Analysis of comparative and superlative forms (indefinite and definite)

We start our consideration of accent assignment and the comparative and superlative with the following examples.

(37) Adjective inflection: Positive, comparative, superlative

Positive Comparative Superlative Gloss

a. 'flott1 'flottere2 flottest1 splendid

b. 'trygg1 'tryggere2 'tryggest1 safe

c. 'ung1 'yngre1 'yngst1 young

d. 'stor1 'større1 'størst1 big

e. 'god1 'bedre1 'best1 good

f. gammel2 'eldre1 'eldst1 old⁴⁷

g. 'mager1 'magrere2 'magrest1 lean

h. 'moden2 'modnere2 'modnest1 ripe

i. 'fremmed2 mer fremmed2 mest fremmed2 strange

j. so'lid1 so'lidere1 so'lidest1 solid

k. ab'surd1 ab'surdere1 ab'surdest1 absurd

l. sja'lu1 mer sja'lu1 mest sja'lu1 jealous

In the examples in (37), we see that in the second column the comparative suffix {-ere} is added to the monosyllables (37a,b) producing trisyllables with Accent 2, which speaks for no lexical specification of the stem or suffix. In the next two examples (37c,d), monosyllables undergo umlauting of the stem vowel plus the addition of a {-re} suffix resulting in Accent-1 disyllables. This reminds us of the umlauted plural which, as we saw in (5), is lexically specified for causing umlaut of the stem vowel and bearing Accent 1. The comparative and superlative forms of the next examples 'god1 ‘good’ (37e) and 'gammel2 ‘old’ (37f) look like forms that would be very difficult for a language learner. They seem to have idiosyncratic forms that all take Accent 1, i.e., 'bedre1, 'best1 (37e), 'eldre1, 'eldst1 (37f). It would be no wonder if such idiosyncratic forms must be stored in the lexicon. Diachronically these are suppletive forms, as in English (better, best), German (besser, beste) and Dutch (beter, best), that only occur in the comparative and superlative. The position of the lacking positive form was filled by an unrelated adjective that was only found in the positive, i.e., god, gammel (cf.

47. In spoken Norwegian, one can also encounter 'gamlere, 'gamlest (Faarlund et.al. 1997:353).

Noreen 1970:§440 (301)).⁴⁸ They could, however, also have Accent 1 because they are underlyingly monosyllabic. According to Oftedal (1952), Old Scandinavian had monosyllabic comparatives of adverbs such as lengr ‘longer’, verr ‘worse’, betr ‘better’. Since they ended in two consonants, at one point an epenthetic vowel was inserted, and they became disyllabic yet remained Accent 1. We must wait to see how these forms fare with an additional syllable in the definite superlative in (38) to be certain of whether they are lexically specified or monosyllabic.

The next examples 'mager1 ‘lean’ and 'moden2 ‘ripe’ in (37g,h) once again take the comparative {-ere} suffix, as did (37a,b), producing an Accent-2 form out of the monosyllabic /magr/, i.e., 'magrere2 ‘leaner’, and retaining Accent 2 in 'modnere2 ‘riper’. In (37i) 'fremmed2, we have an example of a polysyllabic adjective that has periphrastic forms in the comparative and superlative, a phenomenon often found in Germanic languages. These periphrastic forms are constructed with mer ‘more’ + adjective and mest ‘most’ + adjective in the comparative and superlative, respectively. The accent of these forms does not differ from that of the positive. This applies to the last example as well, sja'lu1 in (37l), which either complies with the Disyllabic Trochee Rule, or has Accent 1 because it is lexically specified.⁴⁹ We prefer the latter explanation, although we have no proof up to now. For examples (37j) and (37k), however, we do have proof. These two also have final stress in the positive, yet, not in the comparative and superlative forms. Here they both have disyllabic troches and still Accent 1, therefore must have lexically specified stems, i.e., /s+olid/, /a+bsurd/, since these inflectional suffixes also appear in Accent-2 forms, and thus cannot be lexically specified.

Summarising the facts, we would posit that there are two allomorphs of the comparative suffix: unspecified {-ere} and prespecified {-·r+e}. Note, that this analysis runs parallel to our analysis for the indefinite plural, for which we assumed an unspecified suffix {-er}, and a lexically specified umlauting suffix {-·e+r}. Here too in the comparative, we posit that the more common suffix {-ere} is unmarked for accent. Its influence on the stem is just as if two additional syllables are added. This suffix is found in examples (37a,b,g,h,j,k). The accent of

48. Norwegian has 2 positive adjectives denoting ‘good’, god and bra. Although bra appears to be phonologically similar to bedre and best, it is a loanword from French (brave). The other positive form god comes from ON goDr.

49. The adjective sja'lu1 can also have the forms sja'luere1 ‘more jealous’, sja'luest1 ‘most jealous’ for some speakers. This shows that they are indeed lexically specified.

the comparative form with this suffix then depends on the stem: if the stem bears no lexical specification, then Accent 2 will be the outcome, i.e., (37a) 'flottere2 ‘more splendid’, (37b) 'tryggere2 ‘safer’, (37g) 'magrere2 ‘leaner’, and (37h) 'modnere2 ‘riper’. If the stem is lexically specified, Accent 1 will be retained, i.e., (37j) so'lidere1 ‘more solid’, (37k) ab'surdere1 ‘more absurd’. The other comparative allomorph {-·r+e} is less common and lexically specified, which goes hand in hand with umlauting of the stem vowel, i.e., 'større1 ‘bigger’ in (37d). All adjectives that take this comparative suffix will have Accent 1 (e.g. 'ung1, 'yngre1, 'yngst1

‘young, younger, youngest’). The remaining polysyllabic comparatives are idiosyncratic and will also have to be lexically specified, i.e., 'be+dre1 ‘better’ in (37e) and e+ldre1 ‘older’ in (37f).

