Cover not available
Article published In:
Degrees and Grammar: An East Asian Perspective
Edited by Qiongpeng Luo, Zhiguo Xie and Xiao Li
[Language and Linguistics 24:1] 2023
► pp. 5–35

Degrees and grammar

An East Asian perspective

| Nanjing University
| The Ohio State University
| City University of New York

In this article, we discuss some fundamental issues as well as several unresolved questions of degree-based theories in contemporary linguistics from the perspective of East Asian languages, with a view to pointing out some directions for future research. We first focus on several controversies surrounding the studies of comparative constructions in the literature, i.e., phrasal comparison vs. clausal comparison, individual comparison vs. degree comparison, big DegP vs. small DegP, the points of cross-linguistic variation, etc. We then expand the discussion to comparative constructions and other degree-related constructions in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, and demonstrate how an East Asian perspective offers a novel insight into those controversies and uncovers considerable in-depth commonality underlying a variety of degree-related constructions cross-linguistically. We conclude by suggesting some directions for future within- and cross-linguistic research.

Keywords: gradability, degree semantics, comparative construction, cross-linguistic variation, Mandarin Chinese, East Asian languages
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Foundations of degree semantics
    • 2.1The semantics of gradable predicates
    • 2.2The semantics of comparative constructions
  • 3.Unresolved issues
    • 3.1Clausal vs. phrasal comparatives
    • 3.2Explicit vs. implicit comparatives
    • 3.3The big vs. small DegP controversy
  • 4.Degree constructions in Mandarin Chinese
    • 4.1The clausal vs. phrasal controversy
    • 4.2Differential verbal comparatives in Mandarin Chinese and the ontology of degree
  • 5.Degree constructions in Japanese
    • 5.1The controversy of clausal vs. phrasal comparison in Japanese
    • 5.2Explicit vs. implicit comparison in Japanese
  • 6.Degree constructions in Korean
  • 7.Looking ahead
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 12 December 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00124.luo
References
Aihara, Masahiko
2009 The scope of -est: Evidence from Japanese. Natural Language Semantics 17(4). 341–367. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderson, Curt & Morzycki, Marcin
2015 Degrees as kinds. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 33(3). 791–828. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bale, Alan
2008 A universal scale of comparison. Linguistics and Philosophy 31(1).1–55. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beck, Sigrid
2012 Comparison constructions. In Maienborn, Claudia & von Heusinger, Klaus & Portner, Paul (eds.), Semantics: An international handbook of natural language meaning, vol. 21, 1341–1390. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid & Krasikova, Sveta & Fleischer, Daniel & Gergel, Remus & Hofstetter, Stefan & Savelsberg, Christiane & Vanderelst, John & Villalta, Elisabeth
2009 Crosslinguistic variation in comparison constructions. Linguistic Variation Yearbook 91. 1–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beck, Sigrid & Oda, Toshiko & Sugisaki, Koji
2004 Parametric variation in the semantics of comparison: Japanese vs. English. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 13(4). 289–344. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh & Pancheva, Roumyana
2004 Late merger of degree clauses. Linguistic Inquiry 35(1). 1–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh & Takahashi, Shoichi
2011 Reduced and unreduced phrasal comparatives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 29(3). 581–620. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bierwisch, Manfred
1988 Tools and explanations of comparison: Part I. Journal of Semantics 6(1). 57–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bolinger, Dwight
1972 Degree words. The Hague: Mouton. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bresnan, Joan
1973 Syntax of the comparative clause construction in English. Linguistic Inquiry 4(3). 275–343.Google Scholar
Carlson, Gregory
1977a Reference to kinds in English. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Doctoral dissertation.)
1977b Amount relatives. Language 53(3). 520–542. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Castroviejo, Elena & Schwager, Magdalena
2008 Amazing DPs. In Friedman, Tova & Ito, Satoshi (eds.), Proceedings of the 18th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (SALT 18), 176–193. Ithaca: Cornell University. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chierchia, Gennaro
1998 Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics 6(4). 339–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corver, Norbert
1990 The syntax of left branch extractions. Tilburg: Tilburg University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
1993 A note on subcomparatives. Linguistic Inquiry 24(4). 773–781.Google Scholar
Cresswell, Max J.
1976 The semantics of degree. In Partee, Barbara (ed.), Montague grammar, 261–292. New York: Academic Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka
2007 A new syntax-semantics for the Mandarin bi comparative. Chicago: University of Chicago. (Master’s thesis.)
2018 Clausal comparison without degree abstraction in Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 36(2). 445–482. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Giannakidou, Anastasia & Yoon, Suwon
2011 The subjective mode of comparison: Metalingusitic comparatives in Greek and Korean. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 29(3). 621–655. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grano, Thomas
2012 Mandarin hen and universal markedness in gradable adjectives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 30(2). 513–565. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grano, Thomas & Kennedy, Christopher
2012 Mandarin transitive comparatives and the grammar of measurement. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 21(3). 219–266. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grosu, Alexander & Landman, Fred
