Documentation

Linglib.Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973

Bresnan 1973: Syntax of the Comparative Clause Construction in English #

@cite{bresnan-1973}

Joan W. Bresnan. Syntax of the Comparative Clause Construction in English. Linguistic Inquiry 4(3): 275–343.

Core Contributions #

QP structure: Every comparative has an underlying QP (Det + Q) where the Q items are much, many, little, few, enough, and the Det position hosts -er, -est, as, too, so, that, or ∅. The surface form more derives from -er + much via suppletion.
Morphological derivation: Three ordered rules derive surface forms:
- -er Encliticizing: Det -er cliticizes onto Q (-er Q → Q-er)
- Much Deletion: much → ∅ before adjectives/adverbs
- Suppletion: much-er → more, little-er → less, etc.
Comparative Deletion: The than/as clause originates in the Det of QP. An obligatory deletion operation removes a clause constituent "nondistinct" from the head. The clause is then extraposed.
All than-clauses are underlyingly clausal: "Phrasal" comparatives like taller than Bill derive from full clauses via maximal deletion. This contrasts with the 2026 consensus (@cite{bhatt-pancheva-2004}) that phrasal and clausal comparatives are syntactically distinct.
Subdeletion: When the head is a QP (measure phrase), only a matching QP is deleted from the clause — not an AP or NP. This explains *more than Bill tall (NP ≠ QP identity failure).
Privative adjective constraint: *more than five feet short because short rejects definite measure phrases, so the QP identity condition in the clause cannot be satisfied.

What Is Current vs. Historical #

Current consensus: The data paradigms, the degree-head inventory (Det → modern Deg°), the more = -er + much decomposition, the measure phrase restriction with negative adjectives, subdeletion commensurability.

Modified but descended: QP → DegP (@cite{kennedy-1999}); comparative deletion → degree operator movement (@cite{heim-2001}); QP-AP parallelism → X-bar theory → Minimalist bare phrase structure.

Historical: The construction-specific transformations (AP Shift, QP Raising, Much Deletion, -er Encliticizing), the "all comparatives are clausal" claim, the so → such transformation.

Connection to Kennedy 1999 #

The existing Kennedy1999.lean cites @cite{bresnan-1973} for morphological distribution data and phrasal/clausal examples. This file formalizes Bresnan's own proposals: the QP structure, the derivation rules, and the four introductory puzzles that motivated the analysis. Bridge theorems connect the QP inventory to DegPType and verify suppletion outputs against Fragment formComp entries.

inductive Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det :

The Det position of the QP: hosts degree/comparison morphemes. This is Bresnan's precursor to the modern Deg° head.

er : Det
est : Det
as_ : Det
too : Det
so : Det
that_ : Det
any_ : Det
no_ : Det
null : Det

Instances For

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqDet :

DecidableEq Det

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqDet x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDet.beq :

Det → Det → Bool

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDet.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDet :

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDet = { beq := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDet.beq }

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDet :

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDet = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDet.repr }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDet.repr :

Det → ℕ → Std.Format

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inductive Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q :

The Q (quantity) head: much, many, little, few, enough. Bresnan's central claim: these are the deep-structure elements underlying all comparative morphology.

much : Q
many : Q
little : Q
few : Q
enough : Q

Instances For

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqQ :

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqQ x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQ.beq :

Q → Q → Bool

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQ.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQ :

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQ = { beq := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQ.beq }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprQ.repr :

Q → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprQ :

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Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprQ = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprQ.repr }

structure Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.QP :

The QP: Bresnan's degree phrase structure.

det : Det
q : Q

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqQP :

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqQP = Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqQP.decEq

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqQP.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : QP) :

Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQP.beq :

QP → QP → Bool

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQP.beq { det := a, q := a_1 } { det := b, q := b_1 } = (a == b && a_1 == b_1)
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQP.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQP :

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQP = { beq := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqQP.beq }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprQP.repr :

QP → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprQP :

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Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprQP = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprQP.repr }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.toDegPType :

Det → Semantics.Degree.DegPType

Map Bresnan's QP Det to the modern DegP type classification. The Det determines the comparison type; Q determines mass/count.

Equations

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theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.degPType_comparative_from_er :

Det.er.toDegPType = Semantics.Degree.DegPType.comparative

The modern DegPType inventory is recoverable from Bresnan's Det.

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.degPType_equative_from_as :

Det.as_.toDegPType = Semantics.Degree.DegPType.equative

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.degPType_superlative_from_est :

Det.est.toDegPType = Semantics.Degree.DegPType.superlative

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.degPType_excessive_from_too :

Det.too.toDegPType = Semantics.Degree.DegPType.excessive

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion :

QP → Option String

Suppletion: the surface form resulting from -er/-est Encliticizing onto Q. Returns none for regular (non-suppletive) combinations.

