An even more interestinger topic: Comparatives and superlatives. Bauer, L. In Mysteries of English Grammar. Routledge, 2021.
abstract   bibtex   
Summary: The comparison of adjectives in English is done in two ways. It is done with suffixes, as in bigger, biggest, or it is done with extra words, as in more intelligent, most intelligent. Although adjectives of three or more syllables in length seem to behave reasonably regularly in this regard, shorter adjectives do not, and there is most variation in usage with adjectives that are two syllables in length. With such adjectives, there are so many factors influencing whether speakers will use the suffixes or the extra words that accurate prediction of the behaviour of native speakers seems impossible. This is unexpected, since speakers have to be able to produce the relevant forms on-line at great speed, and it is unusual to find so much variation in such a large proportion of the relevant words.
@incollection{bauer_even_2021,
	title = {An even more interestinger topic: {Comparatives} and superlatives},
	isbn = {9781003148999},
	shorttitle = {An even more interestinger topic},
	abstract = {Summary: The comparison of adjectives in English is done in two ways. It is done with suffixes, as in bigger, biggest, or it is done with extra words, as in more intelligent, most intelligent. Although adjectives of three or more syllables in length seem to behave reasonably regularly in this regard, shorter adjectives do not, and there is most variation in usage with adjectives that are two syllables in length. With such adjectives, there are so many factors influencing whether speakers will use the suffixes or the extra words that accurate prediction of the behaviour of native speakers seems impossible. This is unexpected, since speakers have to be able to produce the relevant forms on-line at great speed, and it is unusual to find so much variation in such a large proportion of the relevant words.},
	booktitle = {Mysteries of {English} {Grammar}},
	publisher = {Routledge},
	author = {Bauer, Laurie},
	year = {2021},
}

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