The syntax of comparison constructions in diachronic and dialectal perspective

Abstract

The paper discusses the internal and external syntax of comparison constructions in the light of diachronic as well as dialectal German data. As far as the syntactic position of comparison particles is concerned, the data present evidence against the widespread analysis as prepositions or complementizers and in favour of a syntactic position above the standard-of-comparison CP. This is demonstrated in detail for the German comparison particles als and wie. Concerning the syntactic status of the standard of comparison, diachronic and dialectal data support the so-called direct analysis, according to which the standard of comparison may consist of the comparison particle and a mere DP, PP etc. without assuming an elided full clause in all cases. With respect to their link to the remainder of the clause comparisons show characteristics both of subordinate clauses, notably relative clauses, as well as of coordination. The diachronic and dialectal data underline this Janus-headed nature of comparison constructions which is tentatively attributed to a historically underlying correlative construction and syntactic reanalysis as an embedded clause on this basis.

Processing Prescriptively Incorrect Comparative Particles: Evidence From Sentence-Matching and Eye-Tracking

“…Whereas different theoretical linguistic analyses have been proposed to account for this replacement of a comparative particle by an equative particle in comparatives (cf. Postma, 2006;Reinarz et al, 2016;Jäger, 2019), the underlying idea of all of these theoretical analyses is that there must be an important grammarinternal factor in the grammars of Dutch and German inducing it. Postma (2006) argues that this factor is that the particle dan "than" has lost its original negative meaning.…”

Análisis y clasificación de las estructuras comparativas de desigualdad en español

“…En consecuencia, desde la década de los 70 numerosas/os filólogas/os y lingüistas han intentado determinar cuál es la representación sintáctica y categorización más adecuada de estas estructuras y se han propuesto clasificaciones tipológicas que definan los posibles patrones comunes en la expresión de comparación entre lenguas. Sin embargo, como se ha señalado en estudios recientes como Jäger (2019) o Lechner y Corver (2017), a pesar de décadas de estudio con notables avances (Bresnan 1973, Chomsky 1977, Hankamer 1973, Heim 1985, Kennedy 1999, Lechner 2004, entre otros), las estructuras comparativas siguen considerándose expresiones ANÁLISIS Y CLASIFICACIÓN DE LAS ESTRUCTURA COMPARATIVAS DE DESIGUALDAD complejas que dan lugar a múltiples problemas sintácticos y de categorización que continúan sin tener una solución satisfactoria.…”