10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13428
Rather exceptionally among European languages, English has two standard markers, namely as and like, which make a formal distinction between equative and similative constructions. It is well known that clauses with as and phrasal adjuncts with like tend to be carefully distinguished in British formal usage. The present article uses English as a hallmark for the identification of relevant semantic distinctions within the field of equality and similarity comparison in the Ladin variety spoken in the South-Tyrolean valley of Badia, which forms part of the Rhaeto-Romance territory of Italy, and which is still under-researched in many domains. This article intends to contribute to the current discussion on quantitative and qualitative comparison by providing novel information on Ladin, which has not been an object of investigation with respect to comparative constructions. The comparative system of Ladin is illustrated from a cross-linguistic perspective, drawing comparisons with English and Italian, with which it has much in common, but from which it also differs in a number of respects. The article also shows how the Ladin system varies at a micro-level within one valley. While the vernacular in the lower part of the valley has markers that distinguish between clausal and phrasal complements, the linguistic variety in the upper part of the valley makes no such distinction. Despite highlighting cross-linguistic differences, this study serves as a further confirmation of typological tendencies.
application/pdf
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Martina Irsara
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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads
English as and like
Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin: Interlingual contrastive features and micro-variation
Text.Serial.Journal
https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/
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Research articles
2021-08-31
2021-08-07
2021-08-31
2021-10-11
47-93
LTC
Martina Irsara
2021/08/31
10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13428
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Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
2785-0943
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English as and like
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<p>Zingarelli, Nicola. 2011. <em>Lo Zingarelli: Vocabolario Della Lingua Italiana</em>. 12th edn. Bologna: Zanichelli.</p>
Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin: Interlingual contrastive features and micro-variation
https://typologyatcrossroads.unibo.it/article/download/13428/13064
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            Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93   ISSN 2785-0943



  Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and
Ladin: Interlingual contrastive features and micro-variation

                                      MARTINA IRSARA1
                             1
                                 FREE UNIVERSITY OF BOZEN-BOLZANO




                    Submitted: 12/11/2020       Revised version: 25/04/2021
                      Accepted: 26/04/2021          Published: 31/08/2021




                                            Abstract
Rather exceptionally among European languages, English has two standard markers, namely
as and like, which make a formal distinction between equative and similative constructions.
It is well known that clauses with as and phrasal adjuncts with like tend to be carefully
distinguished in British formal usage. The present article uses English as a hallmark for the
identification of relevant semantic distinctions within the field of equality and similarity
comparison in the Ladin variety spoken in the South-Tyrolean valley of Badia, which forms
part of the Rhaeto-Romance territory of Italy, and which is still under-researched in many
domains. This article intends to contribute to the current discussion on quantitative and
qualitative comparison by providing novel information on Ladin, which has not been an
object of investigation with respect to comparative constructions. The comparative system of
Ladin is illustrated from a cross-linguistic perspective, drawing comparisons with English and
Italian, with which it has much in common, but from which it also differs in a number of
respects. The article also shows how the Ladin system varies at a micro-level within one
valley. While the vernacular in the lower part of the valley has markers that distinguish
between clausal and phrasal complements, the linguistic variety in the upper part of the valley
makes no such distinction. Despite highlighting cross-linguistic differences, this study serves
as a further confirmation of typological tendencies.


Keywords: comparatives; equatives; similatives; Ladin; Italian; English as and like.




1. Introduction


Equative and similative constructions have been studied over a number of years from
a range of perspectives and in large samples of languages. EQUATIVES express an


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Irsara                                Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin


equivalent degree of a gradable property (as parameter as standard), while SIMILATIVES
express similarity of quality or manner (parameter like standard). In addition to the
more straightforward clauses of equality and similarity of the type of (i) Mary is as
pretty as Anne and (ii) Anne swims like a fish, there are various constructions that have
been viewed as somewhat related. Treis (2018) adds SIMULATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS
(pretended similarity of the type of as if) to her analysis, while Haspelmath &
Buchholz (1998) add ACCORD CLAUSES (as we all know) and ROLE PHRASES (as your mother
= role). Quirk et al. (1985) distinguish between: (i) COMPARATIVE CLAUSES OF
EQUIVALENCE   (… as healthy as you), (ii) ADJUNCT CLAUSES OF SIMILARITY (it was as I
imagined), and (iii) ADJUNCT CLAUSES OF COMPARISON (verb followed by as if, as though,
like). Because of their formal and semantic similarity, this article explores both the
more straightforward clauses of equality and similarity and a number of related
constructions that employ the same markers. The article generally uses the
terminology adopted by Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) and Haspelmath (2017),
naming the lexical and functional constituents of equative constructions as shown in
Table 1.


                   Constituents                 Terms
                   My son is                    COMPAREE

                   as                           DEGREE   (or PARAMETER)
                                                MARKER

                   clever                       PARAMETER

                   as                           STANDARD MARKER

                   my husband                   STANDARD



                                    Table 1: Terminology.


The present study is motivated by the wish to contribute to the current debate on
marking patterns of equative and similative constructions in languages across Europe.
Although most European languages have been described extensively, the South-
Tyrolean Ladin language remains widely under-represented in language samples. The
aim of this article is therefore to further investigate the equatives and similatives of
Ladin and to place them in a broader context, providing novel information and
increasing the sample size of languages analysed for constructions of this type. Ladin
is investigated in comparison with English and with its genetically related Italian
language. Mainly standard British English is considered, with occasional references



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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93


to American. Descriptions of constructions in standard Italian are supplemented with
references to northern Italian dialects and to early Italian vernaculars.
     Since Ladin shows pronounced areal differences, characteristic features as found in
more than one part of Val Badia are included in the present report. The valley of
Badia is one of the Ladin-speaking valleys that surround the Sella group of mountains
in the Italian Dolomites, which are home to about 31,000 speakers of the language
that is typically termed Dolomitic or Sella Ladin (Sellaladinisch). The latest population
census in 2011 recorded that the five municipalities of Val Badia had a great majority
of Ladin speakers, with percentages ranging from 90% to 98% (ASTAT 2019). The
varieties spoken in Val Badia are commonly indicated as BADIOT (or LADIN DE ALTA VAL,
in the upper part of the valley), LADIN DE MESA VAL (in this article Lmv, in the middle
part of the valley and nowadays recognised as the standard form in Val Badia) and
MAROU (in the municipality of Mareo-Marebbe-Enneberg, in the lower part of the
valley). Because of the many features shared by Badiot (Ladin de alta val) and Ladin
de mesa val concerning structures of comparison, this article will treat them together,
unless stated otherwise. If the varieties in the upper and middle part of the valley are
treated together, e.g. in the examples provided, they will be indicated as LADIN (a
term that will therefore include the Ladin varieties of the upper and middle parts of
the valley).1
     The article therefore focuses on variation between a number of different languages
and within one language as spoken in a restricted area, adopting perspectives from
contrastive linguistics and dialectology or micro-variation. The contrastive analysis is
linked to a number of typological findings in the field of examination. Equative and
similative constructions in the languages under consideration are investigated using
corpora such as the British National Corpus (BNC), the English Web (enTenTen15) and
the Italian Web (itTenTen16 and itTenTen10). Ladin examples are obtained from the
corpora Tratament Automatich dl Lingaz Ladin: corpus lad (TALL), and Corpus dl Ladin
Leterar (CLL). While the TALL corpus includes texts of various genres, CLL is made up
of literary texts only and is smaller, but it is based on better controlled data sources
and provides a clearer automatic differentiation of varieties. Further Ladin data are
drawn from the digitalised information bulletin of the municipality of Mareo, from
dictionaries, and grammar books. The linguistic evidence provided by the Ladin
databases is verified and complemented orally by speakers of the language, including

1
    The use of the term Ladin to refer to the varieties spoken in the upper and middle parts of Val Badia
is therefore a simplification adopted in this article for ease of presentation.


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Irsara                                Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin


the author of this article. Corpora are never fully representative when the goal of the
analysis is a fine-grained description of the existence of certain linguistic structures
in a minority language with several varieties. Digital corpora and introspective
empirical evidence therefore complement each other. Relevant data are discussed
with reference to pertinent studies, some key ones of which are briefly summarised
in §2 below.


2. Literature background


Various scholars have addressed the topic of comparison in earlier works, the most
influential of which have received a comprehensive review in Stolz (2013). An
extensive list of existing sources has been identified and appraised more recently by
Treis (2018). The present article would do little justice to the full range of studies on
the topic and will therefore limit itself to summarising the works on equative and
similitative constructions from which it draws most.
   Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) belong to the pioneers who engaged in an extensive
analysis of similative and equative constructions in a high number of European
languages, including English, Italian, and Friulian, which also belongs to Rhaeto-
Romance and shares a number of linguistic features with the Ladin varieties
considered in this article. Rhaeto-Romance is namely taken to include Ladin and
Friulian in Italy and Romansh in Switzerland. With their typological study of
equatives and similatives, Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) contributed to a volume on
adverbial constructions, with which they claimed to be directly concerned, since an
act of comparing typically involves concepts of degree and manner. The authors
identified a bundle of features of equatives and similatives across European languages
that can be taken as one of the features of Standard Average European (SAE). English,
Italian, and Friulian were classified as belonging to the core SAE languages as regards
the expression of equality and similarity. Haspelmath (2017) extended his analysis to
include more languages in the world, whose equative constructions can be divided
into six major types. The primary type that occurs in English and in most European
languages is an equative construction that includes both an equative degree marker
and an equative standard marker (as tall as). Haspelmath (2017) concluded with three
broad cross-linguistic generalisations, the first of which is that languages normally do
not have a degree marker that is not accompanied by a standard marker. Secondly,
languages generally have object-verb order if the parameter follows the standard.



