Comparative Anaphora: comparing alternatives

Abstract

A common assumption in degree semantics is that there is a functionargumentrelationship betwen the comparative morpheme er and the overt standard.Drawing on observations from comparatives without an overt standard, I argue forreconsiderations of this assumption and offer a reanalysis of er, where it directlycompares to the alternative in the second dimension of meaning.

Alternative comparison in underspecified degree operators

“…4 Alternative comparisons 4.1 The baseline re-analysis of comparatives Li (2022) proposes that comparatives always compare two things of the same type (i.e. two alternatives) on a locally derived measurement dimension (cf.…”