The Role of Mas ( Más ) in Q’eqchi

Comparison and Degree in a Mayan Language

Bibliographic Data

ID7297913
AuthorsPaul Kockelman (Yale University, corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume85
Issue3
Pages365-399
Publication date2019-06-26
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of American Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7071 • E-ISSN: 1545-7001
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/703240
OpenAlexW2955659104
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

This essay analyzes the history and usage of degree modifiers and comparative constructions in Q’eqchi’ (Maya). It focuses on the role of mas (< Sp. más) and the function of the modern comparative construction (long thought to be a calque of its Spanish equivalent). In contrast to previous analyses, it shows that Q’eqchi’ mas does not function as a comparative (unlike Spanish más), but rather as a degree modifier, indefinite quantity, and differential operator (like Spanish muy and mucho). It shows that the comparative construction doesn’t require mas, but only the positive form of a gradable predicate, along with the adposition chiru (before, in the face of) to mark the standard. It shows that mas came into Q’eqchi’ during the late 1800s and seems to have functioned this way from the beginning. And it offers reasons for this shift in meaning, and its frequent misanalysis by linguists

Degree (music · Epistemology · Function (biology · Humanities · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Physics · Predicate (mathematical logic · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Mathematics · Philosophy · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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