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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93


Thirdly, if the standard comes after the parameter, then the standard marker occurs
before the standard.
   Basic equative constructions with a specific standard of comparison were found to
be very diverse in Henkelmann’s (2006) world language sample, but constructions
with equative markers predominated. The European language included in his sample,
namely German, was shown to attest the use of relative-based equative constructions
in accordance with SAE languages. Case-transparent German examples were provided
to show that standard markers are actually subordinators that introduce typically
reduced clauses.
   Treis & Vanhove (2017) collected a range of theoretical and analytical perspectives
on equative and similative constructions across languages, including a cognitive-
typological study on like-concepts by Schulze (2017). Schulze (2017: 36) highlights
that like-expressions are derived metonymically or metaphorically and that “they
represent fossilised patterns of cognitive processes conventionalised over times”.
Schulze (2017) argues that like-concepts are closely related to motion-concepts and
image-concepts. In the same volume, König (2017) also emphasises that the process
of assessing similarity is a key cognitive activity. König (2017) maintains that deictic
expressions play a significant role in the formation of equatives and similatives,
arguing that the exophoric or gestural use of demonstratives of manner, quality, and
degree lies at the basis of comparative constructions. Latin used the expressions sīc,
talis, and tantus for the three different domains of manner, quality, and degree, while
German so can be employed for all three dimensions. Unlike German, English has
abandoned the exophoric use of so, using composite constructions in a gestural
context instead (e.g. like this or like that). While German so functions as parameter or
degree marker in equative comparatives, English “uses its reinforced form (as < eal
swa) as comparative marker in affirmative sentences, though retaining the original
basic manner deictic so in negations (Fred is not so tall as George)” (König 2017: 156).
   Belletti (1991) considers the use of the contemporary Italian standard markers
quanto, come, and che in combination with the degree markers tanto and altrettanto,
their syntactic position, the pronominal forms following the markers, and elliptic
structures. Belletti (2010) analyses comparatives in early Italian texts from the 13th
and beginning of the 14th century. While the comparative marker che in comparatives
of inequivalence was used in more syntactic contexts than in modern standard Italian,
no major differences were detected in comparative structures of equivalence.




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Irsara                                Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin


   The divide between che and di in comparatives of inequivalence was also addressed
by Stolz (2013) in his analysis of competing comparative constructions in European
languages. Stolz (2013) included Badiot in his sample of 44 Romance languages, but
he provided no information on equatives or similatives in this Ladin variety. The
comparative system of a Ladin variety was addressed for the first time in a systematic
way by Irsara (2001, 2012, 2013), who described characteristics of the Val Badia
system from a cross-linguistic perspective, including English and Italian in her
analysis, and integrating the descriptive account with a discussion of potential
teaching implications.
   The present article moves on to addressing equative degree markers in English,
Italian, and Ladin in §3. Equative and similative standard markers in these three
languages will be discussed in §4, while §5 will uncover characteristic uses of the
standard markers in Marou as compared to English. Although several constructions
will be considered throughout the article, the main focus will be on equative and
similative constructions with an adjectival parameter.


3. The degree markers as (English), tanto (Italian), and tan (Ladin) with
adjectival parameters


Equative constructions have been shown to be complex and diverse across languages,
which often use degree markers as well as standard markers in their equatives,
forming constructions that belong to the second of Haspelmath’s (2017: 14) primary
types, defined as “an equative construction that contains an ordinary predicative
property-word as parameter plus differentiated comparee and standard, with both an
equative degree-marker (‘equally’) and an equative standard-marker”. This type is
found in English, Italian, and Ladin, which use analytic degree markers that are
always accompanied by a standard marker, in accordance with Haspelmath’s (2017:
25) first generalisation that “no language has only a degree-marker, leaving the
standard unmarked”. Table 2 shows the degree (or parameter) markers that can be
used in equative but not similative constructions in the languages and varieties
considered.
A relationship of equivalence is typically expressed in English by a correlative use of
the parameter marker as in combination with the same standard marker. Example (1)
illustrates the construction ‘as adjective as noun phrase’.




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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93




                      Varieties                      Degree           (parameter)
                                                     markers
                      English                        as / (so)
                      Italian                        tanto / altrettanto / così
                      Badiot                         tan
                      Ladin de mesa val (Lmv)        tan
                      Marou                          tan


                                  Table 2: Degree (parameter) markers.




(1)     English (enTenTen15)
        I doubt there’s a woman out there who hasn’t dreamed of a spouse who looks like
        Brad Pitt, is as intelligent as Bill Gates, as kind and generous as Paul Newman, and
        as built as Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Negated equatives are occasionally formed in English with the parameter marker so,
which gives an archaic feeling to the constructions, according to Haspelmath &
Buchholz (1998). The combination of the degree markers as and so with the standard
marker as is exemplified in (2) and (3).


(2)     English (enTenTen15)
        His injury is not as serious as that of teammate James O’Donoghue.


(3)     English (enTenTen15)
        The fiscal position of Portugal was certainly not good, but not so serious as that of
        Grece.


Parameters of comparison are most typically accompanied by the degree marker tanto
in Italian and tan in Ladin, as illustrated in (4) and (5).2




2
    The glosses used in the article follow broadly the Leipzig Glossing rules and are provided in the
Appendix.


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Irsara                                       Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin


(4)      Italian (itTenTen16)
         I          computer arriveranno             ad essere       tanto                   intelligenti
         the        computers arrive.FUT             to be           [as much].DEGM          intelligent
         quanto                  gli      umani.
         [how much].STDM the              humans
         ‘Computers will become as intelligent as humans.’


(5)      Badiot (TALL)
         L’         ćiamurc,     presciapüch         tan                     gran che           na
         the        chamois, approximately [as much].DEGM big that.STDM a
         ćiora,     po           pesè     trënta     y        inće plö         chili.
         goat,      can          weigh thirty        and      also more        kilograms
         ‘The chamois, more or less as big as a goat, can weigh thirty and even more
             kilograms.’


A further equative degree marker in Italian is altrettanto, exemplified in (6). However,
altrettanto… che is considered bookish in contemporary Italian.


(6)      Italian (itTenTen16)
         La         nostra                Befana… era         altrettanto                simpatica
         the        our                   Befana… was [just as much].DEGM nice
         che                     Babbo               Natale.
         that.STDM               Father              Christmas
         ‘Our Befana (old hag) was just as nice as Santa Claus.’


As pointed out by Belletti (2010) and Pelo (2012) in their investigations into
comparatives in Old Italian, the marker (co)sì was frequently used in combination
with come. As (7) and (8) illustrate, così still occurs as a degree marker in
contemporary Italian, often in negative clauses.


(7)      Italian (itTenTen16)
         … figure          luminose     che sono così                   lunghe come             galassie
         … figures         luminous that are [like this].DEGM long                like.STDM galaxies
         intere.
         whole



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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93


      ‘… bright figures that are as long as whole galaxies.’


(8)   Italian (itTenTen16)
      Jaime      non è così                    intelligente   come     David, ma   è più
      Jamie not is [like this].DEGM intelligent               like.STDM David, but is more
      diligente.
      diligent
      ‘Jaime is not as intelligent as David, but he is more diligent.’


In their attempt to identify typical features of SAE languages with respect to equative
and similative constructions, Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) concluded that
parameter or degree markers are characteristically demonstrative-based in European
languages. Although no deictic value is evident in the English marker as, its Old-
English root swá was a demonstrative-based element. Nowadays, English so is not
used deictically in an exophoric (or gestural) manner to refer to an extralinguistic
situation, in which case adnominal demonstratives and other expressions of similarity
are used, e.g. this + adjective, like this (+ gesture). König (2017) argued that the loss
of the exophoric function of a basic demonstrative in English is untypical and that the
original meaning of similarity of so is still noticeable in sentential anaphoric contexts
of the type of She said so. The original meaning of similarity of so is also visible in
expressions such as Sarah is tall, and so is Jane and in replies of the type of So am I.
Italian tanto and Ladin tan are also demonstrative-based (like Latin tam) and still have
a deictic function in certain contexts. The Italian utterances in (9) and (10) would
most naturally be accompanied by a pointing gesture indicating height, width, and
length. The Ladin questions in (11) were uttered by a saleswoman selling cheese
behind a counter. By placing her knife in different positions on a wheel of cheese, the
woman asked the customer how much she should cut off the larger piece, indicating
potential slices.


(9)   Italian (Zingarelli)
      È alto       tanto        e      largo         tanto.
      is high [this much] and wide                   [this much]
      ‘It is this high and this wide.’




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Irsara                                        Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin


(10) Italian (itTenTen16)
         Aveva        una pipa lunga          tanto.
         had.3SG      a        pipe long      [this much]
         ‘He had a pipe as long as this.’


(11) Badiot
         Tan              nen os-te              pa? Tan?                      Tan?
         [how much] PRTV want-you.SG PTCL? [this much]?                        [this much]?
         ‘How much of it do you want? This much? This much?’


Ladin tan appears in a variety of syntactic functions, among which that of an
interrogative pronoun, as can be noticed in (11) above and (12-13) below, in which
case Italian uses quanto and not the formally similar tanto.


(12) Badiot
         Tan              nen os-te              pa?
         [how much] PRTV want-you.SG PTCL?
         ‘How much of it do you want?’

(13) Italian
         Quanto           ne     vuoi?
         [how much] PRTV want.2SG?
         ‘How much of it do you want?’


