ISSN: 2306-5737E-ISSN: 2658-4069
Acta Linguistica Petropolitana
Transactions of the Institute for Linguistic Studies
ISSN: 2306-5737E-ISSN: 2658-4069
Acta Linguistica Petropolitana
Transactions of the Institute for Linguistic Studies 

Comparative constructions in the New Testament

DOI:10.30842/alp23065737193150196
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Sinitsyna Yu. V. Sravnitelnyye konstruktsii v Novom Zavete. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana. 150–196.

This article discusses equative (e.g., be ye 〈…〉 wise as serpents [Mat. 10:16]), similative (e.g., Never man spake like this man [Mat. 3:16]) and comparative (e.g., he 〈…〉 is mightier than I [Mat. 3:11]) constructions in the New Ю. В. Синицына 151 Testament (The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; The Acts of the Apostles; The Book of Revelation). I have used the Ancient Greek original and its translations into the following languages: Russian, English, Spanish, Ossetic, Hill Mari and Udmurt.

Altogether, I have selected 38 comparative and 75 equative / similative constructions. In its first part, the article defines the structural and semantic constraints of the constructions. I did not consider examples lacking a construction component like, e.g., the comparee (ye in [Mat. 10:16]) or a standard of comparison (SoC; serpents in [Mat. 3:11]).

Further, I discuss the criteria used to classify the relevant contexts. For example, one of such criteria is the prototypicity of the SoC. This means that the best candidate for a SoC is a pronoun or a “light” noun without dependents. An atypical SoC, on the contrary, would be an adpositional phrase or finite clause. Another criterion is the type of comparison, more relevant for comparative constructions of equality. Equative constructions compare two objects possessing some property to the same degree, and similative constructions compare the manner of the action.

In the second part, the article explores the use of standard markers in equative and similative constructions in Ossetic, Hill Mari and Udmurt. This study shows that in different languages, different criteria may underlie the choice of the standard marker. The semantics of comparison tends to be the main criterion in Hill Mari language, while it is the prototypicity of the SoC in Ossetic. Udmurt has one multi-purpose marker kad’ ‘as, like’ that does not show any strong correlations between the semantics or prototypicity of the standard marker. The only type of standard not allowed with kad’ is clausal.

Keywords
equative constructions, similative constructions, comparative constructions, corpus linguistics, typology, Finno-Ugric languages, Indo-European languages
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Keywords
equative constructions, similative constructions, comparative constructions, corpus linguistics, typology, Finno-Ugric languages, Indo-European languages
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