§ 110. An English adjective lexeme may contain three words at most (strong — stronger — strongest) representing three grammemes. The fourth grammeme contains words with the oblique meaning of the 'positive degree' (deaf, vertical, wooden, etc.). There are no oblique meanings of the 'comparative' and the 'superlative' degrees in English, i. e. words like calmer, bravest have always 'positive degree' opposites.
Note. The Latin comparatives major, minor, junior, senior, superior, inferior, etc., though retaining some of their 'comparative' meaning, differ from the words of the 'comparative degree' grammeme in not being followed by than and in being often used without real comparison, e. g. a minor injury, goods of inferior workmanship (Hornby).
The 'comparative' connotation is part of the lexical meanings of these words.
§ 111. The table below shows the relative frequency of the occurrence of the four grammemes in some literary texts
1 A. I. Smirnitsky does not recognize partial substantivization and treats cases like the rich, the poor as the use of adjectives without nouns, op. cit., p. 153/
of the 20th century. We have counted separately the occurrences of the synthetic and the analytical forms.
| Grammeme | Form | Sample | Frequency (per cent) |
| Positive, actual Positive, oblique Comparative Superlative | synth. analyt. synth. analyt. | short, difficult vertical, blind shorter more difficult shortest most difficult | 82.6 8.2 4.6 1.0 1.6 1.6 |
As usual, the unmarked member of the opposeme, the 'positive degree' grammeme, occurs in speech most frequently.
§ 112. The combinability of the words belonging to the above-mentioned four grammemes is primarily determined by their being adjectives. Yet, each grammeme and even each form of a grammeme has some combinative peculiarities.
Apart from the fact that different linking words, are used with different grammemes (as long as ..., longer than ... , the longest of . .), the latter show, as it were, some preference for certain combinative models. This is reflected in the table below, where A stands for adjective, N for noun, P for pronoun, VI for link-verb, Vn for notional verb.
| ^^ Grammemeb | 'Positive' | 'Comparative' | 'Superlative' | ||
| ^^^ | (both actual | ||||
| Patterns ^. | and oblique) | Synthet. | Analyt. | Synthet. | Analyt. |
| A + N | 9.5 | 93.1 | 95.3 | ||
| VI -f A | 6.9 | — | |||
| Vn + P N + A | 3- | — | ------- | — | |
| Others | 9.5 | ------- | 4.7 | ||
| 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Note. The literary texts analysed contain 6.000
adjectives.
As seen from the table, the only pattern in which words of all grammemes have occurred in our texts in A + N. However, the analytical form of the 'comparative' gram-meme but seldom occurs in this model. Likewise, words of the 'superlative' grammeme (both synthetic and analytical) are found rarely, if at all, in another typica!4 adjectival pattern, VI + A.
§ 113. In certain speech environments adjectives can be used .to communicate meanings in some respect different from those of the grammemes they belong to.
In the combination as brave as the word brave loses the absolute nature of the meaning of the 'positive' grammeme. It is used to express relative bravery. Cf. as brave as a hare. In certain combinations brave can be used to express even the highest degree of the quality. Among them there was none so brave as John =- John was the bravest man among them. Similarly the 'comparative degree' grammeme may sometimes be synonymous to the 'superlative' grammeme.
E. g. There was no man in the village wiser and kinder that old Chou. She was brighter than the rest of their children.
A 'superlative degree' adjective sometimes occurs in speech with an absolute meaning, it shows a very high degree of some quality regardless of the amount of the same property in other objects. When so employed it is said to be used in its e 1 a t i v e meaning.
E.g. He painted her ingratitude in the b I acke st colours. (Maugham).
The room was furnished in the most refined style. (Ib.).
Elative 'superlatives' lend force and expressiveness to speech.
§ 114. Under ordinary conditions, the synthetic and analytical forms of comparison are, as we know, in complementary distribution. But when emphasis is intended, the analytical forms are sometimes used instead of the synthetic ones.
He looked more stern than his father. (Dickens). She looked more sad than ever before. (Black). This becomes clear if we take into consideration two circumstances:
a) The morphemes -er and -est cannot be stressed, while
the word-morphemes more and most can.
b) Word-morphemes are regularly used in English as the
locus for emphatic stress signals. Cf. He studies ... and He does
study ... (see § 415).
