Comparative Deletion and Comparative Subdeletion

This chapter discusses the syntax of the Comparative Deletion (CD) construction and the Comparative Subdeletion (CSD) construction. It starts with a presentation of some central basic concepts about comparatives, including a brief background in scalar semantics, the interpretation of the comparative morpheme, and the transparent mapping operations from logical forms to semantics. Special attention is paid to the organization of the comparative complement and the structural relation among the degree morpheme, the gradable AP, and the than-phrase. The chapter further provides an overview of different analytic strategies toward CD and CSD. This overview includes a summary of arguments from the literature for the existence of gaps in CSD constructions. It also examines the nature of the relationship between the comparative complement and the matrix clause, addressing the question of whether the nexus is best characterized in terms of syntactic subordination or coordination. The chapter finishes with some remarks about multiple comparatives and reviews two influential current trends in research on comparatives that expand to cross-linguistic variation.

References

Abney, Steven. 1987. “ The English Noun Phrase in Its Sentential Aspect.” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Alrenga, Peter, Christopher Kennedy, and Jason Merchant. 2012. “ A New Standard of Comparison.” In Proceedings of the 30th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, edited by Nathan Arnett and Ryan Bennet, 32–42.
Google Scholar
Alrenga, Peter, and Christopher Kennedy. 2014. “No More Shall We Part: Quantifiers in English Comparatives.” Natural Language Semantics, 22: 1–53.
10.1007/s11050-013-9099-4
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Barker, Chris. 1998. “Partitives, Double Genitives and Anti-Uniqueness.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 16: 679–717.
10.1023/A:1005917421076
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Barker, Chris. 2007. “Parasitic Scope.” Linguistics and Philosophy, 30: 407–444.
10.1007/s10988-007-9021-y
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid. 1996. “ Wh-Constructions and Transparent Logical Form.” PhD diss., Universität Tübingen.
Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid. 2010. “Quantifiers in Than-Clauses.” Semantics and Pragmatics, 3: 1–72.
10.3765/sp.3.1
PubMed Web of Science® Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid. 2011. “ Comparison Constructions.” In Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language Meaning, edited by C. Maienborn, K. Heusinger, and P. Portner, 1341–1389. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid, Toshiko Oda, and Koji Sugisaki. 2004. “Parametric Variation in the Semantics of Comparison: Japanese vs. English.” Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 13: 289–344.
10.1007/s10831-004-1289-0
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Bennis, Hans. 1977. “Het kwantitatieve er in komparatiefkonstrukties.” Spectator, 6: 384–387.
Google Scholar
Bennis, Hans. 1978. “ Comparative Deletion is Subdeletion.” MS, University of Amsterdam.
Google Scholar
Besten, Hans den. 1978. “On the Presence and Absence of Wh-Elements in Dutch Comparatives.” Linguistic Inquiry, 9: 641–671.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh, and Roumyana Pancheva. 2004. “Late Merger of Degree Clauses.” Linguistic Inquiry, 35: 1–46.
10.1162/002438904322793338
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh, and Roumyama Pancheva. 2007. “ Degree Quantifiers, Position of Merger Effects with Their Restrictors, and Conservativity.” In Direct Compositionality, edited by Chris Barker and Pauline Jacobson. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Google Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh, and Shoichi Takahashi. 2007. “ Direct Comparisons: Resurrecting the Direct Analysis of Phrasal Comparatives.” In Proceedings of SALT XVII , edited by Masayuki Gibson and Tova Friedman, 19–36.
10.3765/salt.v17i0.2958
Google Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh, and Shoichi Takahashi. 2011. “Reduced and Unreduced Phrasal Comparatives.” Natural Language & Linguistic Theory, 29: 581–620.
10.1007/s11049-011-9137-1
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Bobaljik, Jonathan. 2012. Universals in Comparative Morphology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
10.7551/mitpress/9069.001.0001
Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1971. “ Contraction and the Transformational Cycle in English.” MS, Bloomington, Indiana University Linguistics Club.
Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1972. “ Theory of Complementation in English Syntax.” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1973. “Syntax of the Comparative Clause Construction in English.” Linguistic Inquiry, 4: 275–343.
Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1975. “Comparative Deletion and Constraints on Transformations.” Linguistic Analysis, 1: 25–74.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1976a. “Evidence for a Theory of Unbounded Transformations.” Linguistic Analysis, 2: 353–393.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1976b. “On the Form and Functioning of Transformations.” Linguistic Inquiry, 7: 3–40.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1977. “ Variables in the Theory of Transformations.” In Formal Syntax, edited by Peter Culicover, Thomas Wasow, and Adrian Akmajian, 157–196. New York, NY: Academic Press.
Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1973. “Conditions on Transformations.” In A Festschrift for Morris Halle, edited by Stephen Anderson and Paul Kiparsky, 232–286. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1977. “ On Wh-Movement.” In Formal Syntax, edited by Peter Culicover, Thomas Wasow, and Adrian Akmajian, 71–132. New York, NY: Academic Press.
Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. 1981. Lectures on Government and Binding. Dordrecht: Foris.
Google Scholar
Corver, Norbert. 1990. “ The Syntax of Left Branch Extractions.” PhD diss., Tilburg University.
Google Scholar
Corver, Norbert. 1991. “ Evidence for DegP.” In Proceedings of the North Eastern Linguistic Society, edited by Tim Sherer, 33–47.
Google Scholar
Corver, Norbert. 1993. “A Note on Subcomparatives.” Linguistic Inquiry, 24: 773–781.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Corver, Norbert. 1997a. “The Internal Syntax of the Dutch Extended Adjectival Projection.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 15: 289–368.
10.1023/A:1005846812956
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Corver, Norbert. 1997b. “ Much-Support as a Last Resort.” Linguistic Inquiry, 28: 119–164.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Corver, Norbert. 2013. “ Lexical Categories and (Extended) Projection.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax, edited by Marcel Dikken, 353–424. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9780511804571.015
Google Scholar
Cresswell, Max J. 1976. “ The Semantics of Degree.” In Montague Grammar, edited by Barbara Partee, 261–292. New York, NY: Academic Press.
10.1016/B978-0-12-545850-4.50015-7
Google Scholar
Donati, Catherina. 1997. “Comparative Clauses as Free Relatives: A Raising Analysis.” Probus, 9: 145–166.
10.1515/prbs.1997.9.2.145
Google Scholar
Dresher, Bezalel Elan. 1977. “Logical Representations and Linguistic Theory.” Linguistic Inquiry, 8: 351–378.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Embick, David. 2007. “Blocking Effects and Analytic/Synthetic Alternations.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 25: 1–37.
10.1007/s11049-006-9002-9
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Emonds, Joseph. 1985. A Unified Theory of Syntactic Categories. Dordrecht: Foris.
10.1515/9783110808513
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Fox, Danny. 2000. Economy and Semantic Interpretation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Google Scholar
Gawron, Jean Mark. 1995. “Comparatives, Superlatives, and Resolution.” Linguistics and Philosophy, 18: 333–380.
10.1007/BF00984929
Web of Science® Google Scholar
George, Leland. 1980. “ Analogical Generalization in Natural Language Syntax.” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Grimshaw, Jane. 1987. “Subdeletion.” Linguistic Inquiry, 18: 659–669.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Hackl, Martin. 2000. “ Comparative Quantifiers.” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Hale, Austin. 1970. “ Conditions on English Comparative Clause Pairings.” In Readings in English Transformational Grammar, edited by Roderick Jacobs and Peter Rosenbaum. Boston: Ginn.
Google Scholar
Hankamer, Jorge. 1971. “ Constraints on Deletion in Syntax.” PhD diss., Yale University.
