It is not to be confused with the semblative case, a discrete grammatical case which expresses the similarity of one entity to another.
An example of a comparative case which designates similarity to something is found in Mari, where the comparative case is the suffix -la (-ла) as in (1):[1] коллаkol-lafish-COMPколлаkol-lafish-COMP'like fish'Mari also uses the comparative case in regards to languages, when denoting the language a person is speaking, writing, or hearing.
Then, however, the accentuation varies slightly from the standard case.
[clarification needed] An example of the comparative case marking the noun serving as the standard of comparison comes from the Chechen suffix -l.[2] For example, in (2) it appears on sha 'ice' in shal shiila 'cold as ice': sha-lice-COMPshiilacoldsha-l shiilaice-COMP cold'as cold as ice'Similarly, in the Turkic language Sakha (Yakut), the noun serving as the standard of comparison can be marked with the comparative case suffix -TĀGAr as in (3):[3] буBuDEMытïtdogаттааҕарat-taaɣarhorse-COMPтүргэнникtürgennikquicklyсүүрэрsüür-errun-PRESбу ыт аттааҕар түргэнник сүүрэрBu ït at-taaɣar türgennik süür-erDEM dog horse-COMP quickly run-PRES'This dog runs faster than a horse'Nivkh is another language with this comparative case suffix (-yk/-ak), as in (4): Tlaņireindeerķanņ-akdog-COMPeɣ-dbe.fast-PRESTlaņi ķanņ-ak eɣ-dreindeer dog-COMP be.fast-PRES'A reindeer is faster than a dog'[4]This latter sense of comparative case is similar to locational comparatives,[5] where a locational case such as the ablative marks the noun in a standard of comparison, found in Turkic languages like (5) from Uzbek: ɔt-amfather-POSS.1SGuthatɔdam-danman-ABLyɔšyoungɔt-am u ɔdam-dan yɔšfather-POSS.1SG that man-ABL young'My father is younger than that man'The comparative case can also be found in Archi, a Northeast Caucasian language:[6] ʁuli-xurdog-COMPbošobigʁuli-xur bošodog-COMP big'Bigger than the dog.
'This linguistic morphology article is a stub.