@cite{wellwood-2015}: Empirical Data #
@cite{wellwood-2015}
Theory-neutral empirical data from @cite{wellwood-2015} on the distribution
of much/many and dimensional restrictions in comparatives across
nominal, verbal, and adjectival domains.
Data Sources #
- §2.1: Nominal comparatives (mass vs count nouns)
- §2.2: Verbal comparatives (atelic vs telic VPs)
- §3.1–3.2: Adjectival comparatives (gradable vs non-gradable adjectives)
- §3.3: Morphosyntactic evidence (
more=much+-er, @cite{bresnan-1973}) - §3.4: Dimensional restriction patterns
- §5: Number morphology and measurement (grammar shifts measurement)
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.instBEqLexCat.beq x✝ y✝ = (x✝.ctorIdx == y✝.ctorIdx)
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Observed felicity of much/more with different lexical categories.
Mass nouns and atelic VPs are felicitous with much and allow multiple
measurement dimensions. Count nouns and telic VPs are anomalous.
GAs are felicitous but lexically fix a single dimension.
Non-GAs are anomalous (not comparable).
Examples from the paper:
- "Al bought more coffee than Bill did." ✓ (VOLUME or WEIGHT)
- "? Al has more idea than Bill does." ✗
- "Al ran more than Bill did." ✓ (DURATION or DISTANCE)
- "? Al graduated high school more than Bill did." ✗
- "Al's coffee is hotter than Bill's." ✓ (TEMPERATURE)
- "? This table is more wooden than that one." ✗
- category : LexCat
- felicitousWithMuch : Bool
Is
much/morefelicitous with this category? - multipleDimensions : Bool
Does this category allow multiple measurement dimensions?
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.instBEqMuchFelicityDatum.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.massNounDatum = { category := Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.LexCat.massNoun, felicitousWithMuch := true, multipleDimensions := true }
Instances For
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.countNounDatum = { category := Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.LexCat.countNoun, felicitousWithMuch := false, multipleDimensions := false }
Instances For
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.atelicVPDatum = { category := Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.LexCat.atelicVP, felicitousWithMuch := true, multipleDimensions := true }
Instances For
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.telicVPDatum = { category := Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.LexCat.telicVP, felicitousWithMuch := false, multipleDimensions := false }
Instances For
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.gradableAdjDatum = { category := Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.LexCat.gradableAdj, felicitousWithMuch := true, multipleDimensions := false }
Instances For
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.nonGradableAdjDatum = { category := Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.LexCat.nonGradableAdj, felicitousWithMuch := false, multipleDimensions := false }
Instances For
Number morphology and telicity shifts affect available dimensions (Wellwood §5, p. 91–93).
(104) a. "Al found more rock than Bill did." (WEIGHT, VOLUME, *NUMBER) b. "Al found more rocks than Bill did." (*WEIGHT, *VOLUME, NUMBER)
(105) a. "Al ran in the park more than Bill did." (DIST, DUR, NUMBER) b. "Al ran to the park more than Bill did." (*DIST, *DUR, NUMBER)
Shifting from mass → count (plural morpheme) or atelic → telic restricts measurement to NUMBER, blocking extensive dimensions.
- baseForm : String
- shiftedForm : String
- baseExtensive : Bool
Base form allows extensive dimensions (WEIGHT, VOLUME, DURATION, etc.)?
- shiftedExtensive : Bool
Shifted form allows extensive dimensions?
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Ex. 104: mass → count via plural morpheme.
Equations
Instances For
Ex. 105: atelic → telic via directional PP.
Equations
Instances For
The three CUM-like categories form a natural class (all measurable
by much), and the three QUA-like categories form a natural class
(none measurable by much):
CUM class: mass nouns, atelic VPs, gradable adjectives QUA class: count nouns, telic VPs, non-gradable adjectives
This parallel is Wellwood's central empirical claim (§2–3).
- massNoun_atelicVP_parallel : Bool
Mass nouns and atelic VPs behave alike (both measurable)
- countNoun_telicVP_parallel : Bool
Count nouns and telic VPs behave alike (both not measurable)
- gradableAdj_patterns_with_measurable : Bool
Gradable adjectives pattern with the measurable class
- nonGradableAdj_patterns_with_nonmeasurable : Bool
Non-gradable adjectives pattern with the non-measurable class
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.instBEqCrossCategorialParallel.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
@cite{bresnan-1973}: more = much + -er (§3.3, p. 82–84).
(70) a. as much soup b. too much soup c. so much soup d. that much soup e. *more much soup
much occurs with CUM-like predicates (mass nouns, atelic VPs).
many is a suppletive variant of much for count/QUA domains
(@cite{wellwood-2014}, fn. 11).
- much_with_cum : Bool
muchoccurs with CUM-like predicates - many_with_qua : Bool
manyoccurs with QUA-like predicates
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
Instances For
What is actually measured in a comparative — the ontological domain whose mereological structure determines available dimensions.
Wellwood's key §3.4 insight: dimension type (intensive vs extensive)
tracks the measured domain, not lexical category. GAs like hot and
hard measure states (intensive), while GAs like full and heavy
measure entities (extensive). Nouns like heat and firmness measure
states (intensive), while coffee and plastic measure entities
(extensive).
- entity : MeasuredDomain
- event : MeasuredDomain
- state : MeasuredDomain
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Dimension reversal datum: a comparative form paired with its lexical category, available dimension, and what's actually measured.
The key empirical claim (§3.4, p. 85–87): changing the expression changes the measured domain, and available dimensions follow from the measured domain, not from the syntactic category.
- (82): GA
hotter/harder— measures states → intensive - (83): Noun
more coffee/more plastic— measures entities → extensive - (84): GA
fuller/heavier— measures entities → extensive (reversal!) - (85): Noun
more heat/more firmness— measures states → intensive (reversal!) - (86–89): Verbal/adverbal parallels
- form : String
- category : LexCat
- dimensionName : String
- measuredDomain : MeasuredDomain
- intensive : Bool
Is the dimension intensive (state-measuring) rather than extensive?
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(82a): "This coffee is hotter than that coffee is." — TEMPERATURE, *VOLUME. GA measuring states → intensive.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(82b): "This plastic is harder than that plastic is." — HARDNESS, *WEIGHT. GA measuring states → intensive.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(83a): "Al has more coffee than Bill does." — *TEMPERATURE, VOLUME. Mass noun measuring entities → extensive.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(83b): "Al has more plastic than Bill does." — *HARDNESS, WEIGHT. Mass noun measuring entities → extensive.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(84a): "This glass is fuller than that glass is." — *TEMPERATURE, VOLUME. GA measuring entities (via container contents) → extensive. Reversal: GA but extensive, because measured domain is entity.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(84b): "This plastic is heavier than that plastic is." — *HARDNESS, WEIGHT. GA measuring entities → extensive. Reversal: GA but extensive, because measured domain is entity.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(85a): "This rock has more heat than that one does." — TEMPERATURE, *VOLUME. Mass noun measuring states → intensive. Reversal: noun but intensive, because measured domain is state.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(85b): "This mattress has more firmness than that one does." — HARDNESS, *WEIGHT. Mass noun measuring states → intensive. Reversal: noun but intensive, because measured domain is state.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(89a): "Al sped up more than Peter did." — SPEED, *DISTANCE. Atelic VP measuring states (speed) → intensive. Reversal: verb but intensive, because measured domain is state.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
(87a): "Al drove more than Peter did." — *SPEED, DISTANCE. Atelic VP measuring events → extensive.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
All dimension reversal data from §3.4.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
State modification datum: an adjective with a modifier that applies to the state argument, illustrating that states (like events) support predicate modification via conjunction (§3.2, p. 81; §3.5, p. 88).
"happy in the morning" = ∃s. happy(s) ∧ Holder(x, s) ∧ in-the-morning(s)
This parallels Davidson's event modification: states are eventualities
of sort .state, so EventModifier applies to them.
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
"happy in the morning" — temporal modifier on a state (§3.5).
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.happyMorningDatum = { adjective := "happy", modifier := "in the morning", form := "happy in the morning" }
Instances For
"patient with Mary on the playground" — multiple modifiers on a state (§3.5).
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.patientPlaygroundDatum = { adjective := "patient", modifier := "with Mary on the playground", form := "patient with Mary on the playground" }
Instances For
Map LexCat to MereologicalStatus using the theory's bridges.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.lexCatToStatus Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.LexCat.gradableAdj = Semantics.Lexical.Measurement.gradableToStatus
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.lexCatToStatus Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.LexCat.nonGradableAdj = Semantics.Lexical.Measurement.nonGradableToStatus
Instances For
The theory predicts: cumulative → felicitous with much.
Equations
Instances For
Equations
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.measuredDomainRestricted Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.MeasuredDomain.state = true
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.measuredDomainRestricted Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.MeasuredDomain.entity = false
- Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.measuredDomainRestricted Phenomena.Comparison.Wellwood2015.MeasuredDomain.event = false