Maximality and minimality in comparatives
- In this paper, I investigate more closely the contribution of modal operators to the semantics of comparatives and I show that there is no need for a maximality or minimality operator. Following Kratzer s (1981, 1991) analysis of modal elements, I assume that the meaning of a modal sentence is dependent on a conversational background and an ordering source. For comparative environments, I demonstrate that the ordering source reduces a set of possible degrees to a single degree that is most (or least) wanted or expected, i.e., maximality and minimality readings of comparative constructions are an effect of the pragmatic meaning of the modal.
| Author: | Cécile MeierORCiDGND |
|---|---|
| URN: | urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-6679 |
| Parent Title (German): | Sixth Annual Meeting of the Gesellschaft für Semantik, University of Osnabrück 2002 |
| Document Type: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Date of Publication (online): | 2005/04/12 |
| Year of first Publication: | 2002 |
| Publishing Institution: | Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg |
| Release Date: | 2005/04/12 |
| First Page: | 275 |
| Last Page: | 287 |
| Source: | Sixth Annual Meeting of the Gesellschaft für Semantik, University of Osnabrück 2002. |
| HeBIS-PPN: | 128783923 |
| Institutes: | Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaften / Sprachwissenschaften |
| Dewey Decimal Classification: | 4 Sprache / 42 Englisch, Altenglisch / 420 Englisch, Altenglisch |
| Licence (German): |  Deutsches Urheberrecht |