Google Scholar
Hankamer, Jorge. 1973. “ Why There are Two Than's in English.” In Papers from the Ninth Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, edited by Corum Claudia, T. Cedric Smith-Stark, and Ann Weiser, 179–191. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
Google Scholar
Heim, Irene. 1985. “ Notes on Comparatives and Related Matters.” MS, University of Texas, Austin.
Google Scholar
Heim, Irene. 2000. “ Degree Operators and Scope.” In Proceedings of SALT X, edited by B. Jackson and T. Matthews, 40–64.
Google Scholar
Heim, Irene, and Angelika Kratzer. 1998. Semantics in Generative Grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.
Google Scholar
Hellan, Lars. 1981. Towards an Integrated Theory of Comparatives. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.
Google Scholar
Hendrick, Randall. 1978. “The Phrase Structure of Adjectives and Comparatives.” Linguistic Analysis, 4: 255–298.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Hendriks, Petra. 1992. “ Multiple Comparison.” In Language and Cognition 2, edited by D. Gilbers and S. Looyenga, 107–118. Groningen: Groningen University.
Google Scholar
Hendriks, Petra. 1995. “ Comparatives and Categorial Grammar.” PhD diss., Groningen University.
Google Scholar
Hoeksema, Jacob. 1983. “Negative Polarity and the Comparative.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 1: 403–434.
10.1007/BF00142472
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Huang, Phoebe. 1977. “ Wh-Fronting and Related Processes.” PhD diss., University of Connecticut.
Google Scholar
Ishii, Yasuo. 1991. “ Operators and Empty Categories in Japanese.” PhD diss., University of Connecticut.
Google Scholar
Izvorski, Roumyana. 1995. “ A Solution to the Subcomparative Paradox.” In Proceedings of the Fourteenth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics, edited by José Camacho, Lina Choueiri, and Maki Watanabe, 203–219.
Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 1971. “Gapping and Related Rules.” Linguistic Inquiry, 2: 21–35.
Google Scholar
Jacobson, Pauline. 1995. “ On the Quantification Force of English Free Relatives.” In Quantification in Natural Languages, edited by E. Bach, E. Jelinek, A. Kratzer, and B. H. Partee, 451–486. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
10.1007/978-94-011-0321-3_15
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Jespersen, Otto. 1954–1958. A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles, 7 vols. London: Allen & Unwin.
Google Scholar
Johnson, Kyle. 1996. “When Verb Phrases Go Missing.” Glot International, 2: 3–9.
Google Scholar
Johnson, Kyle. 2003. “ In Search of the English Middle Field.” MS, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Google Scholar
Johnson, Kyle. 2014. “ Gapping.” MS, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Google Scholar
Kayne, Richard. 1981. “ECP Extensions.” Linguistic Inquiry, 12: 93–133.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Kayne, Richard, and Jean-Yves Pollock. 1978. “Stylistic Inversion, Successive Cyclicity and Move NP in French.” Linguistic Inquiry, 9: 595–621.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher. 1997. “ Projecting the Adjective: The Syntax and Semantics of Gradability and Comparison.” PhD diss., University of California, Santa Cruz.
Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher. 1999. Projecting the Adjective: The Syntax and Semantics of Gradability and Comparison. New York, NY: Garland Press.
Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher. 2002. “Comparative Deletion and Optimality in Syntax.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 20: 553–621.
10.1023/A:1015889823361
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher. 2009. “Modes of Comparison.” Proceedings of CLS, 43: 141–165.
Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher, and Jason Merchant. 2000. “Attributive Comparative Deletion.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 18: 89–146.
10.1023/A:1006362716348
Web of Science® Google Scholar
King, Harold V. 1970. “On Blocking the Rules for Contraction in English.” Linguistic Inquiry, 1: 134–136.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Klein, Ewan. 1980. “A Semantics for Positive and Comparative Adjectives.” Linguistics and Philosophy, 4: 1–45.
