# Votian/Comparison and Adjectives
## Comparison of adjectives
### Comparative

| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | -m̀pí | -m̀pat |
| Partitive | -m̀pa'a | -m̀pí'a ~ -m̀pàita |
| Genitive | -m̀pan | -m̀pí'en |
| Illative | -m̀pa'n | -m̀pài'sen |
| Elative | -m̀past̀a | -m̀pàist̀a |

#### Morphophonology and pronunciation

m̀ is pronounced only in Votian like dialects of Estonia. Elsewhere m̀p of comparative morpheme is pronounced as p e.g. sūre̮pi ~ sūre̮p ('bigger'), sūre̮paD ('the bigger ones').
* This must be a late contraction, because it breaks several consonant gradation rules.
The comparative suffix takes a vowel stem e.g. sūre̮pi ('bigger' - singular nominative of comparative) vs. sūrta ('the big one' - singular partitive of positive ).
* Thus the stem in front of a comparative marker is in a grade opposite to singular nominative , caused by consonant gradation in stems. Even though the current suffix might not close the previous syllable any more e.g. muse̮pi ('dirtyer'- singular nominative of comparative) vs. mussa ( 'black' - singular nominative of positive ) .
* The comparative suffix itself is never in the weak grade even if it should e.g. sūre̮paD (< *sūr+e+mpa+ t , "the bigger ones"), rad́d́e̮ lühǖpässi (< *lühüD+e+mpa+ k-se, "Hew it shorter!"- singular translative of comparative, Mati dialect ).
Pronunciation of comparative morpheme varies according to vowel harmony -pa, -pä e.g. ve̮ta e̮mas kazvō mukka lühepǟ varre̮ka vikahte̮ (" Take a scythe with shorter grip according to your height. "- singular genitive of comparative , Jõgõperä dialect).
In front of a comparative marker the stem-vowel of the second syllable
* a alternates with e̮
* and ä alternates with e
** E.g. ke̮ve̮pi ( vs. ke̮va - "hard"), süvepi ( vs. süvä - "deep").
(There is a similar alternation in front of indefinite voice markers.)

#### Declension

In Ingria the comparative morpheme is declined like the VIII Declension's -a stems , i.e.
* Short vowels have disappeared in front of the plural -i- or melt together with it into a long ī e.g. sūre̮pīssa ~ sūre̮pissa ('the bigger one' - plural elative, suure-m̀pàist̀a ~ suure-m̀p'ist̀a ).
* The final -n is usually pronounced as a prolongation of the preceding vowel e.g. sūre̮pijē ~ sūre̮pī ('the bigger one' - plural genitive, suure-m̀pí'en ~ suure-m̀pí'n ).
Thus sūre̮pā may mean:
* 'the bigger one' - singular partitive * suur+e+m̀pa'a ~ sūre̮pāta .
* 'the bigger one' - singular illative * suur+e+m̀pa'n ~ sūre̮pāsē̮ .
* 'the bigger one' - singular genitive * suur+e+m̀pan .

#### Suppletion

The adjective üvä ("good") has a suppletive comparative pare̮pi ("better") (like in Germanic, Romance, Celtic and Slavic languages).

#### Agreement

* Comparative could be completed by a noun which it is being compared with in partitive e.g. lēt ̮ sūre̮pi e̮mata isǟ (' You will be bigger than your father. '), huллupā sinua mā ̨ iлmaza be̮лe̮ (' Nobody in this world is crazier than you . ' Lempola dialect), ke̮ittšia pare̮piG (' better than anybody ' Itšäpäivä dialect).
* Comparative could be completed by a subordinating conjunction kui ("than") introducing the noun which it is being compared with in nominative (like in Germanic, Romance, Celtic, Baltic and Slavic languages) e.g. miä e̮лe̮n nōre̮pi kui med́d́ē mind́a (' I am younger than our daughter in law .').

### Superlative

* Superlative may be expressed by comparative completed by ke̮ikke̮a ("all"), ke̮ikkia ~ ke̮ittšia (Eastern Votic dialect "everything") acting as a comparison basis e.g. tahte̮ e̮ллa ke̮ikke̮a ülepässi (' Wanted to be superior to all. ~ Wanted to be the highest. '), ke̮ikkia pare̮pi ~ pare̮p ke̮ikkia (' the best ').
* Superlative may be expressed by positive completed by some adverbs e.g. e̮li ühs tütär izällä aivō iлoza (' A father had a very beautiful daughter. '), värpo on aivō kavaлa lintu (' Sparrow is a very smart (the smartest) bird. '), miä e̮лe̮n enäp väsünnü (' I am more tired .').

### Positive

Positive could be completed by a subordinating conjunction niku ("as ~ like") introducing the noun which is being compared with in nominative (like in Germanic, Romance, Celtic, Baltic and Slavic languages) e.g. mokoma niku tȫ (' ... such one like you ... '), nē̮b ̮ börizemǟ niku ärtšä (' Starts to roar like an ox. ').

## Comparison of adverbs

Baltic Finnic languages may compare adverbs like adjectives .
Synthetic comparative uses comparative from a(n adjective) stem with some derivation suffix .
Analytic comparative uses comparative adverbs like: enäp ("more").
Superlative may be expressed by comparative completed by ke̮ikke̮a ("all"), ke̮ikkia ~ ke̮ittšia (Eastern Votic dialect "everything") acting as a comparison basis
* e.g. üppǟ ke̮ikke̮a tšīrēpī ! (" Jump quickest ~ quicker than all ! " This example is a bare construction.).
(Not all of the following examples qualify as adverbs.)
* miä e̮лe̮n enäp väsünnü (" I am more tired. " - comparative of past participle ),
** miä e̮лe̮n väsünnü (" I am tired. " - positive ),
* pane̮tko aлapaллē̮ vai ülepälle? (" Do you put it lower or higher ? " - singular allative of comparative from archaic stems aл- = "down" and ül- = "up" ),
** aлaZ / üleZ ( positive ),
* meni tage̮passi (" (She) went farther . " - singular translative of comparative from a noun taka = "back" ~ Standard Finnish: taemmaksi ("(move) farther, backwards") ),
** tagā ( positive "back" ),
* on tage̮paza (" (She) is farther . " - singular inessive of comparative from a noun taka = "back" ~ Standard Finnish: taempana ("(stay) farther, backwards") ),
** takanna ( positive ),
* pajata vad́d́akkāpassi (" speak better Votic " - singular translative of comparative) < vad́d́akaz ("Votian like" - singular nominative of a hypothetical derived adjective)
** pajata vad́d́akossi (" speak Votic " - singular translative of a noun),
* tšedrättī лaugupassi (" (The yarn) was spun even less twisted. " - singular translative of comparative of an adjective лauku = "less twisted" ),
* üppǟ tšīrēpī ! (" Jump faster . " - plural instructive of comparative of an adjective tšīrē = "quick" ),
** tšīrē ( positive "quickly" - singular instructive of positive adjective tšīrē = "quick" ),
* tuli ēzepī (" Came earlier (than ...) . " - plural instructive of metanalytic comparative from inessive ( ēzä = "in front") of a noun esi = "frontside" ),
** ēstē ( positive "earlyer" ),
* lenti ke̮rke̮apaлt (" (It) flew higher . " - singular elative of comparative of an adjective ke̮rke̮a = "high" )
** lenti ke̮rke̮aлt (" (It) flew high . " - positive )

### Suppletion

The adjective palljo ("a lot of") has a suppletive comparative rohkap ("more") and superlative ke̮ikkas rohkap ("the most"), e̮ike̮ palljo ("quite a lot") (like in Indo-European languages).

## Dialectal alternatives

m̀ is pronounced only in Votian like dialects of Estonia. Elsewhere m̀p of comparative morpheme is pronounced as p e.g. sūre̮pi ~ sūre̮p ('bigger'), sūre̮paD ('the bigger ones').
t of partitive suffixes -m̀pí'a ~ -m̀pàita may have been preserved after secondary stress by some speakers ( in some dialects ) e.g. sūre̮pia ~ sūre̮pīta ('the bigger one' - plural partitive ).
The plural genitive morpheme -iten may have totally lost it's -ten component to be pronounced as a pure plural stem
e.g. sūre̮pijē ~ sūre̮pī ('the bigger one' - plural genitive ).
*sen > -sē, -sē̮ may be added to illative once more as a duplicate e.g. sūre̮pā ~ sūre̮pāsē̮ ('the bigger one' - singular illative ).
* Votic of Ingria
** Eastern Votic dialect
*** A metanalytic morpheme -k has been added to the comparative's singular nominative producing -m̀pí-k e.g. ke̮rke̮apiG ('higher'), parapiG ('better').
** Western Votic dialects
*** Hill dialect:
**** All Votic (both eastern and western) dialects may use doubled partitive marker ( depending in vowel harmony ) -ata, -ätä (especially the Kattila dialect) e.g. sūre̮pā ~ sūre̮pāta ('the bigger one' - singular partitive ).

