Explicit vs. Implicit Comparison

Kennedy (2007) further uses this semantic characteristic of the positive form to divide

‘comparison’ in natural languages into two different modes: explicit and implicit comparison.

Many languages use specialized morphology to express arbitrary ordering relations, for example the morphemes more/-er, less and as specifically for the purpose of establishing orderings of superiority, inferiority and equality in English (i.e., explicit comparison), as illustrated by (59a–c), respectively.

(59) a. Mercury is closer to the sun than Venus.

b. This book is less expensive than that one.

c. This book is as expensive as that one.

However, other languages, like Samoan, take advantage of the inherent context sensitivity of the positive (unmarked) form (i.e., implicit comparison), as (60) shows (Staseen, 1985).

(60) Ua tele le Queen Mary, ua la’itiiti le Aquitania.

is big the Queen Mary is small the Aquitania

‘The Queen Mary is bigger than the Aquitania.’

Thus, natural languages, as Kennedy (2007) suggests, use two different modes (i.e., implicit and explicit comparison) to express comparison (Sapir, 1944).

(61) Implicit comparison

Establish an ordering between objects x and y with respect to gradable property g using the positive form by manipulating the context or context-sensitive function in such a way that the positive form is true of x and false of y.

(62) Explicit comparison

Establish an ordering between objects x and y with respect to gradable property g using special morphology (e.g., more/-er, less, or as) whose conventional meaning has the consequence that the degree to which x is g exceeds the degree to which y is g.

These two modes of comparison (i.e., explicit and implicit comparison), as Kennedy (2007) further argues, differ from each other in the following ways. First, implicit comparison induced by the positive form of gradable adjectives differs from explicit comparison in acceptability in contexts involving crisp judgments (i.e., very slight differences between the compared objects). For example, explicit comparison in (64a) simply requires an asymmetric ordering between the degrees to which two objects possess the relevant property (i.e., the length of essays); therefore, a crisp judgment is not problematic. However, implicit comparison in (64b) requires the first novel to have a degree of length that that stands out relative to the measure expressed by long in the context; therefore, a fine-grained distinction in degree is not allowed.

(63) CONTEXT: A 600 word essay and a 200 word essay

a. This essay is longer than that one. (explicit comparison) b. Compared to that essay, this one is long. (implicit comparison)

(64) CONTEXT: A 600 word essay and a 597 word essay

a. This essay is longer than that one. (explicit comparison) b. ??Compared to that essay, this one is long. (implicit comparison)

Second, composition of a measure phrase and a gradable adjective generates a predicate that is no longer context dependent. This predicts that implicit comparison should be impossible: once a (non-comparative) adjective combines with a measure phrase, there is no standard of comparison left over to manipulate. This prediction is borne out, as in (65a).

(65) a. ??Compared to Lee, Kim is 10cm tall. (implicit comparison) b. Kim is 10 cm taller than Lee. (explicit comparison)

On the other hand, measure phrases are acceptable with explicit comparatives, and crucially have a specific type of meaning: they denote the difference between two degrees on a scale; in (65b), the difference between Kim’s and Lee’s heights.

Having as background knowledge the semantics of the positive form of (English) gradable adjectives and the semantic distinctions between the implicit and the explicit comparison, now let us look at Chinese examples of explicit and implicit comparatives, as

shown by (66) and (67), respectively.

(66) Zhangsan bi Lisi gao. (explicit comparison) Zhangsan COM Lisi tall

‘Zhangsan is taller than Lisi.’

(67) Zhangsan hen gao. (implicit comparison) Zhangsan HEN tall

‘Zhangsan is tall.’

The Chinese bi comparative has the properties of explicit comparison. First, the Chinese bi comparative uses the comparative morpheme bi for the purpose of establishing the ordering

relation of superiority (cf. Li and Thompson 1981; Lin 2009).

Second, the Chinese bi comparative such as (66) above is acceptable in context (68), which involves a crisp judgment:

(68) Context: Zhangsan is 170 centimeters tall while Lisi is 169 centimeters tall.

Third, differential measure phrases are acceptable with the Chinese bi comparative:

(69) Zhangsan bi Lisi gao yi gongfen.

Zhangsan COM Lisi tall one centimeter ‘Zhangsan is one centimeter taller than Lisi.’

On the other hand, a construction involving a predicative adjective modified by the degree word hen like (67) above has the properties of implicit comparison. First, as Zhang (2002:169) points out, a predicative adjective modified by the degree word hen, for example hen qiong ‘very poor’ in (70a-b), always displays the contextually dependent interpretation as

the positive form of English gradable adjectives does.

(70) a. Ta hen qiong, lian chi fan de qian dou mei you.

3SG HEN poor even eat meal DE money all not have

‘He is poor. He even does not have money to eat meals.’

b. Ta hen qiong, lian xiao qiche dou mai-bu-qi.

3SG HEN poor even small car all buy-not-afford

‘He is poor. He even cannot afford a small car.’

Second, such a construction is unacceptable in contexts which involve crisp judgments,

but acceptable in contexts which do not. For example, sentence (71) is unacceptable in scenario (72A), but acceptable in scenario (72B). In other words, in (71) the implicit comparison implied by the predicate hen gao ‘HEN tall’ requires ‘this tree’ to exceed ‘that tree’ in height by a significant amount.

(71) Gen na-ke shu bi-qilai, zhe-ke shu hen gao.

with that-CL tree compare-qilai this-CL tree HEN tall

‘Compared with that tree, this one is tall.’

(72) Context A: This tree is 15 meters tall while that tree is 13 meters tall.

Context B: This tree is 15 meters tall while that tree is 5 meters tall.

Third, differential measure phrases are unacceptable with such a construction, as shown by (73).

(73) *Zhangsan hen gao san gongfen.

Zhangsan HEN tall three centimeter

Thus, in Chinese the bi comparative involves explicit comparison, whereas a

construction involving a predicative adjective modified by the degree word hen implies implicit comparison.

To sum up, as Kennedy (2007) points out, the distinctions between implicit and explicit comparison stem from the crucial difference between the two modes of comparison: implicit comparison involves the semantics of the positive form; explicit comparison expresses an arbitrary ordering relation.