Cover not available

In:Similative and Equative Constructions: A cross-linguistic perspective
Edited by Yvonne Treis and Martine Vanhove
[Typological Studies in Language 117] 2017
► pp. 213–238

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
authorization required

Chapter 8
Expressing comparison in Gbaya, a Ubangian language of the Central African Republic

Published online: 31 May 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.117.09rou
Abstract
Gbaya, an Ubangian language of Central Africa, shows that all types of comparison are qualitative expressions and not quantitative ones involving a parameter of gradation or degree. Following the theoretical framework proposed in Fuchs (2014), this chapter first presents the use of the dedicated similative circumposition hé … gá. It expresses, in different contexts, a way of doing (modus faciendi) or a way of being (modus essendi). It frames a nominal phrase and can also be used as a subordinating morpheme to frame a clause. Then, the comparison of equality is studied and analysed as a special case of similative comparison, in which the reciprocal morpheme is added to the circumposition. Another construction of comparison of equality, which does not involve the circumposition, also uses the reciprocal and is formed with two verbs hɔ ‘reach’ and ɲɛm ‘suit’. As for the comparison of superior inequality, it is shown that it has a dedicated construction, different from the similative and equative constructions. It is formed with a verb sequence including the verb gan ‘exceed’. Comparison of inferior inequality does not exist. Finally, the functive morpheme is distinct from the similative one.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Expressing comparison
  • 3.Similative comparison
    • 3.1The similative predication
    • 3.2Expanding the comparee
      • 3.2.1Nominal comparee
        • 3.2.1.1Standard = contextual reference
        • 3.2.1.2Standard = prototypical reference
      • 3.2.2Adjectival comparee
        • 3.2.2.1Standard = prototypical reference
        • 3.2.2.2Standard = contextual reference
      • 3.2.3Verbal comparee
        • 3.2.3.1Standard = prototypical reference
        • 3.2.3.2Standard = contextual reference
      • 3.2.4Summary
    • 3.3The similative subordinate clause
      • 3.3.1The similative subordinate clause following the main clause (C1 hé C2 gá)
        • 3.3.1.1Expressing a modus faciendi
        • 3.3.1.2Simulating a modus essendi
        • 3.3.1.3Omission of a similative element
      • 3.3.2The similative subordinate clause preceding the main clause (hé C1 gá C2)
        • 3.3.2.1The causal similative
        • 3.3.2.2Omission of a similative element
      • 3.3.3Summary
  • 4.Comparison of (in)equality
    • 4.1Comparison of equality
      • 4.1.1The reciprocal màá as the standard
        • 4.1.1.1The equative nominal predicate
        • 4.1.1.2Adjectival comparee
      • 4.1.2The reciprocal màá with the verbs hɔ and ɲɛm
        • 4.1.2.1hɔ màá ‘look like, be the same as’
        • 4.1.2.2ɲɛm màá ‘be equal, equivalent’
    • 4.2Comparison of inequality
      • 4.2.1Comparison of superiority
      • 4.2.2Comparison of inferiority
  • 5.The functive
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (10)
References
Fortescue, Michael. 2010. Similitude: A conceptual category. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 42 (2): 117–142. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fuchs, Catherine. 2014. La comparaison et son expression en français. Paris: Ophrys.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin & Buchholz, Oda. 1998. Equative and similative constructions in the languages of Europe. In Adverbial Constructions in the Languages of Europe, Johan van der Auwera (ed.), 277–334. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matthews, Peter H. 2007. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, 2nd edn. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moñino, Yves. 1995. Le proto-gbaya, essai de linguistique comparative historique sur vingt-et-une langues d’Afrique centrale. Paris: Peeters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Roulon-Doko, Paulette. 1998. La prédication non processive en gbaya ɓodoe. In Les manières d'être et les mots pour le dire dans les langues d’Afrique Centrale, Paulette Roulon-Doko (ed.), 111–134. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2003. La polysémie du terme nɛ̀ en gbaya ‘bodoe. In Perspectives synchroniques sur la grammaticalisation : Polysémie, transcatégorialité et échelles syntaxiques, Stéphane Robert (ed.), 217–229. Paris: Peeters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2008. Le gbaya. In La qualification dans les langues africaines, Holger Tröbs, Eva Rothmaler & Kerstin Winkelmann (eds), 87–101. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wierzbicka, Anna. 1992. The search for semantic primitives. In Thirty Years of Linguistic Evolution, Martin Pütz (ed.), 215–242. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Oleniak, Mariana
2022. On an idiosyncratic type of an Old English simile. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 54:2 ► pp. 235 ff. DOI logo
Bobuafor, Mercy
2021. Comparative constructions in Tafi. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 42:2 ► pp. 163 ff. DOI logo
Chamoreau, Claudine & Yvonne Treis
2019. Comparaisons d’égalité et de similitude : comme du pareil au même. Faits de Langues 50:1 ► pp. 9 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 7 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue