Granularity in the Semantics of Comparison

This paper makes the novel observation that definite comparatives, such as the bigger circle, impose restrictions on the cardinality of the comparison class (CC) against which their truth conditions are evaluated. We show that the corpus frequency counts of definite comparatives sharply drop when the comparison class used for their interpretation is formed by more than two individuals. Two alternative theories of these distributional facts are considered and tested experimentally through an acceptability judgment task. According to the first theory, the 2-Individuals Theory, definite comparatives presuppose that the CC is of cardinality 2; under the second theory, the 2-Degrees Theory, the meaning of the comparative is evaluated against a granularity γ that maps the individuals in the CC to degrees in the relevant adjectival scale, and definite comparatives presuppose that the set of the degrees resulting from this mapping is of cardinality 2. Our experimental results show that definite comparative descriptions are most frequent and felicitous when evaluated against comparison classes with two individuals, but also that acceptability drops off with higher cardinalities in a gradient manner that is sensitive to granularity. Taken together, these findings argue against the 2-Individuals theory of definite comparatives and lend support to the 2-Degrees theory.

Attributive function of the instrumental case in the dialects of Transcarpathia (noun and adverbial position)

The article is devouted to the attributive function of the instrumental case in the dialects of Transcarpathia region. The article clarifies the structural and semantic features of the attributive in the form of the instrumental case in the dialects of the Transcarpathia. The attributives, which are called signs of individual actions, situations of objective reality, are considered. The functional essence of the attributive creative in the adjective and adverbial positions is highlighted. The purpose of this article is to highlight the formal syntactic features and semantic manifestations of the peripheral zone of attributiveness, namely, the intrinsic attributive with possessive semantics, with the semantics of comparison, adverbial attributives with the semantics of the mode of action in the form of the instrumental case. Attributive syntaxemes in the studied dialects characterize various situations and retain semantic and morphological connections with output words, phrases and sentences. They can be synonymous with nouns in other indirect cases or verb constructions in the forms of subordinate attributive sentences. Their property to convey variable, temporary, situational signs is associated with a specific subject correlation by the attributive in the form of the instrumental case. Achieving this goal involves solving the following tasks: 1) to establish the original semantically elementary sentence that underlies the attributive syntaxeme, the lexical meanings of the supporting and dependent components; 2) find out the functional and semantic meaning of the attributive syntaxeme. Within the framework of the attributive components in the form of the instrumental case, groups distinguished, among which: the names of the characteristic features of a person's appearance, the names of the methods of production processes, the names of the external characteristics of movement in space, parts of clothing, shoes, parts of objects household items, characteristics as a result of an action, the name of a generalized characteristic of an action and a situation as a whole, an external characteristic of a person or animal, the name of an external characteristic of a plant, the name of a qualitative characteristic of an individual action, and the like.