scalar AHEAD_OF, BEHIND: ComparisonRef vs. Locus

[nschneid]

Team A is AHEAD_OF Team B: Is this just Locus (as if they were literally standing in line)? Or maybe ComparisonRef~>Locus, because there is a nonspatial comparison being made? Cf. "the temperature is ABOVE / GREATER_THAN 30 degrees".

[Reddit task_007:671]

[nschneid]

"Christian countries that are not far BEHIND some of the worse Islamic countries in terms of human rights" [Reddit task_000:1460]

[nschneid]

Team A is AHEAD_OF Team B: ComparisonRef~>Locus

A win in the game will put Team A IN_FRONT_OF Team B in the tournament: ComparisonRef~>Locus [but this is a change-of-ComparisonRef, which we don't mark explicitly]

[svivek]

Cf. A win in the game will put Team A AT the top of the ranking.: Goal ~> Locus

[dhwang90]

All these would be plain ComparisonRef in Korean

• 산A가 산B보다 높다 - mountain A is higher/taller than mountain B
• 집A보다 큰 집 - house that is bigger than house A
• 팀A가 팀B보다 앞섰다 - team A is ahead of team b (in the tournament)

[svivek]

I prefer this restaurant OVER that one. ComparisonRef~>Locus (from guidelines) The win placed team A OVER team B. ???

[nschneid]

Conclusion: Relative spatial position metaphor for an explicit comparison of multiple things should be ComparisonRef~>Locus.

[svivek]

Explicitly or metaphorically spatial	Relative vs Absolute	Supersense
Explicit	Relative	Locus
Metaphor	Relative	ComparisonRef~>Locus
Explicit	Absolute	Locus
Metaphor	Absolute	Locus or Goal~>Locus

[nschneid]

I think we need to revisit this to see if we can draw a line for what counts as spatial. Recall that we removed Value and merged scalar "locations" in with Locus. I'm worried we'll end up with something inconsistent if we start treating abstract relative spatial metaphors—above, below, ahead_of, behind, over, under—differently from coincidental spatial metaphors—at, in, on.

Numerical scale:

• 10 BELOW zero (reviews-219262-0005)
  • cf. The temperature was AT 0 degrees.
• BELOW my budget (reviews-182354-0003)
  • cf. WITHIN my budget
• They came in UNDER a lot of other quotes (reviews-043020-0018)

Evaluative scale metaphor:

• ABOVE the satisfactory mark (reviews-145645-0003)
  • cf. AT the satisfactory mark

Scale of "progress":

• Team A is AHEAD_OF Team B
• "Christian countries that are not far BEHIND some of the worse Islamic countries in terms of human rights"

Preference:

• I generally like the BK OVER the other fast serving restaurants (reviews-068436-0002)

Place in discourse/conversation:

• The comment BELOW (reviews-257296-0003)
• the BELOW bad experience (reviews-290594-0001)

[nschneid]

I am coming around to the relative/absolute distinction. One property of the relative ones is that the comparand can be a similar item OR a value:

• Your heart rate is BELOW 100 bpm.
• Your heart rate is BELOW mine.

Which is not true of absolute prepositions:

• Your heart rate is AT 100 bpm.
• *Your heart rate is AT mine.

Or of Approximators (#59):

• I have OVER 3 eggs.
• *I have OVER yours eggs.

[nschneid]

Draft addition under ComparisonRef:

[nschneid]

Or should "reading AT a fifth grade level" be Manner~>Locus? "reading ABOVE a fifth grade level"? Do we have the problem that many different scene roles of predicates could involve scalar comparisons??

Also "I paid BELOW sticker price" (Cost).

[nschneid]

NEW ATTEMPT

[nschneid]

Remove the Manner~>Locus examples, which are complicated.