The superlatives, listed in the third column of (37), all have Accent 1, excluding the periphrastic form mest 'fremmed2 ‘most strange/strangest’ in (37i). Therefore, two possibilities present themselves. On the one hand, the superlative suffix could be {-st} with an epenthetic vowel after accent assignment. On the other hand, the superlative suffix could also be lexically specified {-+st}, thus affecting that all forms with this suffix will have Accent 1. The evidence is insufficient to choose one analysis over the other at the moment, but we will be able to motivate why we think the superlative suffix is lexically specified {-+st} after discussing polysyllabic nouns following (38). The last suffix we will now explore concerning adjectives and inflection, is the definite superlative suffix {-ste}, e.g. in den stør-ste bilen ‘the biggest car’, listed in column three below.

(38) Adjective inflection: The indefinite and definite superlative Positive Indefinite

superlative

Definite

superlative Gloss

a. 'flott1 'flottest1 'flotteste2 splendid

b. 'trygg1 'tryggest1 'tryggeste2 safe

c. 'ung1 'yngst1 'yngste2 young

i. 'fremmed2 mest 'fremmed2 mest 'fremmede2 strange

j. so'lid1 so'lidest1 so'lideste1 solid

k. ab'surd1 ab'surdest1 ab'surdeste1 absurd l. sja'lu1 mest sja'lu1 mest sja'lu1 jealous

The definite superlative suffix {-(e)ste} is added to the adjectives in the third column of (38), once again producing polysyllabic Accent-2 forms with lexically unspecified stems (38a-i). Thus, we have different behaviour for the indefinite and definite superlatives. If we consider polymorphemic forms like we saw in Kristoffersen (2000), e.g. heder1 ‘honor’, 'hederlig2 ‘honest’, 'hederligst1 ‘most honest’, 'hederligste2 ‘most honestDEF’ or also 'morsom2

‘funny’, 'morsommere2 ‘funnier’, 'morsomst1 ‘funniest’, 'morsomste2 ‘funniestDEF’. Our analysis for the superlative now should be that the indefinite superlative suffix is lexically specified, since all words containing this morpheme have Accent 1 – including these polymorphemic forms. Although 'hederlig and 'morsom are not monomorphemic, they are polysyllabic and have Accent 2 – except in the indefinite superlative – insinuating that they are not lexically specified. Words like 'hederligst1 and 'morsomst1 thus provide us with evidence that the indefinite superlative suffix {-+st} is lexically specified for Accent 1, because it goes against our approach to assume that lexical accent can be deleted or overruled by default accent.

Therefore, our claim is that there are two different superlative suffixes for the indefinite and definite: a lexically specified indefinite superlative suffix {-+st}, and an unspecified definite suffix {-ste}. How accent assignment works with these two different suffixes is illustrated in (39) and (40).

(39) Accent assignment and the indefinite superlative⁵⁰ Lexical

representation > Stress & accent

assignment > Epenthesis Gloss

a. /flott/ /s+t/ > 'flottst1 > 'flottest1 most splendid b. /magr/ /s+t/ > 'magrst1 > 'magrest1 leanest c. /so+lid/ /s+t/ > so'lidst1 > so'lidest1 most solid (40) Accent assignment and the definite superlative

Lexical

representation > Stress & accent

assignment > Epenthesis Gloss

a. /flott/ /ste/ > 'flottste2 > 'flotteste2 the most splendid b. /magr/ /ste/ > 'magrste2 > 'magreste2 the leanest c. /so+lid/ /ste/ > so'lidste1 > so'lideste1 the most solid

50. We assume there is epenthesis when {-st} is attached directly to the stressed syllable because of cases where there is no epenthesis 'morsomst ‘funniest’.

This analysis of the superlative suffixes will even hold up with the seemingly difficult derivations of 'heder1 ‘honour’, 'hederlig2 ‘honest’, 'hederligst1 ‘most honest’, 'hederligste2

‘most honestDEFINITE’, which lead Kristoffersen (2000) to classify the superlative suffix as

“accent deleting”, however, only under special circumstances (2000:260f).

(41) Derivation of 'hederligst1 and 'hederligste2

Lexical representation

Stress & accent

assignment Epenthesis Gloss a. /hedr/ > 'hedr1 > 'heder1 honour b. /hedr/ /lig/2 > 'hedrlig2 > 'hederlig2 honest c. /hedr/ /lig/ /s+t/ > 'hedrligst1 > 'hederligst1 most honest d. /hedr/ /lig//ste/ > 'hedrligste2 > 'hederligste2 most honest (DEF)

We are not totally satisfied with this analysis. The opposition of non-syllabic {-st} vs.

syllabic {-ste} awakes the suspicion that we are dealing with differences in foot structure and not lexical specification. However, we have to postpone looking deeper into this issue for future research.