Similarity & Comparison
The semblative (sᴇᴍʙʟ) preposition marks something the complement is similar to. The semblative particle kɪ means as, like, or in the manner of.
| hon | kɪ | ðʊðʊ ⟨ðʊ⟩ — a; an; thegeneric determiner, used to refer to a complement in a general, nonspecific sense | lec | pif | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| hon | kɪ | ðʊ | lec | pif | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ɢɴᴏ | as | ɢɴʀ | water | soothe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “[It] soothes like water.” | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The comparative (ᴄᴏᴍᴘ) preposition marks a point of comparison or reference within a verb phrase of degree.
| jə | vɪ | tʊ | ŋɪ | kwʊ | ruθ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| jə | vɪ | tʊ | ŋɪ | kwʊ | ruθ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| sɴs | than | you | sʙᴊ | I | small | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “I am smaller than you. (I am small in comparison to you.)” | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The comparative particle vɪ means roughly than or in comparison to, but unlike these English terms, the comparison is always against the subject of the verb. This avoids ambiguous comparisons such as I like cheesecake more than you—more than you like cheesecake or more than I like you?
A comparative argument can be combined with the distributive determiner sʊ to form a superlative:
| jə | vɪ | sʊ | tez | ŋɪ | kwʊ | ruθ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| jə | vɪ | sʊ | tez | ŋɪ | kwʊ | ruθ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| sɴs | ᴄᴏᴍᴘ | each | other | sʙᴊ | I | small | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| “I am the smallest. (I am small in comparison to all others.)” | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||