Rule (7): -er much → more, -er many → more, -er little → less Rule (223): -est much → most, -est many → most, etc.

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion { det := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.er, q := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.much } = some "more"
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion { det := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.er, q := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.many } = some "more"
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion { det := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.er, q := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.little } = some "less"
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion { det := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.er, q := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.few } = some "fewer"
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion { det := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.est, q := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.much } = some "most"
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion { det := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.est, q := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.many } = some "most"
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion { det := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.est, q := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.little } = some "least"
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion { det := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.est, q := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.few } = some "fewest"
Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.suppletion x✝ = none

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theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.more_from_er_much :

suppletion { det := Det.er, q := Q.much } = some "more"

more derives from -er + much (or -er + many).

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.more_from_er_many :

suppletion { det := Det.er, q := Q.many } = some "more"

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.less_from_er_little :

suppletion { det := Det.er, q := Q.little } = some "less"

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.most_from_est_much :

suppletion { det := Det.est, q := Q.much } = some "most"

most derives from -est + much.

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.selectsMass :

Q → Bool

Q selects mass vs count nouns. much selects mass nouns and can also modify adjectives/adverbs (after Much Deletion). many selects count nouns only. This predicts *much people, *many bread.

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.selectsCount :

Q → Bool

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.canModifyAdjective :

Q → Bool

much and little (but not many and few) can modify adjectives and adverbs — they are the Qs that undergo Much Deletion.

This predicts: as much tall → as tall (Much Deletion), but *as many tall (no deletion rule for many before A).

Equations

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.muchDeletionApplies (q : Q) (adjFollows : Bool) :

Much Deletion: much → ∅ / [... ___ A]_AP. Applies only to Qs that can modify adjectives, and only when an adjective or adverb immediately follows.

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.muchDeletionApplies q adjFollows = (q.canModifyAdjective && adjFollows)

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structure Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.PuzzleDatum :

An acceptability judgment with structural explanation.

sentence : String
acceptable : Bool
head : String
What is the head of the comparative construction?
deletedConstituent : String
What is deleted from the than-clause?
explanation : String
Why is the identity condition satisfied or not?

Instances For

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprPuzzleDatum :

Repr PuzzleDatum

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprPuzzleDatum = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprPuzzleDatum.repr }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprPuzzleDatum.repr :

PuzzleDatum → ℕ → Std.Format

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.puzzleA :

List PuzzleDatum

Puzzle (A): "I've never seen a man taller than my father/mother."

(i) and (ii) are roughly synonymous; (iii) and (iv) are not. (i) "a man taller than my father" — head: AP [x much tall] (ii) "a taller man than my father" — head: AP [x much tall] (iii) "a man taller than my mother" — head: AP [x much tall] (iv) "a taller man than my mother" — head: NP [a man x much tall]

In (iv), the head is the entire predicative NP. The deleted constituent in the clause must match this NP — but "my mother is [x much tall] a man" implies my mother is a man. Hence the anomaly.

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.puzzleB :

List PuzzleDatum

Puzzle (B): "Jack eats caviar more than he eats mush / sleeps."

(a,c) are grammatical; (d) is not. The deleted constituent is an adverbial QP modifier of the VP.

In (d), *Jack eats more caviar than he sleeps is bad because more is a partitive QP embedded in the direct object NP. The matching partitive QP in the clause requires an NP — but sleep is intransitive, so no matching partitive is available.

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.puzzleC :

List PuzzleDatum

Puzzle (C): "I am more angry today than I was yesterday / than sad."

The acceptability of angrier (synthetic) vs more angry (analytic) follows from what is deleted and what survives. When the comparison is across adjectives (angry vs sad), the comparative must be more angry (analytic) because more is a sentence modifier, not within the AP. Simple comparative formation (producing angrier) cannot apply because more and sad are not within the same AP.

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.puzzleD :

List PuzzleDatum

Puzzle (D): "*Mary is more than five feet short" vs "Mary is shorter than five feet."

@cite{kennedy-1999} explains this via positive/negative extent boundedness. Bresnan's syntactic explanation: short rejects definite measure phrase modifiers (*How short is he? — five feet short), so the QP identity condition in the clause cannot be satisfied.

Bridge: this connects to measurePhrase_positive_only in Kennedy1999.lean and admitsMeasurePhrase in Differential.lean.

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inductive Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.DeletionTarget :

The syntactic category of the constituent deleted from the than-clause. Bresnan's key insight: the deleted element must be "nondistinct" (same syntactic category) from the head.

This is the 1973 precursor to modern identity conditions in ellipsis (e-GIVENness in @cite{merchant-2001}; SIC in Anand, Hardt & McCloskey 2021).

