Spot on.

While a doesn't exclude that she may be more beautiful, we'd always assume it's implying she's the same. Simply because if we wanted to say she was more beautiful, we'd simply have said that instead.

So while strictly speaking (a) and (b) have the same literal meaning, as both could imply that she is more beautiful, We'd actually think that (a) and (c) are the same.

The way I hear it, really, is that Ayumi and Kumi are both so beautiful that it hardly makes sense to compare them. It even has a hint of a suggestion that they are beautiful in different ways.

This is when I am wearing my ordinary English language speaker's hat. However, I am also a mathematician.

To a mathematician, "Ayumi is no less beautiful than Kumi" means "The beauty of Ayumi is greater than or equal to that of Kumi", which is the meaning of (b).

In ordinary language use, "as beautiful" can mean either "equally beautiful" or "at least as beautiful". So (c) is less precise than (b), and (b) is one of its possible meanings.

By the way, "Ayumi is no less beautiful than Kumi" sounds slightly more natural to me than "Ayumi is not less beautiful than Kumi."

Thank you for very useful explanations, you two =)


tonyさん、

>The way I hear it, really, is that Ayumi and Kumi are both so beautiful that it hardly makes sense to compare them. It even has a hint of a suggestion that they are beautiful in different ways.

>In ordinary language use, "as beautiful" can mean either "equally beautiful" or "at least as beautiful". So (c) is less precise than (b), and (b) is one of its possible meanings.

I take you'd say "equally" here to contrast with "in different ways" there.
Is this understanding right?

Hmm-- I don't think so. "A and B are equally beautiful" doesn't necessarily imply to me that they are beautiful in the same way, at least not when I'm wearing my ordinary English language speaker's hat. "Identically beautiful" would mean that to me, but I don't think anyone would ever say it in a real conversation. But this might easily vary from one English speaker to another; I don't really know.

Since estimations of beauty are subjective in nature, perhaps thinking about comparing them mathematically is misleading. It might be better to try a different sentence, such as "There are as many coins in this box as in that one." But even in this case, where the criterion for comparison is more straightforward, I think you will probably find English speakers who make different assumptions on the basis of hearing this. Probably most speakers will assume that the numbers of coins in the two boxes are equal, but will not feel lied to if it turns out that there are more coins in the first box.

Ah-huh, I've got what you meant by "equally"!
I'm sorry I was mistaken about it.

Judging from what you explain with the example of coin,
it seems to me that,
essentially "as ~ as" means the referred two thing is strictly equal, but if you native English speakers hear it, you feel it also implies it is possible that one of them is superior to the other.

Is this comprehension right?

I think it's important to consider the qualifying words other than "as ~ as."

If someone just said, "Ayumi is as beautiful as Kumi," then I would probably assume their beauty is strictly equal. I wouldn't assume Ayumi's was greater.

However, if someone said, "Ayumi is at least as beautiful as Kumi," I would probably assume that Ayumi was somewhat more beautiful than Kumi, because "at least" would signify that, at her very worst, Ayumi was still as beautiful as Kumi.

If someone told me, "Ayumi is not less beautiful than Kumi," I would probably assume that Ayumi wasn't quite as beautiful as Kumi. I'd think Ayumi was around the same level of beauty as Kumi, but wasn't really quite on the same level.

Thanks a lot, Nina!

Hmm... it is very interesting that each of you three think differently.