Dimensions in the semantics of comparatives

The central theme of this dissertation is the role played by "dimensions of comparison" in the semantic analysis of comparative constructions in English. I argue that scalar comparatives headed by more/-er and as, similarity comparatives headed by same, different, and like, and identity comparatives headed by same and different can all be viewed as comparisons of individuals' locations along various dimensions, where a dimension of comparison represents the range of values for any potentially distinctive individual attribute. More precisely, each comparative construction is ultimately concerned with the distances separating individuals' locations along such dimensions. The dissertation thus contributes to a more refined understanding of the general semantic properties underlying the notional grammatical category "the comparative".;After a brief introductory chapter, a variety of facts are presented in Chapter 2 demonstrating the many parallels between similarity comparatives headed by same, different, and like, and scalar comparatives headed by more/-er and as. A very simple view of same and different as identity predicates is considered and shown to be ill-equipped to account for certain facts concerning their comparative uses, which instead indicate that same and different sometimes express similarity. Of course, same and different also sometimes head identity comparatives, where they do express individual identity.;In Chapter 3, a semantic analysis of similarity comparatives is developed which both draws from and generalizes upon previous proposals regarding the semantics of scalar comparatives. This close correspondence enables us to reconsider the semantics of scalar comparatives with an eye towards elucidating the common and distinctive features of the two constructions. Certain semantic features of scalar comparatives that distinguish them from similarity comparatives are seen to stem from more fundamental differences in how exactly dimensions of comparison figure into their interpretations. Ultimately, similarity comparatives emerge as the more general, or basic form of comparison, with scalar comparatives constituting a specialized form of comparison.;Chapter 4 turns to the relationship between similarity comparatives and identity comparatives. The semantic, analysis of identity comparatives that is developed takes individual identity to itself constitute an attribute with respect to which individuals will differ; the dimension of comparison in identity comparatives then simply is the dimension of individual identity. As the heads of both similarity comparatives and identity comparatives, same and different possess distinct, but closely related denotations, so that the relationship between their two interpretations is one of polysemy. Chapter 5 summarizes the main results of the dissertation, and indicates some directions for future research.