Article published in:
Linguistic Variation Yearbook 2009General Editor: Jeroen van Craenenbroeck
[Linguistic Variation Yearbook 9] 2009
► pp. 1–66
Crosslinguistic variation in comparison constructions
Sigrid Beck | University of Tübingen
Sveta Krasikova | University of Tübingen
Daniel Fleischer | University of Tübingen
Remus Gergel | University of Tübingen
Stefan Hofstetter | University of Tübingen
Christiane Savelsberg | University of Tübingen
John Vanderelst | University of Tübingen
Elisabeth Villalta | University of Tübingen
This paper presents parallel sets of data on comparison constructions from 14 languages. On the basis of the crosslinguistic differences we observe, we propose three parameters of language variation. The first parameter concerns the question of whether or not a language’s grammar has incorporated scales into the meanings of gradable predicates. The second parameter differentiates between languages that allow quantification over degrees in the syntax and those that do not. Finally, we propose a syntactic parameter that concerns options for syntactically filling the degree argument position of a gradable predicate.
Published online: 13 August 2010
https://doi.org/10.1075/livy.9.01bec
https://doi.org/10.1075/livy.9.01bec
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