A Vector Space Semantics for Dimensional Adjectives.
Martina Faller · 1998
. The paper presents a compositional semantics for comparatives of dimensional adjectives within the framework of vector space semantics, including measure phrases and comparison of deviation. 1 Introduction The paper 1 has two main goals. The first is to show that vector space semantics (VSS), which was developed by [Zwarts 1995] and [Zwarts et. al 1997] to account for phenomena in the spatial domain, is a versatile enough framework to also be applicable to other areas. The second goal is to develop a compositional semantics for constructions involving dimensional adjectives (DAs) in predicative position of the kind exemplified in (1). (1) a. Sam is taller than Jo. b. The board is long. In semantic research it is common practice to introduce new objects into the ontology to account for the particular phenomena under investigation, e.g. degrees or extents in theories of gradable adjectives ([Cresswell 1976, Kennedy 1997] among others). However, by doing so one can easily miss the si...