Conflicting constraints in the comparative cycle

Present-day Dutch shows an alternation reflecting a transition from the use of the comparative particle dan than' toward the particle als as' in comparisons of inequality. We argue that this transitionas well as the replacement of denn/dann by als in Early New High German, and als as' by wie how' in present-day Germanresults from a conflict between two competing principles, Economy and Iconicity. The conflict between these two constraints in German and Dutch gives rise to a cycle, in which having two particlesone for each constructionand having one particle for both, comparatives and equatives, alternate over time. (*更多