The Chinese geng clausal comparative

Abstract

Based on the syntax and semantics of the Chinese geng 'GENG' clausal comparative, I first argue that Chinese does have degree comparison in syntax, contra the claim made by Kennedy (2005, 2007), and Lin (2009). I then discuss two further issues raised by the geng 'GENG' clausal comparative: first, to show how the geng 'GENG' clausal comparative fits into a larger system of Chinese comparatives, I dichotomize Chinese comparatives into presupposition and non-presupposition comparatives. Second, I argued that the Degree Abstraction Parameter proposed by Beck et al. (2004), though being empirically challenged by the Chinese geng 'GENG' clausal comparative, can be maintained if languages involving degree comparison in syntax are further divided into two types depending on how the degree variable is bound (Kennedy, 2007). (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.