The semantics of excess and sufficiency

Many prior works have analyzed degree constructions expressing excess (too tall) and sufficiency (tall enough), in English as well as many other languages, as forms of comparatives (greater than a particular threshold) and equatives (meeting or exceeding a particular threshold), respectively. My work on the semantics of excessives and sufficiencies on English identifies particular edge cases that undermine these classic descriptions. I argue instead for a causation-based account of these truth conditions, which is compatible with the new data.

• To appear. “On the role of causation in sufficiency and excess.”  
  Generative Perspectives on Degrees: The Semantics and Morphosyntax of Scalarity.

I have also worked with Anne Nguyen on the semantics of excess in Vietnamese, which uses the degree morpheme quá. Quá is one of the few degree morphemes which can both precede and follow its predicate. We show that the two uses of quá convey the meaning of excess in different ways. We also discuss the mechanisms of grammatical borrowing and change that relate these and other quá constructions in Vietnamese to historically related constructions in Middle Chinese and its contemporary descendants.

• Erlewine and Nguyen, 2024. “Ingredients of excess: A study of Vietnamese quá.”  
  Asian Languages and Linguistics 5:1, pages 1–33. DOI: 10.1075/alal.23002.erl

Vietnamese degree constructions

Anne Nguyen and I have investigated the syntax/semantics of degree constructions in Vietnamese. Degree morphemes in Vietnamese may precede or follow their gradable predicate: e.g. rất ‘very’ precedes, nhất ‘most’ follows. We argue that these two classes of expressions differ significantly in their syntax and semantics: Pre-predicate degree morphemes are functional heads whereas post-predicate degree morphemes head phrasal modifiers. The latter denote degree quantifiers which must move overtly to the right to take scope, deriving their post-predicate word order.

• Erlewine and Nguyen, 2022. “Pre- and post-predicate degree morphemes in Vietnamese: Heads vs phrases.”  
  Manuscript, National University of Singapore.

Mandarin comparatives

Previous work on the syntax/semantics of comparatives with clausal standards proposes the use of A’-movement of a degree operator in the standard, following early work on English comparatives (Bresnan, 1973; Chomsky, 1977). I argue that the Mandarin Chinese bǐ 比 comparative is a comparative with a clausal standard that is not derived through degree abstraction. Crucial evidence comes from movement and ellipsis which shows that the standard in the Mandarin bǐ comparative is indeed clausal, despite surface appearances. My work on this subject began with my MA thesis advised by Chris Kennedy.

• 2018. “Clausal comparison without degree abstraction in Mandarin Chinese.”  
  Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 36:2, pages 445–482. DOI: 10.1007/s11049-017-9383-y
• 2012. “Share to Compare: the Mandarin bǐ Comparative.”  
  Proceedings of the 29th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL 29), pages 54–62.
• 2008. “The verbal nature of Mandarin comparative bǐ.”
  Proceedings of the National Conference on Linguistics 2008.
• 2007. “A New Syntax-Semantics for the Mandarin bǐ Comparative.”  
  University of Chicago MA thesis.