Hence, Ladin tan can be used as a quantitative pronominal word, displaying a
characteristic feature of European languages. Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998: 299)
maintained in fact that “an additional feature characterizing Standard Average
European languages is the use of quantitative pronominal words when quantities are
compared.” Quantities are compared explicitly in (14) and (15), whereas tan
premodifies an adjective of size in (16) and an adjectival parameter that denotes a
quality in (17).


(14) Badiot
         Nos un           tan            de      patüc     ch’           os.
         we    have       [as much] of.PRTV stuff          that.STDM you.PL



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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93


         ‘We have as much stuff as you.’


(15) Badiot
         Nos nen un               tan        ch’          os.3
         we     PRTV   have       [as much] that.STDM you.PL
         ‘We have as much of it as you.’


(16) Badiot (TALL)
         L’     ćiamurc,      presciapüch       tan                    gran che                na   ćiora,
         the chamois          approximately [as much].DEGM             big that.STDM a              goat,
         po     pesè     trënta     y     inće plö        chili.
         can weigh thirty           and also more         kilograms
         ‘The chamois, more or less as big as a goat, can weigh thirty and even more
              kilograms.’


(17) Badiot (TALL)
         Les    ëres…         é     tan                   bunes     che            i     ëi.
         the women… are [as much].DEGM                    good      that.STDM the men
         ‘Women… are as good as men.’


Ladin tan can be preceded by a multiplicative numeral, as (18) and (19) illustrate. It
can therefore be argued in Rett’s (2020: 182) words that Ladin demonstrates “the
ability of an equative to be modified by a factor modifier like twice.” Examples (18)
and (19) illustrate the construction called equative-pro-COI construction by Stolz
(2013), who defines it as “the use of the syntactic format of the equative construction
for the purpose of expressing the meaning of a typical COI construction,” where COI
stands for comparison of inequivalence.


(18) Badiot (TALL)
         Al     é dui iadi          tan                   gran che            le       pice Martin!
         he     is two times        [as much].DEGM        big that.STDM the little Martin!
         ‘He is twice as big as little Martin.’



3
    Pronominal tan is declined according to number and gender, i.e. tan SG.M, tanta SG.F, tanc PL.M, tantes
PL.F.



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Irsara                                         Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin


(19) Lmv (TALL)
         Le      sach dô            ester almanco          trëi      iadi           tan                  gran
         the sack must.IPFV be             at least        three     times          [as much].DEGM       big
         co                chël          che          al      ti           â        sciuré   ía       a chë
         how.STDM          that.DEM that.COMP he              her.DAT had thrown thither to that
         vedla.
         old.F
         ‘The bag must have been at least three times as big as the one that he had thrown
         to that old woman.’


Stolz (2013: 122) argues that the equative-pro-COI construction “prominently
involves English”, whose speakers most naturally adopt “the frame [(comparee is X
times) as quality as (standard)].” However, Stolz (2013) also points out that a proper
COI construction of the type of [(comparee is X times) more quality (or quality-er) than
(standard)] is also found in this context.4 Ladin also uses both the equative-pro-COI
construction and a proper COI construction with multiplicative numerals, as illustrated
respectively in (18)-(19) above and in (20) below. Example (21) shows that the
equative degree marker tan and the degree marker of nonequivalence plö / plü can be
used synonymously in this context.5


(20) Lmv (TALL)
         Chësta nëi           é trëi       iadi       plü          toćia       co            la    naturala.
         this       snow      is three     times      more         thick       how.STDM the natural
         ‘This snow is three times thicker than natural snow.’

4
    Similarly, German also employs both the equative-pro-COI construction and a proper COI construction
with multiplicative numerals. A corpus search in the German Web 2013 (deTenTen13) revealed that
the construction ‘three times as big as’ (2473 hits) is more frequent than the construction ‘three times
bigger than’ (473 hits) and that the construction ‘three times as high as’ (2742 hits) is more frequent
than the construction ‘three times higher than’ (1146 hits). The search included different spelling
conventions and numerals (search carried out on 2021.04.23).
5
    The same is pointed out for French by Stolz (2013), who provided the example in (i).


(i)      French (Stolz 2013: 28-29)
         La      France    est deux fois   aussi      / plus grande            que           l’    Autriche.
         the     France    is two   times as.DEGM / more big                   that.STDM     the   Austria
         ‘France is twice as big as / bigger than Austria.’



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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93


(21) Badiot
       La    Francia é dui      iadi      tan                 / plö        grana          ch’       l’
       the France is two times            [as much].DEGM / more            big            that.STDM the
       Austria.
       Austria
       ‘France is twice as big as / bigger than Austria.’


Italian typically employs a proper COI construction with multiplicative numerals, as a
search in the corpus Italian Web 2016 confirmed (see Table 3).


 proper COI construction                  hits      equative-pro-COI construction                  hits
 tre    volte maggiore/più grande         715      tre    volte tanto              grande          1
 three times bigger/ more big                      three times [as much].DEGM big
 ‘three times bigger’                              ‘three times as big’
 tre    volte più    alto                 159      tre    volte tanto              alto            0
 three times more high                             three times [as much].DEGM high
 ‘three times higher’                              ‘three times as high’
 numeral + volte maggiore/più grande      3707     numeral + volte tanto                  grande   0
 numeral + times bigger/ more big                  numeral + times [as much].DEGM big
 ‘numeral + times bigger’                          ‘numeral + times as big’


                        Table 3: Corpus search results for Italian (itTenTen16).


3.1. Position of the degree markers


The parameter typically precedes the standard of comparison in SAE languages,
including English, Italian, and Ladin. Haspelmath (2017: 26) noted in this regard that
“if the standard follows the parameter, then the standard-marker generally precedes
the standard”. However, Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) admitted that speculating on
the position of the standard marker is easier than predicting the order of the
parameter marker. While the standard marker is clearly the head of the standard, it
is not so obvious whether the parameter marker is “the head or the dependent of the
parameter” (Haspelmath & Buchholz 1998: 289). Example (22) illustrates the pre-
adjectival position of the degree marker as in English.


(22) English (enTenTen15)
       A woman can be as intelligent as a man or even more.


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It is shown in (23) and (24) that Italian tanto can precede or follow the adjective. The
same holds true for Ladin tan, which usually precedes the adjective, as in (25) and
(26), but which can occasionally occur in a post-adjectival position, as illustrated in
(27), which exemplifies a generic equative where the image of the world is evoked to
indicate something that has existed for a long time.


(23) Italian (itTenTen16)
         I       computer       arriveranno      ad      essere   tanto                  intelligenti
         the computers          arrive.FUT       to      be       [as much].DEGM         intelligent
         quanto                 gli     umani.
         [how much].STDM the humans
         ‘Computers will become as intelligent as humans.’


(24) Italian (itTenTen16)
         La      donna è intelligente tanto                   quanto        un    uomo       e      a
         the woman is intelligent            [as much] [how much] a               man        and at
         volte     di più.
         times     more
         ‘A woman is as intelligent as a man and sometimes more.’


(25) Badiot (TALL)
         Iö sun pa        bel         tan                     sciché che          tö.
         I am      PTCL   already [as much].DEGM              smart    that.STDM you.SG
         ‘I am already as smart as you.’


(26) Marou (TALL)
         Tö        es     tan                    vedla co                   iu.
         you.SG are [as much].DEGM               old.F        how.STDM      I


(27) Marou (TALL)
         Na      verité… Ara é vedla tan                               co         le     monn.
         a       truth… It      is old       [as much].DEGM            how.STDM the world
         ‘A truth… It is as old as the world / as old as the hills.’




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3.2. Omission of the degree markers


Quirk et al. (1985) observed that the English degree (parameter) marker as is
sometimes absent in informal and in literary contexts if a copular verb is present or
implied, as in examples (28) and (29).


(28) English (BNC)
      The weapon was old as the world and deadly as poison.


(29) English (enTenTen15)
      … his only daughter, comely as a summer cloud, clever as a cone spider, has fingers
         so lively she can spin straw into gold.


Quirk et al. (1985) noted that the single as is close to like when it is followed by a
noun phrase, as examples (30) and (31) illustrate. Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998:
309) specified that in SAE languages the equative parameter marker is optional and
often missing in generic equatives, “whose standard does not have specific reference
but refers to a class generically”. Examples (30) and (31) illustrate how the image of
ivory can be evoked to describe something that is very pale. While in (30) and (31)
the standard is an entity that is seen as having a certain property and is used
idiomatically, in (32) the standard has specific reference and the typical correlative
construction with the double as can be observed.


(30) English (BNC)
      Sometimes he would catch Benedicta looking at him, her lovely face pale as ivory...


(31) English (BNC)
      His face was pale like carved ivory, his chest still.


(32) English (BNC)
      Valerie Cass now looked as pale as her daughter.


As in English, the Italian degree marker tanto can be omitted in the tanto… quanto
construction, as illustrated in (33), whereas Ladin tan always needs to be expressed




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in a tan… che / co construction of the type of (34) and can be omitted only with
similative standard markers, discussed in §4.6

(33) Italian (itTenTen16)
     Le donne non sono intelligenti       quanto   gli uomini.
     the women not are intelligent [how much].STDM the men
     ‘Women are not (as) intelligent as men.’

(34) Badiot
     * Iö sun sciché          che      tö.
       I am intelligent that.STDM you.SG
       ‘I am (as) intelligent as you.’


4. Equative and similative standard markers


Many European languages characteristically use equative constructions that are based
on a demonstrative expression that means ‘so’ (as noted in §3 above) and a relative
expression that means ‘how’ and that is often used as an interrogative, as pointed out
by Haspelmath (2017: 11-12), who explains that “the demonstrative functions as a
degree-marker, and the relative as a standard-marker”. Haspelmath (2017) stresses
that demonstrative-relative (correlative) constructions are typical of the European
linguistic area, including Germanic and Romance territories. Table 4 enlists the
equative and similative standard markers that occur in the languages considered in
the present article. Equative and similative standard markers are not separated in the
table, arguing in line with Haspelmath (2017) that equative and similative
constructions are often expressed in similar ways.


