Degree

Revision as of 18:18, 15 January 2010

Degree is a category used to specify the extent of a comparison between adjectives or adverbs, such as comparative and superlative.

Natural language

In the UNLarium, degree must be informed only when expressed by morphological means, such as in "bigger" and "biggest".
The values of the degree are the following:

Degree (DEG)

comparative (CMP): comparison between two

positive (PST): no comparison

superlative (SUP): comparison between more than two

The positive is the default value and must be omitted.

Examples

• Comparative (CMP): bigger, better, worse
• Superlative (SUP): biggest, best, worst
• Positive (PST): big, good, bad

UNL

In UNL, degree is to be represented by attributes:

Degree

@more: comparative of superiority

@less: comparative of inferiority

@equal: comparative of equality

@most: superlative of superiority

@least: superlative of inferiority

The basis for the comparison should be expressed by the relation 'bas'.

more <A> than <B> = bas(A.@more, B)

less <A> than <B> = bas(A.@less, B)

as <A> as <B> = bas(A.@equal, B)

Examples

• X is more fascinating than Y = aoj(fascinating.@more, X), bas(fascinating.@more, Y)
• X is better than Y = aoj(good.@more, X), bas(good.@more, Y)
• X is less fascinating than Y = aoj(fascinating.@less, X), bas(fascinating.@less, Y)
• X is worse than Y = aoj(good.@less, X), bas(good.@less, Y)
• X is as fascinating as Y = aoj(fascinating.@equal, X), bas(fascinating.@equal, Y)
• X is the most fascinating of the Ys = aoj(fascinating.@most, X), bas(fascinating.@most, Y)
• X is the best of the Ys = aoj(good.@most, X), bas(good.@most, Y)
• X is the least fascinating of the Ys = aoj(fascinating.@least, X), bas(fascinating.@least, Y)
• X is the worst of the Ys = aoj(good.@least, X), bas(good.@least, Y)
• X is not so fascinating as Y = aoj(fascinating.@less, X), bas(fascinating.@less, Y)