Au delà de l’espace et du temps

The present paper deals with the preposition au-delà de as a scalarity marker in three languages — French, English and Hebrew — representing each a distinct family: Roman, Germanic and Semitic, respectively. Our study is performed in the theoretical framework of the semantics of degree (cf. J. Hay, C. Kennedy, B. Levin 1999 ; C. Kennedy & L. McNally 1999 ; C. Piñón 2000 ; C. Kennedy 2001 ; C. Kennedy & B. Levin 2002 ; P. Caudal & D. Nicolas 2003, among others). Most of the current studies concentrate on the analysis of scalar and comparative modifiers. However, little has been said about the prepositional environment. The purpose of this study is, therefore, to find out what makes a prepositional phrase capable of measuring a property or an event on a degree scale.