1998 Strange relatives of the third kind. Natural Language Semantics 6(2). 125–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gong, Ying & Coppock, Elizabeth
2021 Mandarin has degree abstraction after all. Boston: Boston University. (Manuscript.).Google Scholar
Hayashishita, J.-R.
2009  Yori-comparative: A reply to Beck et al. (2004). Journal of East Asian Linguistics 18(2). 65–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heim, Irene
1985 Notes on comparatives and related matters. Austin: University of Texas at Austin. (Manuscript.)Google Scholar
1995 Notes on superlatives. (Manuscript.)Google Scholar
2000 Degree operators and scope. In Jackson, Brendan & Matthews, Tanya (eds.), Proceedings of the 10th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (SALT 10), 40–64. Ithaca: Cornell University. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hohaus, Vera. & Bochnak, M. Ryan
2020 The grammar of degree: Gradability across languages. Annual Review of Linguistics 61. 235–259. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hsieh, I-Ta Chris
2015 Remark: Long-distance reflexives, blocking effects, and the structure of Mandarin comparatives. Syntax 18(1). 78–102. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ishii, Yasuo
1991 Operators and empty categories in Japanese. Storrs: University of Connecticut. (Doctoral dissertation.) DOI logo
Jespersen, Otto
1933 Essentials of English grammar. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Jhang, Sea Eun
2001 Comparative constructions in Korean. Bigyo Hangug Hag [Comparative Korean Studies] 91. 1–17.Google Scholar
Kamp, Hans & Sassoon, Galit W.
2016 Vagueness. In Aloni, Maria & Dekker, Paul (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of formal semantics, 389–441. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher
1999 Projecting the adjective: The syntax and semantics of gradability and comparison. London: Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar
2001 Polar opposition and the ontology of “degrees”. Linguistics and Philosophy 24(1). 33–70. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2002 Comparative deletion and optimality in syntax. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 20(3). 553–621. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007 Vagueness and grammar: The semantics of relative and absolute gradable adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy 30(1). 1–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009 Modes of comparison. In Elliot, Malcolm & Kirby, James & Sawada, Osamu & Staraki, Eleni & Yoon, Suwon (eds.), Proceedings from the main session of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS 43), vol. 11, 139–163. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher & McNally, Louise
2005 Scale structure, degree modification, and the semantics of gradable predicates. Language 81(2). 345–381. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher & Levin, Beth
2008 Measure of change: The adjectival core of degree achievements. In McNally, Louise & Kennedy, Christopher (eds.), Adjectives and adverbs: Syntax, semantics and discourse, 156–182. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kim, Jong-Bok & Sells, Peter
2009 On the Syntax of Korean comparatives. Eon-eo wa Jeongbo [Language and Information] 13(2). 29–45. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kim, Jong-Bok. & Sells, Peter
2010 A phrasal analysis of Korean comparatives. Studies in generative grammar 20(2). 179–205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Krasikova, Sveta
2008 Comparison in Chinese. In Bonami, Olivier & Hofherr, Patricia Cabredo (eds.), Empirical issues in syntax and semantics, vol. 71, 263–281. Paris: Colloque de Syntaxe et Sémantique à Paris.Google Scholar
Lechner, Winfried
2001 Reduced and phrasal comparatives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19(4). 683–735. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Xiao
2009 Degreeless comparatives. New Brunswick: Rutgers University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
2015a Degreeless comparatives: The semantics of differential verbal comparatives in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Semantics 32(1). 1–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2015b The ingredients of comparison: The semantics of excessive construction in Japanese. Semantics and Pragmatics 81. Article 8. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lin, Jo-wang
2009 Chinese comparatives and their implicational parameters. Natural Language Semantics 17(1). 1–27. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014 The adjective of quantity duo ‘many’/much’ and differential comparatives in Mandarin Chinese. International Journal of Chinese Linguistics 1(2). 163–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther
2010a The positive morpheme in Chinese and the adjectival structure. Lingua 120 (4). 1010–1056. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2010b The Chinese geng clausal comparative. Lingua 120(6). 1579–1606. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luo, Qiongpeng & Cao, Yuzhen
2019 Equatives are not all equal: A correlative analysis of scalar equatives in Mandarin. In Ronai, Eszter & Stigliano, Laura & Sun, Yenan (eds.), Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS 54), 283–294. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar
Luo, Qiongpeng & Xie, Zhiguo
2018 Degrees as nominalized properties: Evidence from differential verbal comparatives in Mandarin Chinese. In Sauerland, Uli & Solt, Stephanie (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 22 (ZAS Papers in Linguistics 61), vol. 21, 89–106. Berlin: Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luo, Qiongpeng & Hsieh, Miao-Ling & Shi, Dingxu
2017 Pre-classifier adjectival modification in Mandarin Chinese: A measurement-based analysis. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 26(1). 1–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matsui, Ai & Kubota, Yusuke
