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What Neutralizes the Positive ?| old_uid | 8341 |
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| title | What Neutralizes the Positive ? |
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| start_date | 2010/03/12 |
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| schedule | 11h-13h |
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| online | no |
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| summary | An ancient puzzle: why is an old boy old whereas a five year old boy is not? More generally: what neutralizes positive forms of adjectives like "old" and makes them lose their value judgment in certain constructions?
Following earlier work (Winter 2005), I'll suggest that this effect is inseparable from the infelicity of modified constructions like "five
year(s) young". Thus, theoretical understanding of antonymity and of the typology of adjectives, as well as of the compositional semantics of measure phrases, is a precondition for solving the neutralization puzzle.
Reassessing the ideas in Winter (2005), I'll show an arguably simple proposal that:
1- gives a common base for analyzing different adjectives and prepositions;
2- explains the semantic difference between "bounded" and "unbounded" adjectives (e.g. "young" vs. "old");
3- allows modification of the latter but not of the former using a general semantic filter designed to avoid trivialities;
4- explains neutralization as an epiphenomenon of this filter.
Based on: Y. Winter (2005), "Cross-categorial restrictions on measure phrase modification". L&P 28:233-267. |
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| responsibles | Spector, Tiziana + |
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