英文摘要 |
This study situates Zhu's (1956/1980) two-way dichotomy between simple adjectives and complex adjectives under the framework of degree semantics. It proposes to analyze simple adjectives as gradable adjectives and complex adjectives as ungradable adjectives. This study argues that simple adjectives and complex adjectives are type-theoretically different: the former denotes direct measure functions from individuals to degrees (type ), while the latter denotes properties of individuals (type ). In addition, this study proposes a further categorization of gradable adjectives based on their scalar differences. It provides a semantically motivated account for the contrast in gradability and compatibility with degree adverbs between gradable adjectives and ungradable adjectives. It also accounts for various entailment relations of different subtypes of gradable adjectives. Findings of this study support the introduction of scale structure in teaching Chinese to help learners better understand their distribution pattern. |