POSITIVE VS. COMPARATIVE FORMS OF ADJECTIVES IN TOMO KAN DOGON: WHICH OF THEM ARE BASIC?

This article deals with the syntax of positive and comparative adjectives in Tomo Kan (< Dogon < Niger‐Congo). I show that the system of adjectives in this language presents a possible counterexample to the generalization made by some recent theories whereby positive forms cannot be more complex morphologically than comparative forms. Contrary to that, I show that positive predicative forms (but not attributive ones) are morphologically simpler than adjectival stems used in comparative constructions. In order to account for this asymmetry, I propose that complexity associated with the non‐comparative forms is due to language‐internal syntactic factors and is not associated with the overt exponence of positive semantics (‘be A'). However, I also show that there are reasons to believe that adjectival stems are inherently comparative in Tomo Kan.