## Phonological history

Comparative morpheme has underwent following sound changes *-pa > *-pi > -p like the present tense ending of the third person of singular.
The ancient Baltic Finnic *-mpa suffix has lost it's m component later on in Votic and some South Estonian dialects .
*-m and *-pa elements of this morpheme exist in other Finno-Ugric languages , but are not used for comparative.

## Other Finnic dialects

Comparative
* Standard Finnish : suure-mpi ("the bigger one" - singular nominative) / suure-mma-t ("the bigger one" - plural nominative) < suuri ("big" - singular nominative) / suuret ("big" - plural nominative)
* Karelian dialects : pite-mbi ("the longer one" - singular nominative) / pite-mmä-t ("the longer one" - plural nominative) < pitkä ("long" - singular nominative)
* Vepsian dialects : tšome-mb ("the nicer one" - singular nominative) < tšoma ("nice" - singular nominative)
* Ingrian dialects : köühe-mB ("the poorer one" - singular nominative) / köühe-mmä-t ("the poorer one" - plural nominative) < köühä ("poor" - singular nominative)
* Standard Estonian : suure-m ("the bigger one" - singular nominative) / suure-ma-d ("the bigger one" - plural nominative) < suur ("big" - singular nominative) / suured ("big" - plural nominative)
* South Estonian dialects : sūre̮B ("the bigger one" - singular nominative)
* Livonian dialects : lemmi-m ("the warmer one" - singular nominative) < lem̄ ("warm" - singular nominative)
Analytic superlative
* Standard Finnish : kaikkein suur-in ("the biggest one" - singular nominative)
* Karelian dialects : kaiḱḱieh v́ägev́e-mbi ("the strongest one" - singular nominative)
* Vepsian dialects : kaiḱiš ĺeved ~ ĺevede-mb ("the widest one" - singular nominative)
* Ingrian dialects : kaikkīn sūre-mB ("the biggest one" - singular nominative)
* Standard Estonian : kõige suure-m ("the biggest one" - singular nominative)
* Livonian dialects: amà sūr ("the biggest one" - singular nominative)
Synthetic superlative is used in very few Baltic Finnic languages
* Standard Finnish : suur-in ("the biggest one" - singular nominative) / suur-imma-t ("the biggest one" - plural nominative) / suur-impa-a ("the biggest one" - singular partitive) < suuri ("big" - singular nominative) / suuret ("big" - plural nominative)
* Karelian dialects: šūr-in ("the biggest one" - singular nominative)
* Standard Estonian (borrowed from Finnish): suur-im ("the bigger one" - singular nominative) / suure-ima-d ("the bigger one" - plural nominative) / suur-ima-t ("the biggest one" - singular partitive) < suur ("big" - singular nominative) / suured ("big" - plural nominative)
Yet the ancient suffix *-ma > *-mi > *-im has superlative meaning in various Baltic Finnic adverbs e.g. Votic: parret e̮vat kahelt rǟtüä, ülimäiset i alimaiset ("There are two rows of perches (across the beam of a barn), the upper ones and the lower ones." Mati dialect ).
Baltic Finnic languages may use nouns as adjectives and vice versa
* Standard Finnish : ihmise-mpi (" more human " - singular nominative) < ihminen ("a human" - singular nominative) / ihmiset ("humans" - plural nominative)
* Vepsian dialects : mamš ižand-emb mužikad (" The crone is bigger boss than her husband. ") < ižand ("a lord" - singular nominative)
* Standard Estonian : räbala-m elu (" lousier life ") < räbal ("a rag" - singular nominative)
Synthetic comparison of adverbs
* Standard Finnish : kova-sti ~ kove-mmin ~ kov-immin ( "(hit) hard ~ harder ~ hardest" - adverbs) / kova ~ kove-mpi ~ kov-in ( " hard ~ harder ~ the hardest (thing)" - adjectives)
* Karelian dialects : šoma-h ~ šome-mba-h ( "(speak) nicely ~ nicer " - adverbs)
* Vepsian dialects : luja-s ~ luje-mba ( "(hit) hard ~ harder " - adverbs)
* Ingrian dialects : kovā-st ~ kove-mmin ( "(hit) hard ~ harder " - adverbs)
* Standard Estonian : kõva-sti ~ kõve-mini ~ kõige kõve-mini ( "(hit) hard ~ harder ~ hardest" - adverbs) / kõva ~ kõve-m ~ kõv-im ( " hard ~ harder ~ the hardest (thing)" - adjectives)