Generative Perspectives on Degrees

The volume collects papers by leading semanticists, syntacticians, and morphologists working on the notion of degree. It aims at deepening our understanding of (i) the internal and external syntax of the standard clause; (ii) the internal morphological structure of the comparative marker (e.g. -er in English); (iii) different semantic implementations of the notion of degree, (iv) the syntactic status and semantic contribution of standard markers, and (v) the distinction between phrasal and clausal comparatives and their interaction with the process of comparative deletion. The authors are raising a number of fundamental questions related to the nature of degrees and the way they are encoded in syntax and semantics. Among them are: What are degrees introducedby? Are they primitives or sets? What is the internal structure of comparative adjectives? Is there a containment relation between the positive and the comparative forms? Is the comparative always morphologically overt? We believe that the answers to these questions provided by the selected authors will be a crucial component for a deeper understanding of degree and its formal modeling within the generative framework. As such, this volume represents a fundamental tool for intermediate and advanced researchers working on comparative and equative constructions, comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, standard markers, diminutives, and deadjectival verbs.