Publications
Publication details [#8025]
Publication type
Book – monograph
Publication language
French
Keywords
Language as a subject
Annotation
Comparative sentences are a clear case where the global meaning of an utterance exceeds the meaning of a sentence. A comparative sentence asserts, denies or questions an identity between two degree variables. The absolute (constant) values attributed to these variables - though essential to the message - remains a matter of private opinion. The very form of certain comparative sentences (e.g. 'John thinks he is taller than he is') is simply unaccountable for if one does not allow for the intervention of a pragmatic element within the sentence, namely the fact that the speaker is the assertor of the comparative clause.