Measurement and Interadjective Comparisons

Abstract

This article demonstrates the relevance of measurement theory for the linguistic analysis of comparative statements. In particular, the article focuses on interadjective comparatives like ‘x is P-er than y is Q’ and comparatives involving multidimensional adjectives. It is argued that Bale's (2008) recent proposal to account for such comparatives is rather limited and just one way to account for interadjective comparison. In fact, it is shown that we can account for interadjective comparatives by using recently developed measurement-theoretic techniques in political economy. This article also discusses how to construct the desired scales, if one starts with a delineation approach of comparatives.

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