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Similative and Equative Constructions: A cross-linguistic perspective
Edited by Yvonne Treis and Martine Vanhove
[Typological Studies in Language 117] 2017
► pp. 291–320

Chapter 11
Comparative, similative, and equative constructions in Mon

Form, function, and development

This study examines comparison constructions in Mon, a predominantly isolating language of western Mainland Southeast Asia. Comparison constructions, which I take to include comparative, similative, and equative, do not form a homogenous class, but employ various constructions. Their uses and functions, as well as their development in Mon over the past 1000 years, are the topic of this study, which is the first to deal with comparison in Mon.

Keywords: Austroasiatic, Southeast Asia, historical linguistics, language change, reanalysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The notion of comparison
  • 3.Comparative constructions in Mon
    • 3.1Direct comparative
    • 3.2Temporal comparative
    • 3.3Correlative comparative
    • 3.4Superlative
  • 4.Similative constructions
    • 4.1Old Mon dmas ‘to be like’
    • 4.2Old Mon row ‘manner’ > Middle Mon rau ‘manner, kind’ > Modern Mon rèə ‘manner, like’
    • 4.3Middle Mon ñåṅ, ñaṅ, ñaṁ ‘resembling, like’ > Modern Mon ɲɔ̀ŋ ‘like, as, according’
    • 4.4Old Mon sāk, sek ‘colour’ > Modern Mon sāk ‘colour, manner, kind’ > Modern Mon sac ‘colour, manner, kind’, hə- adv
    • 4.5 buiṁ ‘replica’ > pɤ̀m ‘picture, printing type, pattern, manner, kind, sort, fiction’
  • 5.Equative constructions
  • 6.Similative to purposive
  • 7.Conclusions
  • Sources
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 31 May 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.117.12jen
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Cited by 2 other publications

Gould, Isaac
2021. On wh-copying in Mon. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 30:4 ► pp. 357 ff. DOI logo
Oleniak, Mariana
2022. On an idiosyncratic type of an Old English simile. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 54:2 ► pp. 235 ff. DOI logo

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