COG-D: The Syntax and Semantics of Comparison

Class info:		Instructor:
	Summer 2008		Prof. Roumyana Pancheva
	MWF 1-2:20		Office hours by appointment
	Room 171		pancheva@usc.edu

Course Description:

An important aspect of the grammar of natural language concerns comparing the extent to which objects have a certain property. Expressions such as five more books than articles, too tall and the fastest athlete can be said to involve comparative reference to degrees on a scale of quantity, height, or speed, respectively. There has been a lasting interest in the syntax and semantics of degree expressions within the generative tradition, partly because languages employ a surprising variety of comparative structures that need to map to a consistent meaning, but also because the grammar of comparison subsumes a number of key phenomena such as quantification, scope, wh-movement, ellipsis resolution, extraposition. This advanced seminar examines the syntax and semantics of comparative constructions with the goals of understanding the analytical challenges they pose, and of stimulating cross-linguistic research in this domain.

Requirements:

You have to complete the assigned readings on time and come to class prepared to discuss them. Don’t hesitate to ask questions and share ideas during class, or afterwards.

A short paper (3 pages would be ideal) is due on the last day of class, July 25. You can identify a new problem, or suggest a modification to the proposals we have discussed, or introduce new data.

Schedule:

July 7	The meaning of gradable adjectives and the semantics of comparison Required: Kennedy (2006) Optional: Schwarzschild (2008)
July 9	Overall architecture of comparatives. Scope of degree quantifiers. Required: Bhatt and Pancheva (2004): 1-10, 14-17 Optional: Heim (2000): 1-14
July 11	Inside the comparative clause – wh-movement and ellipsis Required: Corver (2005) Optional: Lechner (2001)
July 14	Late merger of degree clauses Required: Bhatt and Pancheva (2004): 10-14, 17-45 Optional: Heim (2000): 14-18
July 16	Quantifiers in comparatives Optional: Heim (2006), Schwarzschild and Wilkinson (2002), Larson (1988)
July 18	No class
July 21	Phrasal comparatives Required: Pancheva (2006) Optional: Lechner (2001), Kennedy (2007), Bhatt and Takahashi (2007)
July 23	Superlatives Required: Matushansky (2008) Optional: Heim (1999), Stateva (2003), Sharvit and Stateva (2002)
July 25	Too, enough, so Optional: Meier (2003)

Required Readings (photocopied and electronically available)

Bhatt, R. and R. Pancheva (2004). “Late Merger of Degree Clauses” Linguistic Inquiry 35, 1-45.

Corver, N. (2005). “Comparative Deletion and Subdeletion” In M. Everaert and H. van Riemsdijk (eds). The Blackwell Companion to Syntax. Blackwell Publishing, 2005.

Kennedy, C. (2006). “Comparatives, Semantics of” In K. Allen (section editor) Lexical and Logical Semantics; Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics, 2nd Edition, Elsevier, Oxford.

Matushansky, O. (2008). “On the Attributive Nature of Superlatives” Syntax 11:1, 26-90.

Pancheva, R. (2006). “Phrasal and Clausal Comparatives in Slavic” In J. Lavine, S. Franks, M. Tasseva-Kurktchieva and H. Filip (eds.) Formal Approaches to Slavic Linguistics 14, 236-257.

Optional Readings (electronically available)

Bhatt, R. and S. Takahashi (2007). ”Direct Comparisons: Resurrecting the Direct Analysis of Phrasal Comparatives” Proceedings of SALT 17

Heim, I. (1999). “Notes on Superlatives” Ms. MIT.

Heim, I. (2000). “Degree Operators and Scope,” in Proceedings of SALT 10, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Cornell Linguistics Club, 40–64.

Heim, I. (2006). “Remarks on comparative clauses as generalized quantifiers” Ms. MIT.

Kennedy, C. (2007). “Modes of Comparison” Proceedings of Chicago Linguistic Society 43.

Larson, R. (1998). “Scope and Comparatives.” Linguistics and Philosophy 11, 1, 1-26.

Lechner, W. (2001). “Reduced and Phrasal Comparatives”. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 19, 4, 683-735.

Meier, C. (2003). “The Meaning of too, enough, and so…that” Natural Language Semantics 11, 69-107.

Sharvit, Y. and P. Stateva (2002). “Superlative Expressions, Context, and Focus.” Linguistics and Philosophy 25, 453-504.

Schwarzschild, R. (2008). “The Semantics of Comparatives and other Degree Constructions” Language and Linguistics Compass 2.2: 308–331.

Schwarzschild, R. and K. Wilkinson (2002). “Quantifiers in Comparatives: A Semantics of Degree Based on Intervals,” Natural Language Semantics, 10:1-41.

Stateva, P. (2003). “Superlative More” Proceedings of SALT 13.