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vowels are [−compact] ([−comp]). The feature is replaced by low in Chomsky
and Halle’s system (see Chomskyan).
comparative (adj.) (1) A term used to characterize a major branch of linguistics,
in which the primary concern is to make statements comparing the characteristics
of different languages (dialects, varieties, etc.), or different historical
states of a language. During the nineteenth century, the concern for comparative
analysis was exclusively historical, as scholars investigated the relationships
between such families of languages as Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, their hypothetical
antecedents (i.e. the proto-language from which such families developed), and
the subsequent processes which led to the formation of the language groups of
the present day. This study became known as comparative philology (or simply
philology) – sometimes as comparative grammar. The phrase comparative
method refers to the standard comparative philological technique of comparing
a set of forms taken from cognate languages in order to determine whether a
historical relationship connects them. If there were such a relationship, this
analysis would then be used to deduce the characteristics of the ancestor language
from which they were assumed to have derived (a process of ‘comparative’
or ‘internal’ reconstruction).
Early twentieth-century linguistics switched from a diachronic to a synchronic
emphasis in language analysis, and, while not excluding historical studies,
comparative linguistics these days is generally taken up with the theoretical and
practical analysis of the structural correspondences between living languages,
regardless of their history, with the aim of establishing general types of language
(‘typological comparison’, or ‘typological linguistics’) and ultimately the universal
characteristics of human language.
(2) A term used in the three-way grammatical description of adjectives and
adverbs into degrees (comparison), specifying the extent of their application;
often abbreviated as comp. The comparative form is used for a comparison
between two entities, and contrasts with superlative, for more than two, and
positive, where no comparison is implied. In English, there is both an inflection
(-er) and a periphrastic construction (more) to express this notion
(e.g. nicer, more beautiful). The construction which may follow the use of a
comparative is called a comparative clause or comparative sentence, e.g. He is
bigger than I am.
comparative linguistics see comparative (1)
comparative method see comparative (1)
compensatory lengthening 91
comparative philology
see comparative (1), philology
comparative reconstruction
see comparative (1), reconstruction
comparison (n.) see comparative (2)
compensatory lengthening In phonology, an effect in which the deletion
of one segment is accompanied by an increase in the length of another,
usually adjacent to it, thus preserving syllable weight. Typically, a vowel is