On von Stechow’s “Comparing Semantic Theories of Comparison”

Abstract

The syntax and semantics of expressions used to represent comparison is a central topic in linguistic theory. Arnim von Stechow was interested in how these expressions interact with other linguistic expressions and what the entailment relations are between sentences that contain expressions of comparison. In “Comparing Semantic theories of Comparison”, Von Stechow evaluates several proposals for a formal analysis of comparison constructions still current in the early 1980s. The basis for his impressive evaluation is a precise translation of the most important existing accounts into a uniform formal language. Only this enables him to compare the descriptive adequacy of the proposals. Even if one of the reviewed approaches is not able to make the correct predictions, von Stechow discusses strategies to repair it. The proposals are tested against a fixed set of phenomena. In fact, von Stechow demonstrates in an exemplary way how puzzling phenomena may play the same role in linguistics as experiments do in physics. The phenomena help us to test linguistic hypotheses and theories. Von Stechow’s conclusion is that a Russellian, i.e. a scopal theory, is correct for comparison constructions. Comparative complements are in fact nominals: the than-phrase stands in for a definite description of a degree.KeywordsComparativeScopeMaximalityIntensionality