Instances For

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqDeletionTarget :

DecidableEq DeletionTarget

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqDeletionTarget x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDeletionTarget :

BEq DeletionTarget

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDeletionTarget = { beq := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDeletionTarget.beq }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDeletionTarget.beq :

DeletionTarget → DeletionTarget → Bool

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqDeletionTarget.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDeletionTarget.repr :

DeletionTarget → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDeletionTarget :

Repr DeletionTarget

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDeletionTarget = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDeletionTarget.repr }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.identityHolds (head clause : DeletionTarget) :

The identity condition: deletion succeeds only when the clause constituent and the head have the same syntactic category.

"Nondistinctness" in Bresnan's terms — the deleted constituent must be featurally nondistinct from the head.

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.identityHolds head clause = (head == clause)

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theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.subdeletion_identity_holds :

identityHolds DeletionTarget.ap DeletionTarget.ap = true

Subdeletion: "The table is longer than the door is wide."

Head = AP (-er much long), deleted = AP (x much wide). Both are APs, so identity holds. The dimensions (length vs width) need not match — only the syntactic category.

This connects to subcomparativeExamples in Kennedy1999.lean and subcomparative in Intervals.lean.

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.np_qp_identity_fails :

identityHolds DeletionTarget.qp DeletionTarget.np = false

*John is more than Bill tall fails: head = QP (-er much), but the matching constituent in the clause is an NP (Bill = that much). NP ≠ QP, so the identity condition fails.

inductive Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.BresnanThanClauseAnalysis :

Bresnan's strongest syntactic claim: ALL comparatives are underlyingly clausal. What appears as a "phrasal" comparative ("taller than Bill") is derived from a full clause by maximal deletion.

This contrasts with the modern consensus (ThanClauseType distinguishes phrasal from clausal as genuinely distinct). Both analyses yield the same truth conditions for simple comparatives (proved in ThanClause.phrasal_clausal_equivalence), so the disagreement is purely syntactic.

See @cite{bhatt-pancheva-2004} for the modern "genuinely phrasal" view.

partialDeletion : BresnanThanClauseAnalysis
Full clause with partial deletion: "than Bill is [x much tall]" → "than Bill is" (deletion of AP)
maximalDeletion : BresnanThanClauseAnalysis
Full clause with maximal deletion: "than Bill is [x much tall]" → "than Bill" (deletion of AP + copula stranding)

Instances For

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqBresnanThanClauseAnalysis :

DecidableEq BresnanThanClauseAnalysis

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqBresnanThanClauseAnalysis x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBresnanThanClauseAnalysis.beq :

BresnanThanClauseAnalysis → BresnanThanClauseAnalysis → Bool

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBresnanThanClauseAnalysis.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBresnanThanClauseAnalysis :

BEq BresnanThanClauseAnalysis

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBresnanThanClauseAnalysis = { beq := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBresnanThanClauseAnalysis.beq }

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprBresnanThanClauseAnalysis :

Repr BresnanThanClauseAnalysis

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprBresnanThanClauseAnalysis = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprBresnanThanClauseAnalysis.repr }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprBresnanThanClauseAnalysis.repr :

BresnanThanClauseAnalysis → ℕ → Std.Format

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.bresnanAnalysisOf :

Semantics.Degree.ThanClause.ThanClauseType → BresnanThanClauseAnalysis

Under Bresnan's analysis, the modern phrasal type is just maximalDeletion of an underlying clause.

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.admitsDefiniteMeasure (polarity : Core.Scale.ScalePolarity) :

Whether an adjective admits definite measure phrase modification ("five feet tall" ✓ vs "*five feet short" ✗).

Bresnan observes this as a syntactic fact; @cite{kennedy-1999} derives it from extent boundedness (positive extents are bounded, negative extents are not). Both predict the same distribution.

Equations

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theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.positive_admits_measure :

admitsDefiniteMeasure Core.Scale.ScalePolarity.positive = true

Positive adjectives admit measure phrases.

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.negative_rejects_measure :

admitsDefiniteMeasure Core.Scale.ScalePolarity.negative = false

Negative adjectives reject measure phrases.

structure Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.MeasurePhraseConstraintDatum :

Bridge to Kennedy 1999: Bresnan's syntactic observation and Kennedy's semantic explanation make the same prediction for simple cases.

Bresnan: short syntactically rejects definite measure QPs, so the identity condition in comparative deletion cannot be satisfied.

Kennedy: negative extents are unbounded, so equating them with bounded measure phrases is semantically undefined.

The predictions diverge for less short than five feet (Bresnan predicts OK via little-based QP; Kennedy predicts OK via comparative semantics).

adjective : String
polarity : Core.Scale.ScalePolarity
measurePhraseOk : Bool
comparativeMeasureOk : Bool
"more than N units Adj" acceptable?

Instances For

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprMeasurePhraseConstraintDatum.repr :

MeasurePhraseConstraintDatum → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprMeasurePhraseConstraintDatum :

Repr MeasurePhraseConstraintDatum

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprMeasurePhraseConstraintDatum = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprMeasurePhraseConstraintDatum.repr }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.measurePhraseConstraintData :

List MeasurePhraseConstraintDatum

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theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.measurePhrase_polarity_correlation (d : MeasurePhraseConstraintDatum) :

d ∈ measurePhraseConstraintData → d.polarity = Core.Scale.ScalePolarity.negative → d.measurePhraseOk = false

Among Bresnan's dimensional adjectives, measure phrase acceptability correlates with positive polarity.

This is the formal content behind puzzle (D) and connects to measurePhrase_positive_only in Kennedy1999.lean.

structure Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.DetQParadigmEntry :

Bresnan's paradigms (4) and (5): the Det items form a closed class that combine with both much and little (mass) / many and few (count).

Paradigm (4): as/too/that/so/-er + much/little + mass noun Paradigm (5): as/too/that/so/-er + many/few + count noun

The last row in each paradigm undergoes suppletion: -er much → more, -er little → less, -er many → more, -er few → fewer.

det : Det
q : Q
surfaceForm : String
isSuppletive : Bool
Does this undergo suppletion?

Instances For

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDetQParadigmEntry :

Repr DetQParadigmEntry

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDetQParadigmEntry = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDetQParadigmEntry.repr }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprDetQParadigmEntry.repr :

DetQParadigmEntry → ℕ → Std.Format

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def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.massParadigm :

List DetQParadigmEntry

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theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.massParadigm_suppletion_consistent (e : DetQParadigmEntry) :

e ∈ massParadigm → e.isSuppletive = true → suppletion { det := e.det, q := e.q } = some e.surfaceForm

Verify: every suppletive entry in the paradigm matches the suppletion function.

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.countParadigm :

List DetQParadigmEntry

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theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.countParadigm_suppletion_consistent (e : DetQParadigmEntry) :

e ∈ countParadigm → e.isSuppletive = true → suppletion { det := e.det, q := e.q } = some e.surfaceForm

Verify: every suppletive entry in the count paradigm matches the suppletion function.

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.QP.isWellFormed (qp : QP) :

enough requires a null Det — *so enough, *too enough, *as enough, *enougher are all impossible (Bresnan p. 286).

This is formalized as a well-formedness predicate on QPs.

Equations

qp.isWellFormed = match qp.q with | Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Q.enough => qp.det == Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.Det.null | x => true

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theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.enough_requires_null_det (d : Det) :

d ≠ Det.null → { det := d, q := Q.enough }.isWellFormed = false

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.enough_null_wellformed :

{ det := Det.null, q := Q.enough }.isWellFormed = true

inductive Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.BarCategory :

Bresnan's "archicategory" X̄ unifies QP and AP: both have left-recursive specifier + head structure.

QP → (QP) QP, QP → (Det) Q AP → (AP) AP, AP → (Adv) A

This is a direct precursor to X-bar theory (Jackendoff 1977) and ultimately to the Minimalist bare phrase structure. The modern counterpart is the shared structure of DegP and AdjP as functional and lexical projections in the extended AP.

Structural rule from Bresnan (145): X̄ → (X̄) X̄ (recursive expansion) X̄ → (Spec, X̄) X̄ (specifier + head)

Instances For

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqBarCategory :

DecidableEq BarCategory

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instDecidableEqBarCategory x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBarCategory.beq :

BarCategory → BarCategory → Bool

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBarCategory.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)

Instances For

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBarCategory :

BEq BarCategory

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBarCategory = { beq := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instBEqBarCategory.beq }

instance Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprBarCategory :

Repr BarCategory

Equations

Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprBarCategory = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprBarCategory.repr }

def Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.instReprBarCategory.repr :

BarCategory → ℕ → Std.Format

Equations

One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

Instances For

theorem Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Bresnan1973.simple_comparative_consensus {Entity : Type u_1} {D : Type u_2} [LinearOrder D] (μ : Entity → D) (a b : Entity) :

Semantics.Degree.Comparative.comparativeSem μ a b Core.Scale.ScalePolarity.positive ↔ μ a > μ b

Bresnan's analysis is primarily syntactic, but the truth conditions it derives are compatible with the modern degree-semantic consensus.

For a simple adjectival comparative "A is taller than B":

Bresnan: head = AP [-er much tall], clause deletes matching AP [x much tall]
Kennedy: μ(A) > μ(B) where μ = height
Heim: max({d | height(A) ≥ d}) > max({d | height(B) ≥ d})

All three yield the same truth conditions for simple cases.