The ‘as～ as’ Construction： Focusing on the Meaning of Equality

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(1)The‘a8川a6Construction：Focusing on the Meaning of Equa1ity. 教科・領域教育学専攻言言号系コース㎜08140B. 友本綾. ’The pu平pose of this study is to reconsideI1tbe. COnStruCtiOn. The. 1S inSpeCte止. a8 川 a8. meaning of‘equa1ity’in the‘∂8川∂6construction．. COnStruCtiOn iS genera11y I・eC09niZea aS meaning. The COnStruCtiOn. ‘the same’．. 1S uSed t0 express that tW0. Some previous studies present this. persons or1：hings aI1e equa1and is genera11y ca11ea. interpretation and use the syl■此。1. the’comparison of equa1ity’．. understanding．. We usua11y use the. The exp1anation. mathematics. and. ‘＝’. ?nr ViSua1. seen1s to be. word‘equaHty’without rea11y considering what it. based on. means，but the mea㎡ng is not easy to unaerstana．. sentences with‘舶用∂6are shownwiththe symbo1．. I be1ieve that considering the meaning of‘equahty’. A1though ths he1ps us understand more easi1y，it. wou1d1ead us to a proper understanding ofthe‘郷. might 1ead us to a ］皿isunderstanding of the. 川θ8’ bOnStruCtiOn．. meaning．of‘equa1ity’in the ‘∂β∼∂8，COnStruCtiOn. We are not concemed here with idiomatic phrases，. such as ‘as. 10ngaS’，. because these. phrases are on1y secondar■y based on the basic interpretation of the‘∂8川∂3construction．. 1ogic because. because11ng㎜st1c mean1ng shouId not be dea1t with in the same way as mathematica1or1ogica1 1＝nean1ng。. 0ther previous studies mention that the‘a8. 刈S0，. negatiVe SentenCeS are not dea1t with because. ∼舶’ モ盾獅唐狽窒浮モ狽奄盾氏@means‘the same or more’．In. these sentences are a1so secondary and I want to. t11is interpretation，there is an adaitiona1phrase. COnSider‘aS川aS’丘rSt．. or sentence after each ‘28∼∂8’ rtatel＝nent．. eXam1ne. FirSt， I. encyc1opeaias. diCtiOnarieS. of 1＝nathelnat1cs，. phi1osophy，. and. instance，there is an exa皿p1e whichis“Mary is as. and. ta11as her father．. 1inguistics in order to understana whaポequa1ity’. 1S． FrOm. this，. I find that. For. the meamng. In fact，she is ta11er than him．”. In the examp1e，the sentence with. ‘舶∼∂3juSt. of means that Mary is equa1to her father in beight，. Itisexpressed. and the second sentence works to te11detai1about. by the symbo1‘＝’in皿athematics and1ogic；that is，. theh height： that is，their heights aI・e not the. whenAanaBhavetbesameva1ue，tbere1ation. same and Mary is ta11er．. between them is represented asA＝B．. sentences use the same aajective and show them. ‘equa1ity’is‘equa1’or‘the same’．. Next，the meaning of‘equa1ity’in the‘鎚∼2貞. In adホtion，the two. aS“ ≠r ta11aS” and“ta11er than”．. 280＿. From the tw0.

(2) points，‘as川as’construction can be meant as. considered inferior to anyone． This state of mina. ‘more’by supporting the second sentence and the. a11ows the speaker to say that the he is equa1to. part of“ta11er than”．Here，then，’細川∂点itse1f. someone e1se even ifhe is actua11y s1ight1y inferior．. aoes not mean‘more’，so the‘more’interpretation. Hearers who know the truth wi11understand the. needs to be supPorted by an additiona1statement．. utterance in context，but if the hearers do not. In other words，when tbe speaker wants to show. know the truth，they wi11be1ieve that the speaker. that something is‘more’，he must add information. is not inferior to the other peI・son in the. to make the ㎜eaning of the utterance c1ear．. c01＝nparison．. Tben，the‘more’meaning can be interpreted．. From these investigations，I丘na that the. Next， I examine whether ‘舶川 2∼. meaning of the‘細川θ3construction shouユd. construction can mean‘1ess’． There is an〇七her. genera11y be unaerstood as ’the same’， but. examp1e which is“Mary is as ta11as her father．. interpretation of the‘a8川θゴ。onstruction has a. In fact，she is younger than him．” This examp1e. range‘s11ght1y more’oパs11ght1y1ess’，depend1ng. is presented to compare w・ith the examp1e above．. on the context． In other words，the‘珊川θd. Comparmg the two exampIes，both of the丘rst. construction can acceptab1y be used to express a. sentences are the sa皿e，but the second sentences. shght ai」ミ缶erence． After considering the meaning. are different． The d雌erent parts are “ta1Ier. of the‘舶∼∂4construction，I examine‘舶…∂8’. than”and“younger than”． The adjectives are. constructions in movie scripts，to see how‘舶用∂6. antonym． Moreover，the two sentences in this. COnStruCtiOnS are uSed e価eCtiVe1y．. examp1e use antonymous adjective and show. We can1eam the intentions of the speaker. them as “as ta11 as” ana “younger than”．. through interpretations of the utterances． 0ur. Because ofthe points，this examp1e is regarded as. interpretations are rich enough to und−erstand. ungramma土1ca1 From above，ths examp1e. many things even though the’田5山23construction. imp1ies thaポ舶用∂8constmction camot mean. itse1f simp1y means ‘the same’． The. ‘1ess’． However，we can use the ‘∂8 ∼∂3. interpretation1eads us to a deeper unaerstanaing. construction when we do not know the di拙erence. of the ‘∂8 川 ∂8’construction． Wben we. between the two things being comparea．0n the. understana the‘a8川θ3construction proper1y，we. other hand一，when the di描erence is obvious，we can. can understand not on1y its basic usage but a1so. a1so use the‘鴉川∂8’construction in some cases．. its expressive interpretations．. For examp1e，9enera11y peop1e desire to be. 主任指導教員（有働眞理子）. superior to other peop1e，so they do notwant tobe. 指導教員（有働眞理子）. 281.

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