Comparing Comparative Correlatives: The more languages, the better

人类认知如何在不同类型的语言中形成同义结构？在对英语的初步研究的基础上，本研究试图通过对英语（如：The more I read，the more I understand）、西班牙语（Cuanto más leo，tanto más entiend.）、西班牙语（如：The more I read，the more I understand.）、西班牙语（如：The more I read，the more I understand.）、西班牙语（如：The more I read，the more I understand.）、西班牙语（如：Cuanto más leo，tanto más entiend.）和斯洛伐克语（Čím viac čítam，tm viac rozumiem.）。CC由两个子句（称为C1和C2）组成，每个子句由词汇固定的子句开头元素（the. the..，cuanto. tanto.，čím.）组成。tm.），一个比较短语的强制性位置（more. more.，más. más.，viac. viac.）以及一个可选的从句位置（. I read，. I understand，. leo，. entiend，. čítam，. rozumiem）。从语义上看，这种结构具有不对称性（前凸C1和后凸C2之间的条件关系：当你阅读更多->所以你理解更多）以及对称属性（在越来越多的被阅读（C1）和越来越多的被理解（C2）的时间段期间，语义差异的并行计算）。结合语料库和实验方法，该项目现在将研究三种语言中位于类型学分析-综合渐变群上不同点的CC结构。本研究采用基于用法的构式语法方法，探讨领域一般原则对这三种不同类型语言构式的影响程度。本研究的结果不仅有助于我们理解英语、西班牙语和斯洛伐克语的句法结构，而且也将检验构式语法的“普遍适用性”（Fried 2017：249），填补了建构主义研究中的一个空白，该空白被描述为“跨语言概括的惊人缺乏”（Boas 2010：2）。

How does human cognition shape synonymous constructions across typologically distinct languages? Following up on the results of an initial study that focused on English only, the present project tries to contribute an answer to this question by carrying out a cross-linguistic study of the Comparative Correlative (CC) construction in English, (e.g. The more I read, the more I understand), Spanish (Cuanto más leo, tanto más entiend.), and Slovak (Čím viac čítam, tým viac rozumiem.). CCs consist of two clauses (referred to as C1 and C2), each of which consists of lexically fixed clause-initial elements (the…the…, cuanto…tanto…, čím...tým…), an obligatory slot for a comparative phrase (more…more…, más…más…, viac…viac…) as well as an optional clausal slot (…I read, … I understand, … leo, … entiend, … čítam, … rozumiem). Semantically, the construction is characterized by asymmetric properties (the conditional relationship between protasis C1 and apodosis C2: as you read more -> so you understand more) as well as symmetric properties (the parallel computation of semantic differentials during a time period in which more and more is being read (C1) and more and more is being understood (C2)).Combining corpus and experimental methods, the project will now investigate CC constructions in three languages that are located at different points on the typological analytic-synthetic cline. Adopting a Usage-based Construction Grammar approach, the study will explore to what degree domain-general principles affect the construction in these three typologically different languages. Moreover, it aims to explore the language-specific idiosyncrasies of the construction and explain these in the light of typological system of the respective construction networks.The findings of the present research project will thus not only contribute to our understanding of the syntax of English, Spanish as well as Slovak, but it will also test Construction Grammar’s “aspirations toward universal applicability” (Fried 2017: 249), filling a gap in constructionist research that has been described as “a striking absence of cross-linguistic generalizations” (Boas 2010: 2).