A direct analysis of Lithuanian phrasal comparatives

Abstract

Phrasal comparatives like John runs faster than Tom can be derived via two routes: i) Direct Analyses assume that the argument of than is a DP; ii) Reduced Clause Analyses assume that the than-phrase is a clause that is subject to some reduction operation (John runs faster than Tom runs). Based on standard diagnostics used to adjudicate between the two analyses, I argue that Lithuanian phrasal comparatives are best analyzed as directly licensed. I develop a direct analysis of Lithuanian phrasal comparatives that captures the empirical generalizations previously discussed in the literature and a new empirical generalization identified in this paper. This proposal is contra Grinsell (2012), who argued that Lithuanian phrasal comparatives are underlyingly clausal based on data that are suggested to show island sensitivity. I argue against Grinsell’s (2012) reduced clause analysis by showing that the island sensitivity of Lithuanian phrasal comparatives can be successfully captured in a direct analysis.