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Semantico-Pragmatic Aspects of the Metalinguistic Uses of Comparatives in Mandarin Chinese and English.

Record Type:	Language materials, manuscript : Monograph/item
Title/Author:	Semantico-Pragmatic Aspects of the Metalinguistic Uses of Comparatives in Mandarin Chinese and English./
Author:	Yang, Meng.
Description:	1 online resource (112 pages)
Notes:	Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-03, Section: A.
Contained By:	Dissertations Abstracts International85-03A.
Subject:	Linguistics. -
Online resource:	click for full text (PQDT)
ISBN:	9798380407373

Semantico-Pragmatic Aspects of the Metalinguistic Uses of Comparatives in Mandarin Chinese and English.
Yang, Meng.

Semantico-Pragmatic Aspects of the Metalinguistic Uses of Comparatives in Mandarin Chinese and English. - 1 online resource (112 pages)

Source: Dissertations Abstracts International, Volume: 85-03, Section: A.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Texas at Arlington, 2023.

Includes bibliographical references

This dissertation examines a group of Metalinguistic Comparatives (MCs) in Mandarin Chinese, exploring what they suggest about the universality of comparatives. I show that Chinese MCs encode a more fine-grained scalarity of the subjective attitude conveyed, which varies in orientation, i.e., positive or negative, and strength, i.e., subtle or strong. By analyzing their uses in conversational settings, I claim that MCs are pragmatical devices for speakers to reject or rectify an utterance. In examining the shared Chinese 'than' marker in both Negative MCs (NegMCs) and Rhetorical Comparatives (RCs), I show that both subtypes are comparatives with a contrastive and negative sense, rather than a description of a degree-differential ordering relation. Furthermore, I propose a Logic Convertibility analysis for comparatives, showing a comparative is logically equivalent to the negation of the flipped inequality relation, i.e., (d1>d2) ↔ NOT (d2>d1), which builds the foundation for an implied negative inference to be retrieved. Finally, I suggest English comparatives are pragmatically ambiguous in that they descriptively encode a degree-differential inequality relation but can simultaneously produce a metalinguistic reading, i.e., to convey an evaluative attitude.

Electronic reproduction.
Ann Arbor, Mich. :
ProQuest,
2024

Mode of access: World Wide Web

ISBN: 9798380407373Subjects--Topical Terms:

557829
Linguistics.
Subjects--Index Terms:

Metalinguistic ComparativesIndex Terms--Genre/Form:

554714
Electronic books.

Semantico-Pragmatic Aspects of the Metalinguistic Uses of Comparatives in Mandarin Chinese and English.
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520 $a This dissertation examines a group of Metalinguistic Comparatives (MCs) in Mandarin Chinese, exploring what they suggest about the universality of comparatives. I show that Chinese MCs encode a more fine-grained scalarity of the subjective attitude conveyed, which varies in orientation, i.e., positive or negative, and strength, i.e., subtle or strong. By analyzing their uses in conversational settings, I claim that MCs are pragmatical devices for speakers to reject or rectify an utterance. In examining the shared Chinese 'than' marker in both Negative MCs (NegMCs) and Rhetorical Comparatives (RCs), I show that both subtypes are comparatives with a contrastive and negative sense, rather than a description of a degree-differential ordering relation. Furthermore, I propose a Logic Convertibility analysis for comparatives, showing a comparative is logically equivalent to the negation of the flipped inequality relation, i.e., (d1>d2) ↔ NOT (d2>d1), which builds the foundation for an implied negative inference to be retrieved. Finally, I suggest English comparatives are pragmatically ambiguous in that they descriptively encode a degree-differential inequality relation but can simultaneously produce a metalinguistic reading, i.e., to convey an evaluative attitude.
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653 $a Mandarin Chinese
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653 $a Negativity
653 $a Metalinguistic reading
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