10.1007/BF00351812
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Larson, Richard. 1988. “Scope and Comparatives.” Linguistics and Philosophy, 11: 1–26.
10.1007/BF00635755
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Lasnik, Howard, and Mamoru Saito. 1984. “On the Nature of Proper Government.” Linguistic Inquiry, 15: 235–289.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Lassiter, Daniel. 2011. “ Measurement and Modality. The Scalar Basis of Modal Semantics.” PhD thesis, New York University.
Google Scholar
Lechner, Winfried. 1999. “ Comparatives and DP-Structure.” PhD diss., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Google Scholar
Lechner, Winfried. 2001. “Reduced and Phrasal Comparatives.” Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, 19: 683–735.
10.1023/A:1013378908052
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Lechner, Winfried. 2004. Ellipsis in Comparatives. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
10.1515/9783110197402
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Lees, Robert B. 1961. “Grammatical Analysis of the English Comparative Construction.” Word, 17: 171–185.
10.1080/00437956.1961.11659752
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Lerner, Jean-Yves, and Manfred Pinkal. 1995. “ Comparative Ellipsis and Variable Binding.” In Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory, edited by M. Simons and T. Galloway, 222–236.
Google Scholar
Meier, Cecile. 2003. “The Meaning of Too, Enough and So…That.” Natural Language Semantics, 11: 69–107.
10.1023/A:1023002608785
Google Scholar
Merchant, Jason. 2006. “ Sluicing.” In The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, edited by Martin Everaert and Henk Riemsdijk , 269–289. London: Blackwell.
10.1002/9780470996591.ch60
Google Scholar
Merchant, Jason. 2009. “Phrasal and Clausal Comparatives in Greek and the Abstractness of Syntax.” Journal of Greek Linguistics, 9: 134–164
10.1163/156658409X12500896406005
Google Scholar
Merchant, Jason. 2011. “ Genitives of Comparison in Greek.” MS, University of Chicago.
Google Scholar
Milner, Jean-Claude. 1978. “Cyclicité Successive, Comparatives et Cross-Over en Français.” Linguistic Inquiry, 9: 673–693.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Moltmann, Friederike. 1992. “ Coordination and Comparatives.” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Morzycki, Marcin. 2015. Modification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10.1017/CBO9780511842184
Google Scholar
Napoli, Donna-Jo. 1983. “Comparative Ellipsis: A Phrase Structure Analysis.” Linguistic Inquiry, 14: 675–694.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Neijt, Anneke. 1979. Gapping: A Contribution to Sentence Grammar . Dordrecht: Foris .
Google Scholar
Pancheva, Roumyana. 2006. “ Phrasal and Clausal Comparatives in Slavic.” In Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics 14: The Princeton Meeting, edited by J. Lavine, S. Franks, M. Tasseva-Kurktchieva, and H. Filip, 236–257.
Google Scholar
Pancheva, Roumyana. 2010. “ More Students Attended FASL than CONSOLE .” In Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics 18: The Cornell Meeting, 2009, edited by W. Browne, A. Cooper, A. Fisher, E. Kesici, N. Predolac, and D. Zec, 383–400.
Google Scholar
Pancheva, Roumyana. 2012. “ Syntax and Semantics of Comparatives and Superlatives.” Class handouts, EGG 2012 summer school, July 30–August 3, 2012.
Google Scholar
Pinkham, Jessie. 1982. The Formation of Comparative Clauses in French and English. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.
Google Scholar
Pinkham, Jessie. 1985. The Formation of Comparative Clauses in French and English . New York, NY: Garland.
Google Scholar
Postal, Paul. 1974. “On Certain Ambiguities.” Linguistic Inquiry, 5: 367–425.
Google Scholar
Quine, Willard V. O. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Google Scholar
Riemsdijk, Henk van. 1978. A Case Study in Syntactic Markedness: The Binding Nature of Prepositional Phrases. Dordrecht: Foris.
