Documentation

Linglib.Phenomena.Gradability.Studies.Sassoon2013

@cite{sassoon-2013} #

Galit W. Sassoon (2013). A Typology of Multidimensional Adjectives. Journal of Semantics 30: 335–380.

Key Claims #

Multidimensional adjectives bind their dimensions via implicit quantifiers:

Three hypothesis sets connect dimension binding to other properties:

  1. Typology (Hypothesis 1): adjectives classify as conjunctive, disjunctive, or mixed based on co-occurrence with exception phrases (except)
  2. Polarity (Hypothesis 2): positive antonyms are conjunctive, negative are disjunctive — follows from a negation theory of antonymy + De Morgan
  3. Standard type (Hypothesis 3): total (max standard) → conjunctive, partial (min standard) → disjunctive, relative → mixed

Formalization #

The dimension-binding operations and De Morgan theorems are in Theories/Semantics/Lexical/Adjective/Theory.lean. This file contains:

Scale type note #

Scale types here use @cite{kennedy-mcnally-2005} Boundedness values, which match the Fragment lexicon. Sassoon's own modifier-distribution analysis (Section 2.3, Table 4) reclassifies several adjectives: good and dissimilar as total, bad and similar as partial. These reclassifications are noted in comments but not encoded, since the correlational H3 test (r = 0.62, p < 0.013 for non-comparatives) is the paper's actual finding — per-adjective binary predictions are our addition for verification purposes.

An adjective in Sassoon's 18-item sample, classified along three axes.

  • form : String
  • isPositive : Bool

    Evaluative polarity: positive adjectives denote membership under a generalization across ALL dimensional properties; negative adjectives denote the existence of a counterexample to SOME dimensional standard. Distinct from scale-endpoint polarity (AdjModifierEntry.isLowerEndpoint): empty is lower-endpoint but evaluatively positive.

  • Scale structure classification (@cite{kennedy-mcnally-2005}).

  • Observed default binding type from exception-phrase corpus data (36a–c).

Instances For
    Equations
    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
    Instances For
      Equations
      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
            • 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
                • 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
                    • 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
                        • 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
                            • 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
                                • 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
                                    • 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
                                        • 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
                                            • 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

                                                Exception-phrase corpus data from Table 3. Each adjective has two counts:

                                                • conj: dimensional uses in positive contexts ("P except Dim")
                                                • disj: dimensional uses in negative contexts ("not P except Dim")

                                                The chi-square tests in the paper compare the [conj, disj] distribution between antonym pairs to test whether polarity predicts binding type.

                                                Instances For
                                                  Equations
                                                  • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                  Instances For

                                                    Table 3 data. Values are raw counts of dimensional exception-phrase uses per adjective in positive vs. negative contexts.

                                                    Equations
                                                    • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                    Instances For

                                                      The 3:1 ratio criterion from p. 358: Sassoon classifies adjectives as conjunctive when the conj/disj ratio is "significantly larger," which she operationalizes as ≥ 3 times the other count.

                                                      Equations
                                                      Instances For

                                                        Classification from 3:1 criterion: conjunctive, disjunctive, or mixed.

                                                        Equations
                                                        • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                        Instances For

                                                          Antonym pairs from the paper's sample. Each pair (positive, negative) should satisfy De Morgan consistency: if the positive is conjunctive, the negative should be disjunctive, and vice versa. Mixed adjectives are exempt (mixed.negate = mixed).

                                                          Equations
                                                          • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                          Instances For

                                                            De Morgan consistency: the negative antonym's binding type matches .negate of the positive antonym's binding, or one of them is mixed (context-dependent, so not constrained by De Morgan).

                                                            Equations
                                                            • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                            Instances For

                                                              Comparatives inherit binding type from their base adjective (p. 360). healthier inherits conjunctive from healthy; better inherits mixed from good.

                                                              worse diverges from bad: bad is disjunctive, but worse is mixed. This is expected — comparative morphology changes scale structure (closed → open), which shifts the H3 prediction.

                                                              Under a negation theory of antonymy (@cite{heim-2006}, @cite{buering-2007}), if a positive adjective P is conjunctive (∀Q∈DIM: Q(x)), then its negative antonym ¬P is disjunctive (∃Q∈DIM: ¬Q(x)), by De Morgan's laws. The proof is in Theory.lean as deMorgan_conjunctive_disjunctive.

                                                              Predicted binding type from evaluative polarity, assuming positive member of each antonym pair is conjunctive.

                                                              Equations
                                                              • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                              Instances For

                                                                Hypothesis 2 is satisfied when the adjective is mixed (context-dependent) or when its binding matches the polarity prediction.

                                                                Equations
                                                                • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                Instances For

                                                                  Predicted binding type from scale structure via Interpretive Economy. Max-endpoint standard → conjunctive, min-endpoint → disjunctive, contextual → mixed.

                                                                  Equations
                                                                  Instances For

                                                                    H3 holds for 13 of 18 adjectives (72%) using K&M2005 scale types.

                                                                    The full chain connecting Hypothesis 2 to the De Morgan theorems:

                                                                    1. *healthy* is conjunctive: `conjunctiveBinding healthDims x`
                                                                    2. Under negation theory of antonymy, *sick* ≈ ¬*healthy*
                                                                    3. By `deMorgan_conjunctive_disjunctive`:
                                                                       `!conjunctiveBinding healthDims x = disjunctiveBinding (neg healthDims) x`
                                                                    4. Therefore *sick* is disjunctive: QED
                                                                    
                                                                    We demonstrate this with a concrete 3-dimension health model. 
                                                                    
                                                                    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
                                                                          • One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
                                                                          Instances For

                                                                            Dan: high on 2 dimensions, fails lung.

                                                                            Equations
                                                                            Instances For

                                                                              Sam: meets all 3 standards.

                                                                              Equations
                                                                              Instances For

                                                                                End-to-end: "not healthy" and "sick" are equivalent under the negation theory of antonymy + De Morgan.

                                                                                Polarity judgment on a 1–7 scale (1 = perfectly negative, 7 = perfectly positive). Mean from 20 AMT participants.

                                                                                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

                                                                                      All positive adjectives have mean > 4, all negative have mean < 4. Midpoint 4 cleanly separates the two groups.