§ 115. Following is a brief comparison of the basic features of English and Russian adjectives.
1. The lexico-grammatical meanings are essentially the
same.
2. The Russian adjective has a greater variety of stem-
building affixes than its English counterpart. The so-called
"suffixes of subjective appraisal" (as in äëèííåíüêèé, äëèí
íþùèé, äëèííîâàòûé, etc.) are alien to the English
adjective (the only exception is -ish in whitish, red
dish, etc.).
3. Russian adjectives have the categories of number
(äëèííûé — äëèííûå), gender (äëèííûé — äëèííàÿ — äëèí
íîå), and case (äëèííûé, äëèííîãî, äëèííîìó, etc.) which
English adjectives no longer possess. The only category
Russian and English adjectives have in common is the cate
gory of the degrees of comparison.
Hence, adjectival grammemes in English are monoseman-tic (i. e. having but one grammatical meaning), while in Russian an adjective grammeme is usually polysemantic, e. g. the grammeme represented by óìíàÿ carries the grammatical meanings of 'feminine gender' 'singular number', 'nominative case' and 'positive degree'. But the synthetic comparative (ñèëüíåå, êðàñèâåå, etc.) is monosemantic in Russian as well.
4. In Russian as well as in English the category of the
degrees of comparison is represented in three-member oppo-
semes, but there are some distinctions.
a) The 'positive degree' is unmarked in English, whereas it is marked in Russian (Cf. red, êðàñí-ûé). Taking into consideration that more than 90% of all adjectives in speech belong to the 'positive degree' grammemes, we may say that in the overwhelming majority of cases the form of an English adjective does not signal to what part of speech the word
belongs. In the Russian language every full adjective is marked; it shows by its form that it is an adjective.
6) The formations áîëåå êðàñèâûé, ñàìû÷ êðàñèâûé resemble the analytical forms more beiutiful, most beautiful, but they can hardly be regarded as analytical forms since they are not in complementary distribution with the corresponding synthetic forms. Äëèííåå and áîëåå äëèííûé are rather stylistic synonyms.
5. In both languages there are qualitative and relative adjectives. In both languages the relative adjectives and some qualitative ones have no opposites of comparison, i. e. they form the subclass of non-comparables. But otherwise there is great dissimilarity between the two languages.
a) Most qualitative adjectives in the Russian language
have corresponding "short" opposite? (óìíûé — óìåí, êðîò
êàÿ— êðîòêà, etc.). There is nothing similar in English.
b) The proportion of relative adjectives is much greater
in Russian where, according to V. V. Vinogradov, they con
stitute the bulk of adjectives. English 'common case' nouns
often render the meanings of Russian relative adjectives,
e. g. äîìàøíèå ðàñõîäû. — household expenses, íàñòîëüíàÿ
ëàìïà — a table lamp, etc.
c) Among the relative adjectives of the Russian language
there is a group of 'possessive' adjectives like Îëüãèí, ìàìèí,
îòèîâ, ëèñèé, having no English counterparts.
6) The combinability of adjectives is to some extent similar in the two languages. Yet there are some essential differences.
a) In English one can speak only of two levels of combi
nability: lexical and lexico-grammatical. In Russian gram
matical combinability is of great importance too. Cf. áåëûé
ïîòîëîê, áåëàÿ ñòåíà, áåëûõ ñòåí, etc.
b) The so-called 'short' adjectives and the synthetic
'comparatives' of Russian adjectives have as a rule no right-
hand connections with nouns. Cf. This is a better translation.
Ýòîò ïåðåâîä ëó÷øå, but not * ýòî ëó÷øå ïåðåâîä.
c) A peculiar feature of the combinability of the English
adjective is its right-hand connection with the prop-word
one; a good one, a better one, the best one.
7. In both langaages the typical functions of adjectives in the sentence are those of attribute and predicative. But the Russian 'short' adjectives and the synthetic comparatives are seldom used as attributes. English does not contain such
grammemes or subclasses of adjectives, but certain individual adjectives are but rarely, used as attributes, e. g. it is impossible to say * a glad girl. On the other hand, the adjective little is used almost exclusively as an attribute.