stopniowan

Stopniowan is a term used in Polish to refer to the process of gradation, or stopniowanie, namely the formation of degrees of comparison for adjectives and some adverbs. In linguistic analysis, stopniowan describes how words change to express more or less degree, such as comparing objects or qualities. The concept also covers the results of this process: the actual forms that express the positive, comparative, and superlative degrees.

In Polish, stopniowanie typically produces three degrees. The positive (pozytywny) denotes the base form; the comparative (wyższy) signals a higher degree, and the superlative (najwyższy) marks the highest degree. Examples include dobry, lepszy, najlepszy; duży, większy, największy; mały, mniejszy, najmniejszy. Some adjectives show irregular patterns (na przykład dobry–lepszy–najlepszy; zły–gorszy–najgorszy). Others form the higher degrees with systematic vowel or consonant changes, while a smaller class uses periphrastic forms (more/most) to convey the same idea.

Beyond adjectives, stopniowanie applies to many adverbs and some other parts of speech, including phrases that express extent or intensity. In practice, both synthetic (internal changes) and analytic (with words like bardziej or najbardziej) forms are possible, depending on the adjective and stylistic choices. Some adjectives do not regularly form a standard stopień wyższy and may rely on periphrastic substitutes or context for emphasis.

Stopniowan is primarily a grammatical concept, central to how Polish conveys comparison and gradation in everyday language, writing, and linguistic analysis.