Cover not available

Article published In: Degrees and Grammar: An East Asian Perspective:
Edited by Qiongpeng Luo, Zhiguo Xie and Xiao Li
[Language and Linguistics 24:1] 2023
► pp. 5–35

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB

Degrees and grammar

An East Asian perspective

 | Nanjing University
 | The Ohio State University
 | City University of New York
Open Access logo
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 12 December 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00124.luo
Abstract
In this article, we discuss some fundamental issues as well as several unresolved questions of degree-based theories in contemporary linguistics from the perspective of East Asian languages, with a view to pointing out some directions for future research. We first focus on several controversies surrounding the studies of comparative constructions in the literature, i.e., phrasal comparison vs. clausal comparison, individual comparison vs. degree comparison, big DegP vs. small DegP, the points of cross-linguistic variation, etc. We then expand the discussion to comparative constructions and other degree-related constructions in Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, and demonstrate how an East Asian perspective offers a novel insight into those controversies and uncovers considerable in-depth commonality underlying a variety of degree-related constructions cross-linguistically. We conclude by suggesting some directions for future within- and cross-linguistic research.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Foundations of degree semantics
    • 2.1The semantics of gradable predicates
    • 2.2The semantics of comparative constructions
  • 3.Unresolved issues
    • 3.1Clausal vs. phrasal comparatives
    • 3.2Explicit vs. implicit comparatives
    • 3.3The big vs. small DegP controversy
  • 4.Degree constructions in Mandarin Chinese
    • 4.1The clausal vs. phrasal controversy
    • 4.2Differential verbal comparatives in Mandarin Chinese and the ontology of degree
  • 5.Degree constructions in Japanese
    • 5.1The controversy of clausal vs. phrasal comparison in Japanese
    • 5.2Explicit vs. implicit comparison in Japanese
  • 6.Degree constructions in Korean
  • 7.Looking ahead
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (91)
References
Aihara, Masahiko. 2009. The scope of -est: Evidence from Japanese. Natural Language Semantics 17(4). 341–367. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anderson, Curt & Morzycki, Marcin. 2015. Degrees as kinds. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 33(3). 791–828. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bale, Alan. 2008. A universal scale of comparison. Linguistics and Philosophy 31(1).1–55. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid. 2012. Comparison constructions. In Maienborn, Claudia & von Heusinger, Klaus & Portner, Paul (eds.), Semantics: An international handbook of natural language meaning, vol. 21, 1341–1390. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid & Krasikova, Sveta & Fleischer, Daniel & Gergel, Remus & Hofstetter, Stefan & Savelsberg, Christiane & Vanderelst, John & Villalta, Elisabeth. 2009. Crosslinguistic variation in comparison constructions. Linguistic Variation Yearbook 91. 1–66. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beck, Sigrid & Oda, Toshiko & Sugisaki, Koji. 2004. Parametric variation in the semantics of comparison: Japanese vs. English. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 13(4). 289–344. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh & Pancheva, Roumyana. 2004. Late merger of degree clauses. Linguistic Inquiry 35(1). 1–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bhatt, Rajesh & Takahashi, Shoichi. 2011. Reduced and unreduced phrasal comparatives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 29(3). 581–620. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bierwisch, Manfred. 1988. Tools and explanations of comparison: Part I. Journal of Semantics 6(1). 57–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bolinger, Dwight. 1972. Degree words. The Hague: Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bresnan, Joan. 1973. Syntax of the comparative clause construction in English. Linguistic Inquiry 4(3). 275–343.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carlson, Gregory. 1977a. Reference to kinds in English. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Doctoral dissertation.)
. 1977b. Amount relatives. Language 53(3). 520–542. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Castroviejo, Elena & Schwager, Magdalena. 2008. Amazing DPs. In Friedman, Tova & Ito, Satoshi (eds.), Proceedings of the 18th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (SALT 18), 176–193. Ithaca: Cornell University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chierchia, Gennaro. 1998. Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics 6(4). 339–405. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corver, Norbert. 1990. The syntax of left branch extractions. Tilburg: Tilburg University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
. 1993. A note on subcomparatives. Linguistic Inquiry 24(4). 773–781.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cresswell, Max J. 1976. The semantics of degree. In Partee, Barbara (ed.), Montague grammar, 261–292. New York: Academic Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Erlewine, Michael Yoshitaka. 2007. A new syntax-semantics for the Mandarin bi comparative. Chicago: University of Chicago. (Master’s thesis.)
. 2018. Clausal comparison without degree abstraction in Mandarin Chinese. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 36(2). 445–482. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giannakidou, Anastasia & Yoon, Suwon. 2011. The subjective mode of comparison: Metalingusitic comparatives in Greek and Korean. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 29(3). 621–655. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grano, Thomas. 2012. Mandarin hen and universal markedness in gradable adjectives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 30(2). 513–565. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grano, Thomas & Kennedy, Christopher. 2012. Mandarin transitive comparatives and the grammar of measurement. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 21(3). 219–266. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grosu, Alexander & Landman, Fred. 1998. Strange relatives of the third kind. Natural Language Semantics 6(2). 125–170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gong, Ying & Coppock, Elizabeth. 2021. Mandarin has degree abstraction after all. Boston: Boston University. (Manuscript.).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hayashishita, J.-R. 2009. Yori-comparative: A reply to Beck et al. (2004). Journal of East Asian Linguistics 18(2). 65–100. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heim, Irene. 1985. Notes on comparatives and related matters. Austin: University of Texas at Austin. (Manuscript.)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1995. Notes on superlatives. (Manuscript.)Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2000. Degree operators and scope. In Jackson, Brendan & Matthews, Tanya (eds.), Proceedings of the 10th Semantics and Linguistic Theory Conference (SALT 10), 40–64. Ithaca: Cornell University. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hohaus, Vera. & Bochnak, M. Ryan. 2020. The grammar of degree: Gradability across languages. Annual Review of Linguistics 61. 235–259. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hsieh, I-Ta Chris. 2015. Remark: Long-distance reflexives, blocking effects, and the structure of Mandarin comparatives. Syntax 18(1). 78–102. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ishii, Yasuo. 1991. Operators and empty categories in Japanese. Storrs: University of Connecticut. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Jespersen, Otto. 1933. Essentials of English grammar. London: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jhang, Sea Eun. 2001. Comparative constructions in Korean. Bigyo Hangug Hag [Comparative Korean Studies] 91. 1–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kamp, Hans & Sassoon, Galit W. 2016. Vagueness. In Aloni, Maria & Dekker, Paul (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of formal semantics, 389–441. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher. 1999. Projecting the adjective: The syntax and semantics of gradability and comparison. London: Taylor & Francis Group.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2001. Polar opposition and the ontology of “degrees”. Linguistics and Philosophy 24(1). 33–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. Comparative deletion and optimality in syntax. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 20(3). 553–621. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Vagueness and grammar: The semantics of relative and absolute gradable adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy 30(1). 1–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. Modes of comparison. In Elliot, Malcolm & Kirby, James & Sawada, Osamu & Staraki, Eleni & Yoon, Suwon (eds.), Proceedings from the main session of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS 43), vol. 11, 139–163. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher & McNally, Louise. 2005. Scale structure, degree modification, and the semantics of gradable predicates. Language 81(2). 345–381. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, Christopher & Levin, Beth. 2008. Measure of change: The adjectival core of degree achievements. In McNally, Louise & Kennedy, Christopher (eds.), Adjectives and adverbs: Syntax, semantics and discourse, 156–182. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Jong-Bok & Sells, Peter. 2009. On the Syntax of Korean comparatives. Eon-eo wa Jeongbo [Language and Information] 13(2). 29–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, Jong-Bok. & Sells, Peter. 2010. A phrasal analysis of Korean comparatives. Studies in generative grammar 20(2). 179–205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Krasikova, Sveta. 2008. Comparison in Chinese. In Bonami, Olivier & Hofherr, Patricia Cabredo (eds.), Empirical issues in syntax and semantics, vol. 71, 263–281. Paris: Colloque de Syntaxe et Sémantique à Paris.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lechner, Winfried. 2001. Reduced and phrasal comparatives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19(4). 683–735. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, Xiao. 2009. Degreeless comparatives. New Brunswick: Rutgers University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
. 2015a. Degreeless comparatives: The semantics of differential verbal comparatives in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Semantics 32(1). 1–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015b. The ingredients of comparison: The semantics of excessive construction in Japanese. Semantics and Pragmatics 81. Article 8. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lin, Jo-wang. 2009. Chinese comparatives and their implicational parameters. Natural Language Semantics 17(1). 1–27. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, Chen-Sheng Luther. 2010a. The positive morpheme in Chinese and the adjectival structure. Lingua 120 (4). 1010–1056. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2010b. The Chinese geng clausal comparative. Lingua 120(6). 1579–1606. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luo, Qiongpeng & Cao, Yuzhen. 2019. Equatives are not all equal: A correlative analysis of scalar equatives in Mandarin. In Ronai, Eszter & Stigliano, Laura & Sun, Yenan (eds.), Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society (CLS 54), 283–294. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luo, Qiongpeng & Xie, Zhiguo. 2018. Degrees as nominalized properties: Evidence from differential verbal comparatives in Mandarin Chinese. In Sauerland, Uli & Solt, Stephanie (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 22 (ZAS Papers in Linguistics 61), vol. 21, 89–106. Berlin: Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luo, Qiongpeng & Hsieh, Miao-Ling & Shi, Dingxu. 2017. Pre-classifier adjectival modification in Mandarin Chinese: A measurement-based analysis. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 26(1). 1–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Matsui, Ai & Kubota, Yusuke. 2012. Comparatives and contrastiveness: Semantics and pragmatics of Japanese hoo comparatives. In Tucker, Matthew A. & Thompson, Anie & Northrup, Oliver & Bennett, Ryan (eds.), Proceedings of FAJL 5: Formal approaches to Japanese linguistics, 126–139. Cambridge: MIT Working Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mendia, Jon Ander. 2017. Amount relatives redux. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Doctoral dissertation.)
. 2018. Some kind of relative clause. In Sauerland, Uli & Solt, Stephanie (eds.), Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 22 (ZAS Papers in Linguistics 61), vol. 21, 163–180. Berlin: Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics (ZAS). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Merchant, Jason. 2009. Phrasal and clausal comparatives in Greek and the abstractness of syntax. Journal of Greek Linguistics 9(1). 134–164. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Moltmann, Friederike. 2009. Degree structure as trope structure: A trope-based analysis of positive and comparative adjectives. Linguistics and Philosophy 32(1). 51–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morzycki, Marcin. 2009. Degree modification of gradable nouns: Size adjectives and adnominal degree morpheme. Natural Language Semantics 17(2). 175–203. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2016. Modification. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nakanishi, Kimiko. 2007a. Formal properties of measurement constructions. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007b. Measurement in the nominal and verbal domains. Linguistics and Philosophy 30(2). 235–276. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nouwen, Rick. 2008. Upper-bound no more: The exhaustive interpretation of non-strict comparison. Natural Language Semantics 16(4). 271–295. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Degree modifiers and monotonicity. In Égré, Paul & Klinedinst, Nathan (eds.), Vagueness and language use, 146–164. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Oda, Toshiko. 2008. Degree constructions in Japanese. Storrs: University of Connecticut. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Park, So-young. 2009. Three types of Korean comparatives. In Takubo, Yukinori & Kinuhata, Tomohide & Grzelak, Szymon & Nagai, Kayo (eds.), Japanese/Korean linguistics, vol. 16, 407–421. Stanford: CSLI Publications, Stanford University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pearson, Hazal. 2013. On the syntax and semantics of the Japanese comparative. In Folli, Raffaella & Sevdali, Christina & Truswell, Robert (eds.), Syntax and its limits, 279–299. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rett, Jessica. 2015. The semantics of evaluativity. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rullmann, Hotze. 1995. Maximality in the semantics of wh-constructions. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Amherst. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Russell, Bertrand. 1923. Vagueness. Australasian Journal of Philosophy and Psychology 1(2). 84–92. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sapir, Edward. 1944. Grading, a study in semantics. Philosophy of Science 11(2). 93–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sawada, Osamu. 2009. Pragmatic aspects of implicit comparison: An economy-based approach. Journal of Pragmatics 41(6). 1079–1103. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2014. An utterance situation-based comparison. Linguistics and Philosophy 37(3). 205–248. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sawada, Osamu & Grano, Thomas. 2011. Scale structure, coercion, and the interpretation of measure phrases in Japanese. Natural Language Semantics 19(2). 191–226. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwarzschild, Roger. 2008. The semantics of comparatives and other degree constructions. Language and Linguistics Compass 2(2). 308–331. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwarzschild, Roger & Wilkinson, Karina. 2002. Quantifiers in comparatives: A semantics of degree based on intervals. Natural Language Semantics 10(1). 1–41. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scontras, Gregory. 2014. The semantics of measurement. Cambridge: Harvard University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
. 2017. A new kind of degree. Linguistics and Philosophy 40(2). 165–205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seuren, Pieter A. M. 1973. The comparative. In Kiefer, Ferenc & Ruwet, Nicolas (eds.), Generative grammar in Europe, 528–564. Dordrecht: D. Reidel. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sharvit, Yael & Stateva, Penka. 2002. Superlative expressions, context and focus. Linguistics and Philosophy 25(4). 453–504. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shimoyama, Junko. 2012. Reassessing crosslinguistic variation in clausal comparatives. Natural Language Semantics 20(1). 83–113. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Snyder, William & Wexler, Kenneth & Das, Dolon. 1994. The syntactic representation of degree and quantity: Perspectives from Japanese and Child English. In Aranovich, Raul & Byrne, William & Preuss, Susanne & Senturia, Martha (eds.), The Proceedings of the 13th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 13), 581–596. Stanford: CSLI Publications, Stanford University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sudo, Yasutada. 2015. Hidden nominal structure in Japanese clausal comparatives. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 24 (1). 1–51. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tsao, Feng-fu. 1989. Comparison in Chinese: A topic-comment approach. Tsing Hua Journal of Chinese Studies 191. 151–189.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
von Stechow, Arnim. 1984. Comparing semantic theories of comparison. Journal of Semantics 3(1–2). 1–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xiang, Ming. 2005. Some topics in comparative constructions. East Lansing: Michigan State University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Xie, Zhiguo. 2014. The degree use of the possessive verb yǒu in Mandarin Chinese: A unified analysis and its theoretical implications. Journal of East Asian Linguistics 23(2). 113–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yeom, Jae-il. 2016. Association of pota-phrases with compared phrases in Korean comparatives. Language and Information 20(3). 55–82. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue