Akira Watanabe

Comparative Measure Phrases
Dr. Akira Watanabe, University of Tokyo

In this talk, I suggest that the cooccurrence restrictions found in the syntax of comparison (ex. more - than and as - as) should not be treated as a matter of selection as in the traditional analysis but must be captured in terms of agreement. In arguing for this proposal, I focus on comparative measure phrases found in expressions like taller than seven feet. As part of this discussion, I will venture into decomposition of antonymous pairs of dimensional adjectives.

In addition, as a sequel to the first talk, I will compare the proposed structure with the structure of nominals.

Suggested Readings:

Bresnan, J. (1973) Syntax of the comparative clause construction in English. Linguistic Inquiry 4, 275-343.
Corver, N. (1997) Much-support as a last resort. Linguistic Inquiry 28, 119-164.
Hackl, M. (2000) Comparative quantifiers. MIT dissertation, Cambridge, MA. (Chapter 2, esp. §§2.4)
Rullmann, H. (1995) Maximality in the semantics of WH-constructions. UMass dissertation, Amherst, MA. (Chapter 2, §§2.1-2.5)
Schwarzschild , R. (2006) The role of dimensions in the syntax of noun phrases. Syntax 9, 67-110.
Watanabe, A. (2006) Functional projections of nominals in Japanese: Syntax of classifiers. Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 24, 241-306.