Chapter 137Manner, Appearance, Degree, and Comparison

137.1 States and manner with no

No links a state or negative situation to the circumstances of another event. Its boundary with the adverb-forming suffix -no is disputed. Nakagawa discusses k=eyam no ‘treating [it] carefully’, whose person marking supports a verb-plus-connector analysis, alongside the dictionary's adverb eyamno Nakagawa (2024: 340–341).

Lexical formations can have their own changes in form and meaning: poronno ‘a lot’ is related to poro ‘be large’ Nakagawa (2024: 341). See Chapter 61 (Adverbial and Intensive No) for the word-formation analysis.

Negative predicates often take no, but Tamura explicitly allows wa after some negative expressions, including an inability predicate in her example Tamura (1997: 53–54). Neither negativity alone nor participant identity supplies a complete rule for choosing the connector.

137.2 Following a model: koraci

Koraci can take a noun or the content of a clause as a model for a manner of acting. Satō gives comparison with a stone and an oral-literature example of something happening as a deity had said Satō (2008: 55).

Refsing analyzes predicate-following koraci as a comparative nominalizer, while treating its noun-following use as a postposition. Her classification differs from accounts organized around connective or adverbial expressions Refsing (1986: 263–264, §14.13.4)Satō (2008: 55).

137.3 Appearance, inference, and pretence

Satō distinguishes noyne, for inference from appearance or other evidence, from pekor, used in his examples for a comparison contrary to fact Satō (2008: 55–56).

The descriptions place different limits on the comparison. Tamura says pekor and emphatic apekor concern resemblance close enough to permit mistaken identification; she excludes using them simply for a person's birdlike gait Tamura (1997: 54). Nakagawa describes apekor as often introducing a highly unlikely situation, with examples of a person as large as several people combined and a child resembling a parent Nakagawa (2024: 354, examples 680–681).

Nakagawa lists pekor for Saru and Chitose, pokor for Horobetsu, and pokon in several other varieties Nakagawa (2024: 354). Refsing treats Shizunai pokon and kotom as appearance nominalizers, associating the former especially with pretence Refsing (1986: 262–263, §14.13.3).

137.4 Extent and degree

A clause before pak can specify a degree. Satō's illustration describes something wet enough to wring out Satō (2008: 56).

Satō also illustrates hyperbolic degree with nisor eus kane an ranko, a katsura tree whose top is described as reaching the sky Satō (2008: 54–55). The limit need not be a degree: Tamura's hapo ek pakno ‘until mother comes’ sets a temporal endpoint Tamura (1997: 32).

137.5 Comparison through a relative construction

Bugaeva analyzes a conventional expression for an unequalled person as relativization of a degree adjunct. Her example is a=ona [sorekusu pak-no nispa isam] nispa ne, ‘Father was really a rich man, with no peers.’ The main subject a=ona is outside the brackets; the bracketed clause modifies the following nispa Bugaeva (2015: 53, example 23a, K8106233UP.002).

In her account, the degree phrase's nominal complement is omitted and pak-no remains in the relative clause. She describes the construction as partly idiomatic while providing a syntactic analysis Bugaeva (2015: 52–58, §5). This is a specific relative-clause construction, alongside the ordinary degree and manner expressions above; see Chapter 103 (Relative Clauses and Accessible Relations).