20.3. Comparative constructions: The Focus Comparative
Models
| 1) | ESE ĆEḴ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE. | ‘I am bigger than you.’ |
| 2) | NIȽ ĆEḴ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE. | ‘He/she/it is bigger than you.’ |
| 3) | ESE ĆEḴ ¸E TŦEW¸NIȽ. | ‘I am bigger than him/her.’ |
| 4) | NIȽ ĆEḴ TŦE SW͸ḴE¸ ¸E ŦE SȽÁNI¸. | ‘The man is bigger than the woman.’ |
| 5) | NIȽ TŦE SW͸ḴE¸ ĆEḴ ¸E ŦE SȽÁNI¸. | ‘It’s the man that is bigger than the woman.’ |
| 6) | NIȽ ĆEḴ ȽÁ¸E ¸E TELÁ¸E. | ‘This one is bigger than that one there.’ |
| 7) | ESE U¸ ĆEḴ, I¸ NEȻE MEMIM¸EN¸. | ‘I am bigger than you.’ |
‣ 1 This is the second of three comparative constructions found in SENĆOŦEN. We will call this the Focus Comparative.
‣ 2 This is called the ‘Focus Comparative’ because its most characteristic feature is that one of the focus pronouns (§15.3) is the first word in the sentence. The focus pronouns are repeated here:
| ESE | ‘It is I.’ | |
| ȽNIṈEȽ | ‘It is we.’ | |
| NEȻE | ‘It is you.’ | |
| NEȻI¸LEYE¸ | ‘It is you folks.’ | |
| NIȽ | ‘It is he/she/it.’ | |
| NENI¸ȽEYE¸ | ‘It is they.’ |
‣ 3 There are two variants of the Focus Comparative. The first pattern is shown in the first six model sentences. This variant of the Focus Comparative consists of just one clause, unlike the ÁN¸ Comparative. In this formula for this variant of the Focus Comparative, the X is in parenthesis because it is optional (with the NIȽ focus). Here is the First Variant of the Focus Comparative:
FOCUS QUALITY (X) ¸ E Y
Study the models and compare them to this formula.
‣ 4 We can give a literal translation of the first model, for example, as ‘It is I that is big to you.’ Compare models 4 and 5. The fifth one shows that moving the compared noun phrase leftward to be just after the NIȽ puts extra focus on it.
‣ 5 The second variant of the Focus Comparative is shown in the last model sentence. This variant has the focus pronoun in the front, but it is made up of sentences conjoined with I¸ (§11.1). In the first of the conjoined sentences, the thing being compared and its quality are stated. The U¸ ‘in contrast’ (§11.2, §19.1, §56.1) prefix comes before the quality. In the second conjoined sentence, the thing being compared to is mentioned also with a focus pronoun and the opposite quality. Here is the formula for this Second Variant of the Focus Comparative:
FOCUS U¸ QUALITY I¸ FOCUS OPPOSITE QUALITY
Study the last model and compare it to this formula.
‣ 6 The models introduce a few very useful new vocabulary items (with the stressed vowel in this list in red):
TŦEW¸NIȽ ‘him, her, it’
ȽÁ¸E ‘this here’
TELÁ¸E ‘that there’
Each of these could be used as an article followed by a noun phrase (TŦEW¸NIȽ KÁ¸ṈI¸ ‘the girl,’ ȽÁ¸E KÁ¸ṈI¸ ‘this girl here,’ TELÁ¸E KÁ¸ṈI¸ ‘that girl there’) or as a pronoun by itself. TŦEW¸NIȽ is used to refer to something that has previously been mentioned. ȽÁ¸E is used to refer to something closer to the speaker. TELÁ¸E is used to refer to something that is a little farther from the speaker.
 | ṮÁ¸ SEN U¸ STI¸TEM¸ X̱EN¸IṈ¸ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE. | ‘I’m as fast as you are.’ |
 | EWE. ESE ĆEḴ ¸E TȽ NEȻE. | ‘No. I’m faster than you.’ |
| ISTÁ YÁ¸ TȺ. | ‘Let’s go race.’ |
| EWE. EWENE NE SKEM¸EL¸. | ‘No. I have no paddle.’ |
| 20.3A. Translate each of the following into English. 1. NIȽ MEMIM¸EN¸ ¸E TELÁ¸E. 2. NIȽ TŦE SḴAXE¸ MEMIM¸EN¸ ¸E ȽÁ¸E. 3. NEȻE X̱EṈ I¸ ESE O¸ĆEṈ. 4. ȽNIṈEȽ ĆEḴ ¸E Ṯ NEȻE. 5. NIȽ E XEU¸ES TŦE NE KOO ¸E TŦE EN¸ SȻÁ¸? | 20.3B. Translate each of the following into SENĆOŦEN using the Focus Comparative. 1. That deer is bigger than this here. 2. I’m faster than you. 3. Is your father older than mine? 4. My cat is stronger than yours. 5. We are stronger than that one. |
| 20.3C. Make four new SENĆOŦEN sentences using the focus comparative. | |