Comparative rather 1
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10139305 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas Dieterich (University of Michigan, corresponding author), Thomas G Dieterich, Donna Jo Napoli (0000-0001-6320-1086, Portland State University) |
| Year | 1982 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 137-165 |
| Publication date | 1982-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-2267 • E-ISSN: 1469-7742 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0022226700007283 |
| OpenAlex | W2109580451 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 1 |
English rather than clauses display obvious surface similarities with comparative clause constructions. The parallelism between expressions where rather than is followed by clause remains, and such ordinary comparative expressions as better than, taller than , etc., followed by a clause or clause remains, suggests that the rather than expressions are just comparatives, derived in much the same way as the more familiar comparative forms. However, the derivation of rather than expressions as comparatives is not entirely straightforward. First, although rather has the form of a comparative adjective, rath+er (as required in comparative clause constructions), this is apparently a fossil form: in current English there is no adjective rath of which rather is the comparative. Thus, any treatment that derives comparatives from structures containing compared adjectives (e.g., -er much tall in Bresnan [1973]), would have to postulate an ajective rath , never realized in modern English, in order to give a unified treatment of rather than expressions as comparatives. Part of the purpose of this paper will be to argue for just such an account
Adjective · Dependent clause · Expression (computer science · Linguistics · Noun · Order (exchange · Parallelism (grammar · Relative clause · Computer Science · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
| Citations per year | 0.07 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1985 - 2022 (38) |
| Highly cited | No |