                        Varieties                       Standard markers
                        English                         as / like
                        Italian                         quanto / come / che
                        Badiot                          che / sciöche / coche
                        Ladin de mesa val (Lmv)         co / sciöche / coche
                        Marou                           co / desco / desche / coche


                            Table 4: Equative and similative standard markers.




6
    Similarly, Italian altrettanto cannot be omitted in the construction altrettanto… che (cf. example (6)).


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4.1. Equative and similative standard markers in English


The English standard marker as typically correlates with the same degree marker.
Although it is possible for the standard marker as to be unaccompanied by a degree
marker, as was discussed in §3 above, this is not particularly common in the databases
considered for the present analysis. While (35) exemplifies the typical correlative
construction ‘as adjective as noun-phrase’, (36) shows that it is possible for the
standard marker as to occur without a preceding degree marker, which happens in
particular in generic equatives and in literary or informal contexts, where (36) seems
to have arisen, considering the rather blunt choice of words. The single standard
marker as is usually followed by a generic lexical standard, so that the definite article
in (37) is rather untypical.


(35) English (BNC)
      First time I went to London, I was about as old as Emily.


(36) English (enTenTen15)
      We may be old as the hills, but hopefully we aren’t dumb as a box of rocks.


(37) English (enTenTen15)
      His eyes were big as the dish-plates.


Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) found that the equative standard marker is identical
to the similative marker in the majority of SAE languages. English has therefore been
described as rather exceptional among European languages, with its two standard
markers as and like, which distinguish formally between equative and similative
constructions. The closeness of the single standard marker as to the standard like was
pointed out in §3.2 and is further illustrated in (38) and (39), in which the structures
‘as adjective as noun phrase’ and ‘adjective like noun phrase’ express a semantically
similar concept. In both (38) and (39) the size of a building is compared to the size
of a castle. However, (38) and (39) might be argued to illustrate quantitative and
qualitative comparison respectively.




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(38) English (enTenTen15)
         Eight Chimneys is as big as a castle, but dustier and darker than Samantha imagines
         a castle would be.


(39) English (enTenTen15)
         It is big like a castle and has many underground rooms.


The English similative marker like and the following standard of comparison often
form a simple phrase that functions as an adverbial of manner, as illustrated in (40)
and (41), which refer to manners of singing and swimming.


(40) English (enTenTen15)
         She sings like a bird.


(41) English (enTenTen15)
         Now he swims like a fish.


4.2. Equative and similative standard markers in Italian


It was observed in §3 that the Italian degree marker tanto is characteristically
accompanied by the standard marker quanto, which often occurs without the degree
marker. While the standard marker quanto is used in combination with tanto in (42),
it is used on its own in (43).


(42) Italian (itTenTen16)
         L’   attività quotidiana       può essere        tanto                 efficace
         the activity     daily         can be            [as much].DEGM        effective
         quanto                   gli   antidepressivi.
         [how much].STDM          the antidepressants
         ‘Daily activity can be as effective as antidepressants.’


(43) Italian (itTenTen16)
         La   psicoterapia        cognitivo   comportamentale         è efficace
         the psychotherapy cognitive behavioural                      is effective




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        quanto                  gli     antidepressivi.
        [how much].STDM the antidepressants
        ‘Cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy is (as) effective as antidepressants.’


Belletti (1991) maintains that only the standard marker quanto can precede a nominal
standard if the adjectival parameter is preceded by tanto, whereas come cannot be
used in this case. Cerruti (2009) acknowledges the standard linguistic norm according
to which the degree marker tanto correlates with quanto + VP, NP, AdjP, AdvP, PrepP
or with come + NP, but he emphasises that the structure ‘tanto adjective come
adjective’ is attested in his corpus of spoken language as well. Example (44) shows a
correlative use of tanto and come (+ nominal), which is therefore attested in the data
examined in the present article, while the structure ‘tanto adjective come adjective’ is
rare.7

7
  A typical equative construction with two adjectives in Italian is ‘tanto adjective quanto adjective’, as
illustrated in (i).

(i)     Italian (itTenTen16)
        Nina è tanto               bella            quanto                fortunata.
        Nina is [as much].DEGM beautiful            [how much].STDM       lucky
        ‘Nina is as beautiful as lucky.’

Ladin ‘tan adjective’ can correlate with both ‘che / co adjective’ and ‘sciöche adjective’, as illustrated in
(ii-iii), which also show that the adverbs avisa ‘just’ and ince ‘also’ typically occur in equative and
similative constructions of this type.

(ii)    Lmv
        Nina é (avisa) tan                        bela      co               (ince)    fortunada.
        Nina is (just)       [as much].DEGM       beautiful how.STDM         (also)    lucky
        ‘Nina is (just) as beautiful as (also) lucky.’

(iii)   Lmv
        Nina é (tan)                   bela      sciöche         (ince)      fortunada.
        Nina is ([as much].DEGM) beautiful like.STDM             (also)      lucky
        ‘Nina is (as) beautiful like (also) lucky.’

German also frequently uses the emphatic element genau to strengthen the parameter marker
semantically, as shown in (iv).

(iv)    German (deTenTen13)
        Der Brief ist genau-so          schön     wie     traurig.
        the letter is just-as           beautiful as      sad
        ‘The letter is just as beautiful as sad.’


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(44) Italian (itTenTen10)
         La      giudico     tanto             eterna come             l’     acqua      e      l’
         it.ACC.F judge.1SG [as much].DEGM eternal like.STDM the water                   and the
         aria.
         air
         ‘I consider it as eternal as water and air.’


When the optional degree marker tanto is absent, both quanto and come are equally
acceptable in specific and generic equatives, confirming the statement by Haspelmath
& Buchholz (1998) that quantitative and qualitative equative markers in Italian are
not always as clearly distinguished and distributed as in other languages. Examples
(45-48) illustrate how quanto and come can both be used in specific and generic
equatives, although it might still be argued that quanto and come convey a slightly
different semantic meaning.

(45) Italian (itTenTen16)
     Tu       sei forte      quanto    me.
     you.SG are strong [how much].STDM me
     ‘You are (as) strong as me.’

(46) Italian (itTenTen16)
     Roberto era sano          e    forte   come me.
     Roberto was healthy and strong like.STDM me
     ‘Roberto was healthy and strong like me.’

(47) Italian (itTenTen16)
     Era         forte  quanto      un                    uomo.
     was.3SG strong [how much].STDM a                     man
     ‘He was (as) strong as a man.’

(48) Italian (itTenTen16)
     Il    padre le        insegna    a essere forte    come      un                     uomo.
     the father her.DAT teaches to be            strong like.STDM a                      man
     ‘Her father teaches her to be strong like a man.’

Haspelmath (2017: 13) points out that European languages often “use a ‘how’ word
to express similarity of manner”, such as come in Italian. Treis (2018: 22) explains


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that “the main similative construction involves an intransitive stative verb ‘be like
(this)’ or a transitive verb ‘do like (this)’”, which is exemplified in (49) and (50),
where come is used to express qualitative similarity.


(49) Italian (itTenTen16)
     Libera era come          suo padre.
     Libera was like.STDM her father
     ‘Libera was like her father.’

(50) Italian (itTenTen16)
     Canta come          un gatto schiacciato, ma canta.
     sings like.STDM a       cat squashed,        but sings
     ‘He sings like a squashed cat, but he sings.’

A further standard marker in Italian constructions of comparison is che, which
introduces the standard if the parameter is preceded by altrettanto, as was noted in §3
and further exemplified in (51). While Belletti (1991) rejects the use of quanto and
come in correlation with altrettanto as unacceptable, the correlative structure
‘altrettanto adjective quanto / come NP’ is not categorically absent in the databases
examined, as shown in (52) and (53).8

(51) Italian (itTenTen16)
     … pensa che le         donne trobriandesi siano… e     altrettanto
     … thinks that the women Trobriand be.SBJV… and [just as much].DEGM
     libere che          gli uomini.
     free     that. STDM the men
     ‘… he thinks that Trobriand women… are… and just as free as men.’


(52) Italian (itTenTen16)
        … oli     vegetali…          possono      diventare altrettanto                 importanti
        … oil     vegetarian.PL… can              become        [just as much].DEGM important
        quanto                 il    petrolio e       il    carbone.
        [how much].STDM the petrol and the coal
        ‘… vegetable oils… can become just as important as petrol and coal.’




8
    When the parameter is an AP, Italian can also use altrettanto without a degree marker, as in È bella
ma altrettanto noiosa. ‘She is beautiful but equally boring.’


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(53) Italian (itTenTen16)
         Se    l’    essere     umano potesse essere         altrettanto                saggio
         if    the being        human could       be         [just as much].DEGM wise
         come        un uccellino!
         like.STDM a [little bird]!
         ‘If the human being could be just as wise as a little bird!’


4.3. Equative and similative standard markers in Ladin


While the Italian standard marker che is used exclusively in correlation with
altrettanto, the standard markers che and co are widely used in combination with the
degree marker tan in Badiot, Ladin de mesa val, and Marou, as illustrated in (54-56).
While ch(e) /kə/ is typical of Badiot, co is characteristic of Ladin de mesa val and
Marou.9


(54) Badiot (TALL)
         Les   ëres…        é     tan                    bunes      che          i      ëi.
         the women… are [as much].DEGM                   good       that.STDM the men
         ‘Women… are as good as men.’


(55) Lmv (TALL)
         Chël gran tachin… chël             che          é tan                   gran co              iö?
         that big turkey… that.DEM that.COMP is [as much].DEGM big how.STDM I?
         ‘That big turkey… the one that is as big as I (am)?’


(56) Marou (TALL)
         Sce düc foss           tan               scichês co                  os…
         if    all   were       [as much].DEGM clever how.STDM                you.PL
         ‘If everybody was as clever as you…’




9
    The modern-spelling versions of the corpus CLL are adopted in this article for ease of comprehension.
If the modern transcription of the markers does not correspond to the original form, this is pointed out
in order to give a more precise picture. Transcribers of older texts often opt for the nowadays written
standard form co, which, however, does not necessarily correspond to the original form, e.g. qu’ in
Badiot.


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Badiot che fulfils several functions in different contexts, in some of which it
corresponds to Italian che while in others it differs. Badiot che occurs in comparatives
of nonequivalence independently of the syntactic context, as illustrated in (57) and
(58), in which che is followed by a noun phrase and by a personal pronoun. In these
contexts, standard modern Italian would prefer the preposition di, whereas che would
be less appropriate (Dardano & Trifone, 1985; Serianni, 1989). However, due to
substratum influence, the comparative marker of inequivalence che is overextended
in northern Italian dialects, e.g. in Piedmontese (Cerruti 2009).10


(57) Badiot (TALL)
         Al     se         vëgn           in mënt   che      l’        scür        d-la     nöt     sides plö
         it     us.DAT comes in mind                that the darkness of-the night                  be   more
         sterch      che             la     lüm     d-l           dé     nü.
         strong that.STDM the light                 of-the day new
         ‘It occurs to us that the darkness of the night is stronger than the light of the
         new day.’


(58) Badiot (TALL)
         Ai     ne              s’                  à       nia        spordü      de     manco che
         they NEG.PTCL          themselves.REFL have not frightened of                    less    that.STDM
         nos.
         we=us
         ‘They were not less frightened than us.’


Both Ladin and Italian che can function as a complementiser in relative clauses and
in subordinate clauses in general, as the Ladin sentences (59-61) illustrate.


(59) Badiot
         I á         lit   l’        test che la          studënta       á      scrit.
         I have read the text that the student                           has written
         ‘I have read the text that the student has written.’



10
     Nowadays, certain uses of de in comparatives of nonequivalence in Badiot are arguably an influence
of Italian, independently of the fact that Latin de, quam, and quod were long-time competitors in the
older stages of various Italo-Romance varieties, as argued by Stolz (2013).


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(60) Badiot
         I á     baié       cun la       studënta       che vëgn         da-l’          America.
         I have spoken with the student                 that comes from-the America.
         ‘I have spoken to the student who comes from America.’


(61) Badiot
         Ël    pënsa    che ël        sais              döt.
         he    thinks that he         knows.SBJV        everything
         ‘He thinks that he knows everything.’


Unlike Italian che, the Badiot standard marker che /ke/ corresponds to the human
interrogative pronoun, whereas Italian uses chi in interrogatives with a human
reference, as in (62) and (63).


(62) Badiot
         Che as-te            pa      odü?
         who have-you.SG PTCL seen
         ‘Who have you seen?’


(63) Italian
         Chi hai            visto?
         who have.2SG seen
         ‘Who have you seen?’


The complementiser che follows wh-elements in subordinate interrogatives in Badiot,
as in some other dialects that are spoken in northern Italy, e.g. in central Trentino
(Benincà & Poletto 1997; Casalicchio & Cordin 2020). This is exemplified in (64) and
(65).


(64) Badiot
         Ël    me       á     cunté      ći         che           ël     á       odü.
         he    me.DAT has told           what       that.COMP he         has seen
         ‘He has told me what he has seen.’




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(65) Badiot
         Ël       me          á       cunté       che che                  ël      á         odü.
         he       me.DAT has told                 who that.COMP he                 has seen
         ‘He has told me who he has seen.’


Marou co functions as a standard marker in equative and similative structures, but it is
also used as a relative pronoun, independently of whether the preceding noun phrase is
a human or non-human entity, as illustrated in (66) and (67). However, co is used in
nominative contexts, whereas che is employed in non-nominative contexts. This case
distinction in Marou, which is not present in Badiot, is exemplified in (66)-68).11


(66) Marou (CLL, 1969)
         Le       sorëdl      co              lomina              nosta         tera,        é sö    alalt a-l          ci.
         the sun              that.NOM illuminates our                          earth, is up         high at-the sky
         ‘The sun that illuminates our earth is high up in the sky.’


(67) Marou (CLL, 1967)
         … n pere             co              á      laoré            por te,           co           é sën       belo
         … a father that.NOM has worked                               for       you, that.NOM is now already




11
     While no nominative vs. non-nominative distinction is marked by the relative pronoun che in Badiot
and in Italian, French has retained a case distinction like Marou. The examples (i) and (ii) illustrate
that qui is used in a nominative context and que is non-nominative.


(i)      French (frTenTen17)
         … comme        le         soleil qui        éclaire          notre terre.
         … like         the        sun    that.NOM illuminates our              earth
         ‘… like the sun that illuminates our earth.’


(ii)     French (frTenTen17)
         L’ air      que           je respire,    l’ eau       que         je bois, le         soleil que        je vois,
         the air     that.ACC I       breath,     the water that.ACC I          drink, the     sun   that.ACC I     see,
         le       sang qui            coule dans mes           veines...
         the      blood that.NOM flows in            my        veines…
         ‘The air that I breath, the water that I drink, the sun that I see, the blood that flows in my
         veins…’



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         vedl…
         old…
         ‘… a father who has worked for you, who is now already old…’


(68) Marou (TALL)
         La   ega      de        vita che          iu bëri          mo        pai-i       enstës!
         the water     of        life that.ACC     I drink          me.DAT pay-I          myself
         ‘The spirit that I drink, I pay myself!’


Like English how and Italian come, Marou co is also used in manner interrogatives and
subordinate clauses, as illustrated in (69) and (70).


(69) Marou (CLL, 2003)
         Co   podun-se      pa     nos sëi         cares       co     é       töes intenziuns?
         how can-we         PTCL   we      know    which that are your intentions
         ‘How can we know which ones (that) are your intentions?’


(70) Marou (google)
         Le   Mareo ne                sa        nia    der     co     reagì        a-la     situaziun.
         the Mareo NEG.PTCL           knows not very how react                     to-the situation
         ‘Mareo team does not really know how to react to the situation.’


The degree marker tan is frequently used in combination with the standard marker
sciöche in Badiot and in Ladin de mesa val, as shown in (71) and (72), which also
illustrate that the coordinated construction ‘tan adjective sciöche’ can be followed by
a nominal standard with specific or generic reference. While the standard of
comparison in (71) is constituted by the walls of a specific room, (72) refers to the
typical smoothness of oil.


(71) Ladin (TALL)
         Al   ê     tan               scür sciöche         i        mürs      de      chë ćiamena.
         it was [as much].DEGM dark like.STDM the walls                       of      that room
         ‘It was as dark as the walls of that room.’




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(72) Ladin (CLL, 1987)
         … mer… ch’             ê     datrai     tan                     chît sciöche    n    öre,
         … sea…          that was sometimes [as much].DEGM               still like.STDM an   oil,
         zënza           ones       intravaiades, zënza    faldes.
         without         waves twisted,          without creases
         ‘… the see… which was sometimes as still as oil, without twisted waves, without
         creases.’


Sciöche also occurs without tan, unlike the markers che and co (cf. §3). The standard
of comparison can again be specific or generic. Two specific people constitute the
standard of comparison in (73), while the similative marker sciöche introduces a
generic standard in (74) and (75), which involve the static verb ‘be’ and the dynamic
verb ‘tremble’.


(73) Ladin (CLL, 1952)
         Chësc      fô     vistí      apresciapüch       sciöch’     i     atri    dui   sü
         this       was dressed approximately like.STDM the other                  two his
         fredesc.
         brothers
         ‘This one was dressed approximately like the other two of his brothers.’


(74) Ladin (CLL, 1858)
         L’     Orco é gran sciöche12 na             munt!
         the ogre is big like.STDM a                 mountain
         ‘The ogre is big like a mountain!’


(75) Ladin (CLL, 1964)
         Al     tremorâ         sciöche13 na     fëia.
         he     trembled like.STDM a             leaf
         ‘He trembled like a leaf.’


A further marker that is occasionally found in Badiot, Ladin de mesa val, and Marou
is coche (composed of co + che), which is widespread in the nearby Ladin valley of

12
     Originally sciöch’.
13
     Originally sciöch’.


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Gherdëina, but not used systematically in comparative structures in Val Badia, where
it often seems to be an individual idiosyncrasy. However, Gasser (2000) equates coche
with sciöche in his grammar book, where he explains that the standard of comparison
can be preceded by sciöche or coche and exemplifies the latter with (76), where coche
is followed by an adverbial phrase, and with (77), where coche functions as a
conjunction and introduces a clause.14


(76) Ladin (Gasser 2000: 43)
         Sö-l     lüch      de Somavila laôr-i               ćiamò     coche                   plü
         on-the farm        of Somavila work-they            still     [how that].STDM         more
         dadî.
         formerly
         ‘On the farm of Somavila, they still work like years ago.’


(77) Ladin (Gasser 2000: 194)
         Coche        i     scolars d-la       cuarta tlassa         ćianta, insciö     ćianta bëgn
         [how that] the pupils of-the fourth class                   sing,    so        sing       PTCL

         inće chi         d-la     terza.
         also those       of-the third
         ‘Just as the fourth-grade pupils sing, so do the third-graders.’


Similarly, coche occurs alongside sciöche in Gallmann et al. (2013) in the example
reproduced in (78).


(78) Ladin (Gallmann et al. 2013: 76)
         Cun i        ćiavëis lunć ćiara Rita fora sciöche / coche                           na    stria.
         with the hair           long look Rita out like /             [how that].STDM a           witch
         ‘With long hair, Rita looks like a witch.’


The form coche appears in the bilingual dictionary of Ladin de mesa val and Italian
by Moling et al. (2016). There is no entry for coche in Mischí’s (2015) bilingual
dictionary of Ladin de mesa val and German, but the book includes the terms cochemai

14
     It might be hypothesised that coche used to be widespread and employed systematically in Val Badia,
where it was ousted by the co-existing sciöche later in history, but there is not enough evidence for this
hypothesis to be proved at the present moment.


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(composed of co + che + mai) and cochessî (composed of co + che + sî), which can
both have an adjectival and adverbial function. Cochemai and cochessî convey a
meaning along the lines of ‘sui generis, in whatever way’, as (79) and (80) illustrate.


(79) Ladin (CLL, 1949)
         Dlunch             á-i       odü iö     jënt     dër    coche            mai15.
         everywhere have-I seen I                people very [how that]           never
         ‘Everywhere have I seen people very much sui generis.’


(80) Ladin (CLL, 1959)
         La     jënt…             sona y   cianta…ladin      todësch       talian    cochessî16.
         the people… play and sing… Ladin                    German        Italian [how that be]
         ‘People… play and sing… Ladin, German, Italian, in whatever way.’


While Badiot and Ladin de mesa val use sciöche, Marou has the two standard markers
desco and desche.17 Like sciöche, the standard markers desco and desche can be used
with or without the degree marker tan and with a specific or generic standard, as
shown in (81-84), and no difference between equatives and similatives could be
detected.


(81) Marou (CLL, 1968)
         … checio lüront              y    tan               sterch      desco       fü.
         … red         glowing        and [as much].DEGM strong like.STDM fire
         ‘… in a glowing red and as strong as fire.’


(82) Marou (CLL, 1930)
         I ne               sun mino       surt no      desco       os        dui, ch’      i         sëis
         I NEG.PTCL         am NEG.PTCL deaf not like.STDM you.PL two, that you.PL are




15
     Originally coch’ mai.
16
     Originally co ch’si.
17
     Ladin sciöch’ is only attested twice in the Marou texts included in the corpus of literary texts and
both instances are from the same author. Additionally, three instances of sciöche are found in the
transcribed versions, which are not totally faithful to the original in this case. The original forms sciöco,
söcco, and shö, ch’ should arguably be interpreted as ensciö co, which is also attested once.


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         surc desco             n tapo.
         deaf like.STDM a log
         ‘I am not deaf like you two, who are deaf like a log.’


(83) Marou (TALL)
         Y       empò     è-l     sté      atlò tan                  bel   desche        nos ne
         and still        is-it been here [as much].DEGM nice as.STDM                    we     NEG.PTCL

         l’ ân     te nosta       vita mai         ciamó     albü.
         it had in our            life never       yet       had
         ‘And still, it has been as nice here as it never was in our life before.’


(84) Marou (TALL)
         Co-le          tomp      s’           aüs-on            a chël desche           le     cian
         with-the       time      one.REFL     get-used-one to that as.STDM              the dog
         s’             aüsa            co-i       pöresc.
         itself.REFL gets-used with-the            lice
         ‘With time one gets used to that as the dog gets used to lice.’


Characteristic uses of the two markers desco and desche are discussed in §5 by drawing
comparisons with English as and like, after addressing the case marking of pronominal
standards in §4.4.


4.4. Pronominal standard markers and case

Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998: 306) observed that “in Standard Average European,
the standard marker is usually derived from a subordinator and therefore does not
govern (or ‘assign’) the case of the standard, which is identical to that of the
comparee.” It is often maintained that the English complement as has a nominative
in formal style and an accusative in informal style if a verb can be added to which
the pronoun is the subject. The traditional view suggests using the nominative
pronominal form in this case, arguing that the pronoun is the subject of an elliptical
clause. Biber et al. (1999) found that nominative and accusative forms were divided
fairly equally in fiction, whereas only accusative forms were attested in their corpus
of conversation. Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998: 308-309) confirmed that “in SAE
languages there is a clear tendency for case-transparent standard markers to be turned
into case-determining prepositions”, arguing that this tendency reflects “the gradual



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loss of the connection between the ‘underlying’ relative clause and the phrasal
standard and can be understood as a type of grammaticalization.”
   Hence, while the standard and the comparee are often in the same case in European
languages, it is also not uncommon for the standard and comparee to be in a different
case, as in Italian, where the direct object pronoun is used in phrasal constructions
independently of the case of the comparee. Vice versa, the standard marker does not
assign the case of the pronominal standard in Ladin or Marou, as illustrated in (85-
90), where the nominative forms iö, iu ‘I’ and tö ‘you’ are used.


(85) Badiot (TALL)
         Degügn       n’          é tan                   furbi     che         iö.
         nobody       NEG.PTCL    is [as much].DEGM clever.PL that.STDM I.NOM
         ‘Nobody is as clever as I.’


(86) Badiot (TALL)
     Iö sun pa bel           tan      sciché                      che       tö.
     I am PTCL already [as much].DEGM smart                       that.STDM you.NOM.SG
     ‘I am already as smart as you.’

(87) Lmv (Mischí 2015: 389)
     Ëra é avisa tan                  eleganta              co            tö.
     she is just       [as much].DEGM elegant               how.STDM      you.NOM.SG
     ‘She is just as elegant as you.’

(88) Badiot (CLL, 1878)
     … porvé de me mantigní en pesc                y     contënta               sciöche
     … try      to me maintain in peace and satisfied                           like.STDM
     tö.18
     you.NOM.SG
     ‘… try to keep myself peaceful and satisfied like you.’


(89) Marou (TALL)
         … su         desco       iu.
         … lonely like.STDM I.NOM
         ‘… lonely like me.’



18
     Originally in pesc… sceoucche tou


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(90) Marou (TALL)
         Ciar-i      ince iu fora desco                   tö?
         look-I also I out like.STDM you.NOM.SG
         ‘Do I also look like you?’


In (91), the pronominal standard takes the nominative form iu ‘I’ even with a direct-
object comparee.


(91) Marou (TALL)
         Veronica      adora      pö         en      ël     madü        desco...      desco           iu       por
         Veronica needs           PTCL       a       man mature like.STDM…like.STDM I.NOM                      for
         tó     en     ejempio.
         take an       example
         ‘Veronica needs a mature man like… like me, to give an example.’


Despite the typical use of nominative pronominal forms in Ladin comparative
constructions, the objective pronominal forms are not excluded nowadays, and this might
be argued to be an influence of Italian, which exerts a considerable influence on younger
speakers in particular. Cross-linguistic influence might explain the use of the accusative
form me ‘me’ in (92), while a stylistic choice might have been made in (93), where two
instances of the nominative form tö ‘you’ are found at first and then the accusative form
te ‘you’, immediately after the prepositional phrase por te ‘for you’.


(92) Badiot (google)
         E-le… ladins         sciöche              me? Iö sun badiot.
         is-it… Ladins like.STDM me? I am                          Badiot.
         ‘Are there Ladins like me? I am Badiot.’


(93) Marou (google)
         Chel          co              vir         desco        tö,             vir       l’        amur.   Chel
         that.DEM that.COMP lives like.STDM you.NOM.SG lives the love.                                      that.DEM
         co            ponsa      y          fej     desco         tö                 y        dá     la    vita…
         that.COMP thinks and does like.STDM you.NOM.SG and gives the                                       life..
         Fá          ch’    i viri por te                          y      desco           te.
         make        that I live for               you. ACC.SG and like.STDM you.ACC.SG



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         ‘The one who lives like you, lives love. The one who thinks and behaves like you
         and gives his or her life… Let me live for you and like you.’


5. Marou desco and desche vs. English like and as


The preceding sections have shown that standard markers of comparison differ in the
varieties that are spoken in Val Badia. The difference concerns in particular the use
of the two standard markers markers desco and desche in Marou where Badiot and
Ladin de mesa val use the same marker sciöche (and Italian come). A search of the
corpus of literary texts for desco, desche, and desch’ in the subsection of the Marou
variety returned the numbers reported in Table 5.19


       Marou standard markers            Numbers of occurrence           % of the total number of
                                                                         words
       desco                             159                             0.089%
       desch                             48                              0.027%
       desche                            23                              0.013%


                       Table 5: Marou desco, desch, desche in the literary corpus CLL
                                    (search carried out on 2020.11.11).


A precise explanation of the distribution of desco and desche was missing in
dictionaries and grammar books, when Irsara (2001) undertook an investigation into
their contexts of use, which was followed up by Irsara (2012). The existence of the
two markers was acknowledged by speakers of Marou, who provided resolute
judgements concerning the acceptability of desco and desch(e) in certain contexts,
while being unaware of their systematic distribution. A corpus analysis of the right
context of the markers immediately confuted the tentative hypothesis that the use of




19
     The Romansh varieties spoken in Switzerland have the forms sco and scu. A CLL search of the literary
texts in their original spelling returned one instance of skö, as (i) illustrates.


(i)      Ladin (CLL, 1910)
         … ne            türa      plü          salč      skö           n sajok.
         … NEG.PTCL      throws    any-more     jumps     like.STDM     a grosshopper
         ‘… does not jump any more like a grasshopper.’