Google Scholar
Ritter, Elizabeth. 1991. “ Two Functional Categories in Noun Phrases: Evidence from Modern Hebrew.” In Perspectives on Phrase Structure: Heads and Licensing, edited by Susan Rothstein, 37–62. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
10.1163/9789004373198_004
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Ross, John Robert. 1967. “ Constraints on Variables in Syntax.” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Ross, John Robert. 1970. “ Gapping and the Order of Constituents.” In Progress in Linguistics, edited by Manfred Bierwisch and Karl Heidolph, 249–259. The Hague: Mouton.
10.1515/9783111350219.249
Google Scholar
Ross, John Robert. 1986. Infinite Syntax! Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Google Scholar
Rullmann, Hotze. 1995. “ Maximality in the Semantics of Wh-Constructions.” PhD diss., University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Google Scholar
Russell, Bertrand. 1905. “On Denoting.” Mind, 14: 479–493.
10.1093/mind/XIV.4.479
Google Scholar
Ruys, Eddy. 1992. “ The Scope of Indefinites.” PhD diss., Utrecht University.
Google Scholar
Sag, Ivan. 1976. “ Deletion and Logical Form.” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Sauerland, Uli. 2004. “The Interpretation of Traces.” Natural Language Semantics, 12 (1): 63–128.
10.1023/B:NALS.0000011201.91994.4f
Google Scholar
Schwarzschild, Roger. 2008. “The Semantics of Comparatives and Other Degree Constructions.” Language and Linguistics Compass, 2: 308–331.
10.1111/j.1749-818X.2007.00049.x
Google Scholar
Schwarzschild, Roger, and Karina Wilkinson. 2002. “Quantifiers in Comparatives: A Semantics of Degree Based on Intervals.” Natural Language Semantics, 10: 1–41.
10.1023/A:1015545424775
Google Scholar
Selkirk, Elisabeth. 1970. “ On the Determiner Systems of Noun Phrases and Adjective Phrases.” MS, MIT.
Google Scholar
Seuren, Pieter. 1973. “ The Comparative.” In Generative Grammar in Europe, edited by F. Kiefer and N. Ruwet, 528–564. Dordrecht: Reidel.
10.1007/978-94-010-2503-4_22
Google Scholar
Stassen, Leon. 1985. Comparison and Universal Grammar. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Google Scholar
Stassen, Leon. 2013. “ Comparative Constructions.” In The World Atlas of Language Structures Online, edited by Matthew S. Dryer and Martin Haspelmath. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Accessed August 18, 2016. http://wals.info/chapter/121.
Google Scholar
Stateva, Penka. 2000. “ In Defense of the Movement Theory of Superlatives.” In Proceedings of ESCOL 1999, edited by R. Daly and A. Riehl, 219–226.
Google Scholar
Stechow, Arnim von. 1984. “Comparing Semantic Theories of Comparison.” Journal of Semantics, 3: 1–79.
10.1093/jos/3.1-2.1
Google Scholar
Taraldsen, Knut Tarald. 1978. “The Scope of Wh-Movement in Norwegian.” Linguistic Inquiry, 9: 623–640.
Web of Science® Google Scholar
Thiersch, Craig. 1982. “ The Harder They Come …: A Note on the Double Comparative Construction in English.” In Sprachtheorie und angewandte Linguistik, edited by Werner Welte, 47–66. Tübingen: Narr.
Google Scholar
Ultan, Russell. 1972. “Some Features of Basic Comparative Constructions.” Working Papers in Language Universals, 9: 117–162.
Google Scholar
Vergnaud, Jean Roger. 1974. “ French Relative Clauses.” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Williams, Edwin. 1974. “ Rule Ordering in Grammar .” PhD diss., MIT.
Google Scholar
Williams, Edwin. 1978. “Across-the-Board Rule Application.” Linguistic Inquiry, 9: 31–43.
Web of Science® Google Scholar

Citing Literature

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition

Browse other articles of this reference work: