Asymmetric Mechanisms in the Syntactic Realization of the Comparative Category in Naxi
Yang Weina (Dehong Teachers College, 2013) analyzes why comparison items in Naxi's ʨər31 ("than") comparative construction sometimes appear in syntactically symmetric form and sometimes asymmetric form. For symmetric cases, she identifies three syntactic templates distinguished by where the point of comparison and comparative result appear, showing apparent symmetry often results from the point of comparison being displaced to sentence-final position. For asymmetric cases -- considerably more complex -- she identifies four contributing mechanisms: a shared "comparative substrate" (a common possessor or agent linking both items, as in comparing one person's hat price to their clothing price), flexible positioning of the point of comparison, contextual implication (silent omission) of the comparative subject when it refers to the present time/place, and ellipsis of comparative-object material duplicating material already stated for the subject. She argues pragmatic ellipsis and semantic implicature together account for these asymmetries.
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