Vortrag: Measure phrases as modifiers of negative adjectives

Revising various approaches on the (in)compatibility of, e.g., 5 years young in English and German

Multiple semantic models identify measure phrase constructions containing negative adjectives as ungrammatical. But corpus data on English and German provide evidence of the frequency of such collocations, necessitating more detailed discussion.

Gradable adjectives divide into pairs of positive and negative antonyms (e.g., old – young), referring to the same scale but differing in terms of their polarity. According to seminal work (Kennedy, 2001; Schwarzschild, 2005; Winter, 2005) on the semantic analysis of measure phrase constructions such as 5 years old, measure phrases are incompatible with negative adjectives and do not combine (e.g., 5 years young) syntactically well-formed. However, Doetjes (2012) and Hofstetter (2013) indicate that measure phrases can modify negative adjectives in evaluative contexts, contradicting the incompatibility assumption. This talk aims at verifying the observations of Doetjes and Hofstetter based on corpus data on English and German in a first step. Fully aware of this corpus analysis, this talk evaluates the existing approaches to measure phrase constructions in a second step. Lastly, it tends to contribute to the premises of a revised semantic model.

References:
Doetjes, J. (2012). On the (in)compatibility of non neutral adjectives and measure phrases. Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung, 16(2), 197-210.
Hofstetter, S. (2013). Selected issues in the theory of comparison: Phrasal comparison in Turkish and a cross-linguistic perspective of intensifiers, negative island effects and the distribution of measure phrases [Doctoral dissertation, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen].
Kennedy, C. (2001). Polar opposition and the ontology of ‘degrees’. Linguistics and Philosophy, 24, 33-70.
Schwarzschild, R. (2005). Measure phrases as modifiers of adjectives. Recherches linguistiques de Vincennes, 34, 207-228.
Winter, Y. (2005). Cross-categorial restrictions on measure phrase modification. Linguistics and Philosophy, 28, 233-267.

Info

Tag: 18.11.2021
Anfangszeit: 13:00
Dauer: 00:30
Raum: 🧉
Track: Theoretical Linguistics
Sprache: en

Links:

Dateien

Feedback

Uns interessiert Ihre Meinung! Wie fanden Sie diese Veranstaltung?

Gleichzeitige Events