Publications

Publication details [#8025]

Rivara, René. 1979. La comparaison quantitative en Anglais contemporain. Champion. 908 pp.
Publication type
Book – monograph
Publication language
French
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.