Conflicting Constraints in the Comparative Cycle
2016 ◽
Vol 28
(4)
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pp. 403-425
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Present-day Dutch shows an alternation reflecting a transition from the use of the comparative particle dan ‘than’ toward the particle als ‘as’ in comparisons of inequality. We argue that this transition—as well as the replacement of denn/dann by als in Early New High German, and als ‘as’ by wie ‘how’ in present-day German—results from a conflict between two competing principles, Economy and Iconicity. The conflict between these two constraints in German and Dutch gives rise to a cycle, in which having two particles—one for each construction—and having one particle for both, comparatives and equatives, alternate over time.*
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1998 ◽
Vol 62
(11)
◽
pp. 934-937
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1988 ◽
Vol 19
(3)
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pp. 251-258
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2020 ◽
Vol 29
(1S)
◽
pp. 412-424
2008 ◽
Vol 18
(2)
◽
pp. 87-98
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2008 ◽
Vol 2008
◽
pp. 200
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