Comparative Deletion

This chapter presents a selective overview of three classes of ellipsis phenomena that manifest themselves in the comparative construction: Comparative Deletion (CD), Comparative Ellipsis (CE), and phrasal comparatives (PCs). A survey of some central empirical generalizations and their theoretical interpretation in the extant literature consolidates three findings. First, while CD displays all the characteristics of a syntactic ellipsis operation, its exact nature still remains elusive. Although some core properties of CD fall out from modeling CD in analogy to the matching analysis for the relative clause, the competing raising account is better equipped to tackle others, such as the identity condition on ellipsis and opacity. Second, CE proves less recalcitrant in that most of its core manifestations are reducible to independently attested ellipsis operations, specifically those found in coordinate structures. Finally, as for PCs, the evidence available at the moment is best compatible with a hybrid approach that treats PCs as base-generated constructions in some languages, but derives them by syntactic ellipsis in others.

Smaller than small comparatives: the case of Basque

Adjectival comparatives like txiki baino txikiago ‘smaller than small’ in Basque exhibit some striking properties that present a challenge for previous analyses of inequality comparatives. The research on this unstudied type of adjectival comparatives in Basque – henceforth small comparatives – is especially interesting due to the rich morphology and freedom of word order that Basque displays. These two properties are vital for the testing of the hypotheses on the structure of these comparatives. First, the examination of the underlying structure of the standard of comparison reveals that these adjectival modifiers are inequality comparatives with a phrasal standard. Second, the study of the extraction constraints of the standard and the particular distribution of small comparatives evidence the fact that the standard marker in these comparatives behaves as a coordinating conjunction, and that these modifiers can appear inside a Determiner Phrase, in contrast with previously analysed adjectival comparatives. These properties are explained by assuming the functional analysis of adjectives and comparative markers (-ago ‘-er, more’), and proposing a coordination analysis of these phrasal comparatives. The study of small comparatives hence shows that the coordination analysis of comparative structures is necessary not only for clausal comparatives (Napoli & Nespor 1983 for Italian; Sáez 1992 for Spanish; and Lechner 2004 for English and German) but also for phrasal comparatives such as small comparatives.

Direct Comparisons: Resurrecting the Direct Analysis of Phrasal Comparatives

No abstract.

A unified analysis of the same, phrasal comparatives, and superlatives

We present a unified categorial analysis of several types of English comparative, superlative, and THE SAME/DIFFERENT (S/D) sentences, thereby accounting for parallels among these constructions first noted in Heim ms. Our analysis, couched in a linear-logic-based from of categorial grammar along the lines of Oehrle 1994, builds on the basic insights underlying Barker's (2007) `parasitic scope' analysis of internal readings of THE SAME, but is simpler and more general than Barker's. Ours is also the first unified analysis of all three kinds of phenomena. Our analysis of phrasal comparatives captures their essential similarity to associate-remnant S/D constructions such as ANNA READ THE SAME BOOK AS BILL.

A Note on Phrasal Comparatives

This paper investigates the various comparative operators that a language might employ and provides arguments for choosing a particular one. In particular, different phrasal comparatives are contrasted. We argue that Schoenfinkelization of the operator matters and reflects different crosslinguistic possibilities.