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desco and desche might be dictated by the initial sound of the following expression.20
Both desco and desche are followed by vowel and consonant sounds, while the
abbreviated form desch’ is followed by a vowel in all its 23 occurrences.
      A comparison of Marou desco and desche with English like and as called for a
syntactic analysis. Despite the rather limited application of this rule, it was the
tradition of prescriptive opposition between like and as in English that led to an
investigation into the syntactic contexts of use of desco and desche in Marou, which
produced the following result: desch(e) introduces a clause with an inflected verb,
whereas desco normally precedes a phrase, which can be postmodified by a relative
clause. Desche and desch’ are freely substitutable in front of a vowel, while desco is
not abbreviated. Table 6 shows the results that were obtained from an analysis of the
right contexts of the forms desco, desch’, and desche in the literary texts contained in
the Marou subsection of the corpus CLL. In the great majority of cases, desco is
followed by a phrase, while desch(e) is followed by clause, in accordance with the
generalisation made above.


                           Particles            + finite clause     + phrase
                           desco                15a                 144b
                           desch’               48                  /
                           desche               22                  1

            a
                Of these 15 exceptional instances of desco + clause, 9 are from the same author.
            b
                One instance is arguably not relevant because desco is part of a title with no right context.


                 Table 6: Right context of Marou desco and desch(e) in the literary corpus CLL
                                       (search carried out on 2020.11.11)


A syntactic analysis of desco and desch(e) in the ten latest information bulletins of the
municipality of Mareo yielded the results reported in Table 7, which adds validity to
the findings in Table 6, in spite of the different registers of the texts considered in the
two tables.

20
     This idea was initially proposed by Videsott & Plangg (1998) in their Marou dictionary, where the
entry reproduced in (i) is found.


(i)      Marou (Videsott & Plangg 1998: 121)
         Desco adv., vor Vokal desche
         ‘Desco adverb, in front of a vowel desche’


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                           Particles               + finite clause          + phrase
                           desco                   3                        285
                           desch’                  14                       /
                           desche                  26                       /


               Table 7: Right context of Marou desco and desch(e) in Le Saltà (numbers 21-30).


It will be illustrated in the next sections that Marou desco and desch(e) are used in
various constructions that are somewhat related to the more straightforward clauses
of equality and similarity, which will also explain the more extensive use of desco in
Le Saltà than in the corpus CLL. While in CLL desco makes up 69% of the total number
of occurrences of the three forms, in Le Saltà 88%.21


5.1. Equative and similative clauses in English and Marou


21
     A detailed analysis of the deictic or anaphoric demonstratives ensciö (Marou), così (Italian), and so
(English) lies beyond the scope of this article. However, their use as affirmative particles is worth
pointing out. The examples (i-ii) illustrate the use of ensciö (Marou) and così (Italian) in the Lord’s
Prayer.


(i)      Italian (itTenTen16)
         Sia    fatta la        tua      volontà   come in Cielo così in terra.
         be     done the        your will          like       in sky   so       in earth
         ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’


(ii)     Marou
         Töa    orenté     sides fata, desco            a-l     ci     ensciö      sö-la    tera.
         your will         be         done, like        at-the sky     so          on-the   earth
         ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’


König (2017) emphasizes that several languages have affirmative particles that are based on these
anaphoric manner deictics, including English (yeah swa > yes) and Italian (ĕccu(m) sīc > così, sì). This
also holds true for Marou, where the affirmative particle sciö is used in a number of contexts, as
illustrated in (iii).


(iii)    Marou (TALL)
         Gustl ciügna de        sciö.
         Gustl nods of          yes
         ‘Gustl nods.’


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Equatives and similatives can have phrasal and clausal standards of comparison.
Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998: 303) argued that equative clauses draw more complex
comparisons and defined them as “comparisons where the verb is part of the standard,
i.e., where the two situations compared differ not only in their participants, but also
in their verbal core.” In (94), the compared situations differ in their participants, in
(95) in their verbal core, and in (96) in both their participants and verbal core, but
the standard marker as is followed by a clause with an inflected verb in all of them,
so that desch(e) would be used in Marou.


(94) English (enTenTen15)
         You can walk as well as they can.


(95) English (enTenTen15)
         He moved as beautifully as he looked.


(96) English (enTenTen15)
         She respected her father's decision as much as he cared for her happiness.


While the correlative construction with the double as marker is used in (94-96) above,
like is used in (97), which was given by Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) as an example
of a similative clause or manner adjunct, which specifies in what way something is done.


(97) English (Haspelmath & Buchholz 1998: 280)
         She writes like her brother talks.


Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998: 320) noticed that SAE languages or “languages whose
equative and similative standard marker is based on the relative pronoun ‘how’,
similative clauses are generally marked just by this word or by the same marker as
non-clausal similative phrases.” The relative pronoun ‘how’ in Marou is co, which can
occur in the form coche in similative clauses, as in (98), although the latter type of
clauses is generally uncommon, as pointed out by Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998).


(98) Marou (CLL, 1952)
         Al é t-la     natöra, al é vëi, al é dërt, che önn mëss                  morí,
         it is in-the nature, it is true, it is right, that one must              die,



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      coche                  n popul               se             perd.
      [how that].STDM        a population          itself.REFL loses
      ‘It is in the nature of things, it is true, it is right, that one must die, like a
      population gets lost.’


However, the generalization made by Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) that similative
clauses normally use the same marker that is also employed in non-clausal similative
phrases does not hold true for Marou, which distinguishes between phrasal desco and
clausal desch(e), as illustrated in (99) and (100).


(99) Marou (TALL)
      … spo bradlâ-l            desco         en        picio möt.
      … then       cried-he     like.STDM a             little boy
      ‘… then he cried like a little boy.’


(100)      Marou (TALL)
      Al     se              lasciâ    jí,    desche         en      picio möt se            lascia
      he     himself.REFL let          go,    as.STDM        a       little boy himself.REFL lets
      jí     dô    en     toc       d-la      oma.
      go     after a      smack of-the mother
      ‘He let himself go, as a little boy lets himself go after a smack from his mother.’


While speakers do not often have occasion to compare manners or ways of doing
something using similative clauses, the formally and semantically similar accord and
simulative clauses are much more common.


5.2. Accord clauses, simulative clauses, and role phrases in English and Marou


Accord or illocutionary clauses are typically expressed in English by adverbial finite
clauses introduced by as, which are normally realised in a distinct tone unit, and can
occur in different positions within a sentence. (101) exemplifies the use of an accord
clause or parenthetical disjunct in a central position.


(101)      English (BNC)
           The results are, as you might have guessed, violently unpredictable.



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Accord finite clauses are introduced by desch(e) in Marou. The accord clause appears
as a peripheral comment at the end of the sentence in (102), whereas it occurs
medially in (103) and initially in (104), with word order implications in the latter
case because of the verb-second characteristics of Marou.


(102)        Marou (TALL)
         Sparagné n’                    é-l     nia       gnü…, desche             düć sa.
         save          NEG.PTCL         is-it not come.., as.STDM                  all     know
         ‘Money has not been saved…, as everybody knows.’


(103)        Marou (Le Saltà 23)
         Na     banca     da-l          tomp         n’               á     nia            da     fá   con scioldi,
         a      bank      of-the time                NEG.PTCL         has nothing          to     do   with money,
         mo     ara á         da        fá – desche              l’       ennom dij –           con tomp.
         but it        has to           do – as.STDM             the name          says – with time.
         ‘A time bank has nothing to do with money, but it has something to do, as the
         name suggests, with time.’


(104)        Marou (Le Saltà 25)
         Desche        trec        se         recordará,              é sides le         2015     co   le   2016
         as.STDM       many        REFL       remember.FUT is both the 2015                       how the 2016
         stés agn         dër      megri        de        nëi.
         been years       very thin             of        snow
         ‘As many will remember, both 2015 and 2016 were years with very little snow.’


While English as also introduces elliptical clauses of the type of (105), elliptical
clauses are introduced by desco in Marou, as illustrated in (106).


(105)        English (BNC)
         As mentioned above, there are openings in both the private and public sectors.


(106)        Marou (Le Saltà 22)
         Desco         belo        anunzié                dessora , …
         like.STDM already announced                      above, …
         ‘As already announced above, …’



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Finally, English as is frequently found in combination with if and though in simulative
hypothetical constructions of the type of (107-110), where like can be used in
American English and in informal style, as illustrated in (111) and (112).


(107)      English (enTenTen15)
      He leapt and jumped and spun around as if he was crazy.


(108)      English (enTenTen15)
      Jan always drove as though he was crazy.


(109)      English (enTenTen15)
      But Minka rolled on her back as if crazy.


(110)      English (enTenTen15)
      Saying ‘I have seen! I have seen!’ and dancing in ecstatic love as though mad.


(111)      English (enTenTen15)
      … small shrieking creatures that were dancing around like they were crazy.


(112)      English (enTenTen15)
      He was drinking vanilla and dancing like crazy.


Both desch(e) and desco are used in simulative constructions, in accordance with their
clausal and phrasal contexts of use. While desch(e) introduces hypothetical clauses,
desco is used with elliptical or verbless constructions, as illustrated in (113) and (114).


(113)      Marou (TALL)
      Matio…       vën       ete, al      fej       desch’ al         jorass.
      Matio…       comes in,        he    makes as               he   flied.SBJV
      ‘Matio… enters, he acts as if he was flying.’


(114)      Marou (TALL)
      Le     Mazot ea        post ia            desco mort.
      the Mazot was laid thither like                     dead
      ‘Mazot lay there as if dead.’



