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1.3 Degree modification of APs
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Its is a characteristic of adjectives that they can be modified by an adverbial of degree, such as aiske ‘very’, gans ‘very’, gjucht ‘very’, swiede ‘very’. There are many adverbs denoting a high degree, but there are also several adverbs denoting a moderate degree, such as ‘n bitje ‘a little’, laidich ‘a little’, wät ‘somewhat’. Two examples are given below:

1
Hie fäilt sik gjucht mollich bie uus.
he feels himself very at.home at us
He feels very much at home with us.
2
Dät Klood is ‘n bitje japsk an dän Hoals.
the dress is a little too.wide at the throat
The dress is a little too wide at the neckline.’

Many of these adverbial elements are sensitive to the lexical and the quantificational nature of the following word.

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Another characteristic of most adjectives is that they have comparative and superlative forms used for relative comparison. The comparative generally ends in –er, and the superlative in –st. In addition, a group of frequent adjectives of one syllable may change their stem vowel in the comparative or the superlative or both. A few adjectives are very irregular. Below some examples of irregular paradigms are given:

3
Joop japper joopst.
deep deeper deepest
Deep, deeper, deepest.
4
Goud beter bääst.
good better best
Good, better, best.
5
Fuul moor maast.
much more most
Much, more, most.
6
Groot gratter grootst.
great greater greatest
Great, greater, greatest.

Some constructions and idioms are sensitive to degree, as we will see.

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