2012 Comparatives and contrastiveness: Semantics and pragmatics of Japanese hoo comparatives. In Tucker, Matthew A. & Thompson, Anie & Northrup, Oliver & Bennett, Ryan (eds.), Proceedings of FAJL 5: Formal approaches to Japanese linguistics, 126–139. Cambridge: MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar
Mendia, Jon Ander
2017 Amount relatives redux. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Doctoral dissertation.)
2018 Some kind of relative clause. In Sauerland, Uli & Solt, Stephanie (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 22 (ZAS Papers in Linguistics 61), vol. 21, 163–180. Berlin: Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Merchant, Jason
2009 Phrasal and clausal comparatives in Greek and the abstractness of syntax. Journal of Greek Linguistics 9(1). 134–164. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Moltmann, Friederike
2009 Degree structure as trope structure: A trope-based analysis of positive and comparative adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy 32(1). 51–94. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Morzycki, Marcin
2009 Degree modification of gradable nouns: Size adjectives and adnominal degree morpheme. Natural Language Semantics 17(2). 175–203. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2016 Modification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nakanishi, Kimiko
2007a Formal properties of measurement constructions. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007b Measurement in the nominal and verbal domains. Linguistics and Philosophy 30(2). 235–276. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Nouwen, Rick
2008 Upper-bound no more: The exhaustive interpretation of non-strict comparison. Natural Language Semantics 16(4). 271–295. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 Degree modifiers and monotonicity. In Égré, Paul & Klinedinst, Nathan (eds.), Vagueness and language use, 146–164. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Oda, Toshiko
2008 Degree constructions in Japanese. Storrs: University of Connecticut. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Park, So-young
2009 Three types of Korean comparatives. In Takubo, Yukinori & Kinuhata, Tomohide & Grzelak, Szymon & Nagai, Kayo (eds.), Japanese/Korean linguistics, vol. 16, 407–421. Stanford: CSLI Publications, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Pearson, Hazal
2013 On the syntax and semantics of the Japanese comparative. In Folli, Raffaella & Sevdali, Christina & Truswell, Robert (eds.), Syntax and its limits, 279–299. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rett, Jessica
2015 The semantics of evaluativity. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rullmann, Hotze
1995 Maximality in the semantics of wh-constructions. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Russell, Bertrand
1923 Vagueness. Australasian Journal of Philosophy and Psychology 1(2). 84–92. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sapir, Edward
1944 Grading, a study in semantics. Philosophy of Science 11(2). 93–116. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sawada, Osamu
2009 Pragmatic aspects of implicit comparison: An economy-based approach. Journal of Pragmatics 41(6). 1079–1103. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2014 An utterance situation-based comparison. Linguistics and Philosophy 37(3). 205–248. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sawada, Osamu & Grano, Thomas
2011 Scale structure, coercion, and the interpretation of measure phrases in Japanese. Natural Language Semantics 19(2). 191–226. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwarzschild, Roger
2008 The semantics of comparatives and other degree constructions. Language and Linguistics Compass 2(2). 308–331. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwarzschild, Roger & Wilkinson, Karina
2002 Quantifiers in comparatives: A semantics of degree based on intervals. Natural Language Semantics 10(1). 1–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scontras, Gregory
2014 The semantics of measurement. Cambridge: Harvard University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
2017 A new kind of degree. Linguistics and Philosophy 40(2). 165–205. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Seuren, Pieter A. M.
1973 The comparative. In Kiefer, Ferenc & Ruwet, Nicolas (eds.), Generative grammar in Europe, 528–564. Dordrecht: D. Reidel. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharvit, Yael & Stateva, Penka
2002 Superlative expressions, context and focus. Linguistics and Philosophy 25(4). 453–504. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shimoyama, Junko
2012 Reassessing crosslinguistic variation in clausal comparatives. Natural Language Semantics 20(1). 83–113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snyder, William & Wexler, Kenneth & Das, Dolon
1994 The syntactic representation of degree and quantity: Perspectives from Japanese and Child English. In Aranovich, Raul & Byrne, William & Preuss, Susanne & Senturia, Martha (eds.), The Proceedings of the 13th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 13), 581–596. Stanford: CSLI Publications, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Sudo, Yasutada
2015 Hidden nominal structure in Japanese clausal comparatives. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 24 (1). 1–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsao, Feng-fu
1989 Comparison in Chinese: A topic-comment approach. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies 191. 151–189.Google Scholar
von Stechow, Arnim
1984 Comparing semantic theories of comparison. Journal of Semantics 3(1–2). 1–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Xiang, Ming
2005 Some topics in comparative constructions. East Lansing: Michigan State University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Xie, Zhiguo
2014 The degree use of the possessive verb yǒu in Mandarin Chinese: A unified analysis and its theoretical implications. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 23(2). 113–156. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yeom, Jae-il
2016 Association of pota-phrases with compared phrases in Korean comparatives. Language and Information 20(3). 55–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar