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Linglib.Phenomena.Comparison.Studies.Wellwood2015.Data

@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 #

Lexical categories relevant to Wellwood's cross-categorial analysis.

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      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/more felicitous with this category?

      • multipleDimensions : Bool

        Does this category allow multiple measurement dimensions?

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            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?

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                Ex. 104: mass → count via plural morpheme.

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                  Ex. 105: atelic → telic via directional PP.

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                    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

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                            @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

                              much occurs with CUM-like predicates

                            • many_with_qua : Bool

                              many occurs with QUA-like predicates

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                                  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).

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                                      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
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                                          (82a): "This coffee is hotter than that coffee is." — TEMPERATURE, *VOLUME. GA measuring states → intensive.

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                                            (82b): "This plastic is harder than that plastic is." — HARDNESS, *WEIGHT. GA measuring states → intensive.

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                                              (83a): "Al has more coffee than Bill does." — *TEMPERATURE, VOLUME. Mass noun measuring entities → extensive.

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                                                (83b): "Al has more plastic than Bill does." — *HARDNESS, WEIGHT. Mass noun measuring entities → extensive.

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                                                  (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.

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                                                    (84b): "This plastic is heavier than that plastic is." — *HARDNESS, WEIGHT. GA measuring entities → extensive. Reversal: GA but extensive, because measured domain is entity.

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                                                      (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.

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                                                        (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.

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                                                          (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.

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                                                            (87a): "Al drove more than Peter did." — *SPEED, DISTANCE. Atelic VP measuring events → extensive.

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                                                              All dimension reversal data from §3.4.

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                                                                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.

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                                                                    "happy in the morning" — temporal modifier on a state (§3.5).

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                                                                      "patient with Mary on the playground" — multiple modifiers on a state (§3.5).

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