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Like accord and simulative clauses, role phrases are expressed in a manner similar to
equatives and similatives in several languages, despite being semantically different,
since they “express the role or function in which a participant appears” (Haspelmath
& Buchholz 1998: 321). Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998: 322) found that “in most
European languages, role phrases are marked by the same particle that is used as
standard marker in equality and similarity constructions.” While the role marker is as
in English, Marou uses desco to refer to someone’s role or job, which is preceded by
no article. This function of desco partly explains its high number of occurrences in the
municipal information bulletin Le Saltà, which publishes reports on people’s
achievements and their roles, as in (115), and the results of public job applications,
as in (116).


(115)         Marou (Le Saltà 21)
         … protagonist          d-la     scora,   empröma desco maester,                spo
         … protagonist          of-the   school, at first       like      teacher,      then
         desco diretur.
         like      director
         ‘… a school protagonist, at first as a teacher, then as a director.’


(116)         Marou (Le Saltà 23)
         La     sign.ra… é gnüda         tuta     sö… desco cöga por la                 scolina.
         the Ms…              is been    taken    up… like          cook for     the kindergarten
         ‘Ms… has been hired… as a kindergarten cook.’


While resemblance to a mother is expressed by the disjunct in (117), the referent’s
actual role is indicated in (118).


(117)         English (enTenTen15)
         Like a mother, she has food security close to her heart.


(118)         English (enTenTen15)
         As a mother, she wants the best for her kids.




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The distinction resemblance vs. role is marked in English by the different particles
like and as, whereas in Marou the difference lies in the presence or absence of the
indefinite article, as illustrated in (119) and (120).22


(119)         Marou (google)
         Chel-bel-dio        é por nos desco n pere                  y     desco na         oma.
         that-nice-god       is for    us      like     a father and like            a      mother
         ‘God is for us like a father and like a mother.’


(120)         Marou (TALL)
         Töa fomena n’                 è da      nia!         Y      desco oma           ès-era    ciamó
         your wife       NEG.PTCL      is of     nothing! And like            mother is-she        even
         da     manco.
         of     less
         ‘Your wife is worth nothing! And as a mother even less.’


Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) maintain that role markers are the oldest and most
grammaticalised markers, such as English as, which is older than the similative
marker like.23 Similarly, it seems reasonable to hypothesise that desche is innovative
in Marou, while the role marker desco is more grammaticalised and older. An even
older form appears to be sco, which was arguably widespread in earlier times, and is
found in a Ladin version of the Lord’s Prayer that appears in Bacher’s early grammar
book dating back to 1833. Craffonara (1995) argues that sco must have sounded
archaic in most of Val Badia at that time already, because extant texts from the
previous century usually had [(iŋ)šökə], with different spelling patterns, in certain
varieties of Val Badia, and [dèško] in Marou.24




22
     The same holds true for Italian, where the distinction resemblance vs. role is also marked by the
presence and absence of the indefinite article (come una madre ‘like a mother’ vs. come madre ‘as a
mother’).
23
     Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) emphasise that this is also the case with German, which uses the
older marker als as a role marker and not the more innovative standard marker of equality and
similarity wie.
24
     Desche is also used in the Ladin variety spoken in the Dolomitic valley of Fascia, where it is the only
extant form, whereas desco does not occur.


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Irsara                                Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin


6. Conclusion


This article has investigated a number of marking patterns of equative and similative
constructions in English, Italian, and Ladin as spoken in the South-Tyrolean valley of
Badia. The analysis started from the extensively investigated English language and
moved on to the well-documented Italian language, before verifying observations
made for these major languages in Ladin varieties spoken in different areas of Val
Badia. The article has presented a descriptive account of selected characteristics,
adopting a cross-linguistic point of view, and relating the identified linguistic features
to typological generalisations made in the literature on the topic under discussion.
The article aimed to set the analysis of the Ladin data in particular in a wider context
of qualitative research by drawing parallels with major languages and finding
differences between them. The analysis was intended to make a small-scale
contribution to the ongoing debate on equatives and similatives in European
languages. In particular, the focus of the investigation was on the use of degree and
standard markers in the more straightforward equative and similative constructions
and on the use of these same markers in various related constructions, such as accord
clauses, simulative clauses, and role phrases, which were analysed in particular in the
second part of the article, where the Marou variety was focused upon.
   In line with other European languages, English, Italian, and Ladin all use analytic
degree or parameter markers, which never occur without an accompanying standard
marker. Both the Italian and Ladin degree markers tanto and tan were confirmed to
be demonstrative based and to have retained a deictic value in certain contexts, unlike
the English degree markers as and so, which were originally also demonstrative based,
but which have broadly lost their exophoric deictic value. Unlike Italian tanto, Ladin
tan was shown to occur as an interrogative, thus corresponding to Italian quanto and
English how much. The use of Ladin tan in equative-pro-COI constructions was
subsequently illustrated, demonstrating that tan can be preceded by multiplicative
numerals like English as, which can be preceded by factor modifiers like twice. The
position of the Italian and Ladin markers tanto and tan was shown to be less obvious
than the position of the English degree marker as, which is typically found in pre-
adjectival position. While Ladin tan usually precedes the adjectival parameter in
specific equatives, it is often found in post-adjectival position in generic equatives.
While generic equatives sometimes lack the degree marker as in English, leaving the




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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93


second as on its own, Ladin tan can be omitted with certain standard markers but not
with the standard marker che / co.
   After examining the degree markers in English, Italian, and Ladin, the article went
on to explore equative and similative standard markers, which precede the standard
of comparison. While the English standard markers as and like are normally taken to
describe quantity and quality respectively, quantitative and qualitative standard
markers often occur in similar contexts. While Italian quanto and come are equally
acceptable in equative constructions if unaccompanied by a degree marker, it is come
that is typically used to express similarity of manner in the contexts ‘to be like’ or ‘to
do like (this)’. Italian uses the general subordinator che as a standard marker in
coordination with the degree marker altrettanto, whereas Ladin Badiot che is used
with tan, which can also be accompanied by similative markers. The Ladin
complementiser che has no animacy restrictions, whereas the interrogative pronoun
che refers to human referents and corresponds to Italian chi and English who. Unlike
Badiot, Marou employs the how-word co as an equative standard marker. Marou co
also occurs as a nominative relative pronoun, while che is the form that is used in a
non-nominative context. Case-marking issues were also addressed in relation to
pronominal standards in Badiot and Marou, where the standard markers do normally
not govern the case of the standard of comparison, although a tendency to use
pronominal standards in their oblique case forms could also be detected and might
be interpreted as cross-linguistic influence from Italian, in spite of this tendency being
generally found by Haspelmath & Buchholz (1998) in languages across Europe.
   Besides the different equative standard markers che and co in Badiot and Marou, a
notable difference between these two varieties was detected in the use of the two
standard markers desco and desch(e) in Marou where Badiot uses sciöch(e). After
considering the difference between clausal as and phrasal like as traditionally
prescribed by norms of formal English, it was found that Marou desch(e) introduces a
clause with an explicitly given finite verb, while desco is typically followed by a
phrase, which can be postmodified by a relative clause. Desch(e) therefore occurs in
equative and similative clauses, in accord clauses, and in simulative clauses, whereas
it is desco that is used in role phrases, where English employs its older form as and
not like. It was finally maintained that the role marker desco is arguably the older
form, in line with Haspelmath & Buchholz’s (1998) typological findings in European
languages.




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Irsara                                    Expressing equality and similarity in English, Italian, and Ladin


Acknowledgements


The author wishes to thank Paul Videsott for reading and commenting on this article
in its pre-publication format. Gratitude is extended to the anonymous reviewers and
editors for their constructive suggestions.


Abbreviations


 2 = 2nd person                    F   = feminine                         PRTV   = partitive
 3 = 3 person
         rd
                                   FUT    = future                        PTCL   = particle
 ACC   = accusative                IPFV   = imperfect                     REFL   = reflexive
 COMP    = complementiser          M    = masculine                       SBJV   = subjunctive mood
 DAT   = dative                    NEG    = negative                      SG   = singular
 DEGM    = degree marker           NOM    = nominative                    STDM   = standard marker
 DEM   = demonstrative             PL   = plural


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Corpora


British National Corpus (BNC)
   https://app.sketchengine.eu/#dashboard?corpname=preloaded%2Fbnc2_tt21
Corpus dl ladin leterar (CLL)
   http://vll.ladintal.it/applications/textanalysis/search.jsp
   https://app.sketchengine.eu/#concordance?corpname=preloaded%2Fitwac3.no
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Italian Web 2010 (itTenTen10)
   https://app.sketchengine.eu/#dashboard?corpname=preloaded%2Fittenten
Italian Web 2016 (itTenTen16)



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Linguistic Typology at the Crossroads 1-1 (2021): 47-93


   https://app.sketchengine.eu/#dashboard?corpname=preloaded%2Fittenten16_2
Le Saltà
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Tratament Automatich dl Lingaz Ladin: Corpus lad (TALL)
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English Web 2015 (enTenTen15)
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French Web 2017 (frTenTen17)
   https://app.sketchengine.eu/#concordance?corpname=preloaded%2Ffrtenten17
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German Web 2013 (deTenTen13)
   https://app.sketchengine.eu/#dashboard?corpname=preloaded%2Fdetenten13_r
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ItWAC
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Italian Web 2010 (itTenTen10)
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Italian Web 2016 (itTenTen16)
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Tratament Automatich dl Lingaz Ladin: Corpus lad (TALL)
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CONTACT
martina.irsara@unibz.it




https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.2785-0943/13428                                      93
