standard
A history of immigrants in Fujian and Hui’an County
Conclusion
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