Eckhard Bick - VISL

[P=predicator, O=object, A=adverbial, H=head, DEP=dependent, Sent=sentence, v=verb, n=noun,
pro=pronoun, prep=preposition, art=article, cl=clause, g=group]
In this analysis, in order to match surface linearity while at the same time preserving
dependency relations, two disjunct constituents are necessary, i.e. the direct object, and
- beneath it - the dependent group that contains the comparative hook and its dependent
argument, the comparandum group. Note that in order to avoid a clausal analysis and
the ensuing zero constituent, the AS is interpreted as a group, and the complementiser
do=que as a preposition.
Seemingly, either comparative dependency (2b') links or constituent continuity
(2c') must be sacrificed in a tree structure notation, compromising either information
content or - since constituents don't look very much like constituents when disjunct -
descriptive elegance, while a CG-style flat dependency notation captures all of the
information without awkward modifications to its core conventions 167 .
In Portuguese, the superlative is not part of the degree paradigm of an adjective in
the same way as in English (synthetically-morphologically '-er' - '-est', analytically
'more' - 'most'). Rather, synthetic superlatives only appear as absolute forms (i.e.
without comparandum), and are built by derivation with the suffix '-íssimo' (with a few
irregular exceptions), and analytical superlatives - that do allow comparandum
dependency - are formed by adding the definite article in front of the comparative: o
maior ('the biggest'), o mais rápido ('the fastest').
(2d)
Estamos [estar] V PR 1P IND VFIN @FAUX ‘[we] are -ing’
nos [nos] PERS M/F 1P ACC/DAT @ACC> '-'
tornando [tornar] V GER @IMV @#ICL-AUX< ‘turning [into]’
o [o] DET M S @>N ‘the’
mais [muito] ADV @>A ‘most’
pobre [pobre] ADJ M/F S @N ‘the’
países [país] N M P @P< ‘countries’
urbanos [urbano] ADJ M P @N< 'urban'
industriais [industrial] ADJ M/F P @N< 'industrialised'
In the example sentence (2d), the superlative o mais pobre is complemented by a
comparandum, - the PP introduced by de. For superlative structures, no other
comparandum header is possible. Note that the comparative hook is still the intensifier
167 Of course, since the difference between (2c) and (2c') is mainly notational, any comparison should take non-linguistic
arguments into account as well, like the pedagogical value of a model within a given teaching frame work (cp. chapter 7.2
for a pedagogical discussion of CG).
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