3.2. Phrasal Constituents3.2.1. Noun Phrases.

Noun Phrases (NPs) are traditionally thought of as consisting minimally of a head noun, together with any number of NP modifiers (Abney 1987). Typical NP modifiers in English are: determiners (DET/Det/D); quantifier (Q) and quantifier phrases (QP); adjectives (Adj) and adjective phrases (AP); nouns (N) and noun phrases (NP); adpositions (prepositions – P) and adpositional/ prepositional phrases (PP) and clauses (CP).3.2.1.1. Determiners

Determiners form a closed class of functional words which have the general property of not themselves permitting modification. The class of determiners includes: articles (a, an, the); personal determiners (my, his, her); demonstratives (this, that etc.); interrogative determiners (which/what); exclamatory determiners (What an idiot!); quality determiners ( Such an idiot !).

NP NP

DET N DET N

a house my toy

3.2.1.2. Quantifiers and Quantifier PhrasesQuantifiers (Q) have the general function of indicating the quantity of elements

referred to by the NP. Unlike determiners, they permit various kinds of modification and therefore have their own phrasal structure. Typical quantifiers in English are: all, both, half, every, each, any, either, some, much, enough, several, many, few, little, neither, together with the cardinal numerals one, two, three etc.

NP NP

Q N Q N

much noise five balls

With the modification of the quantifier, it is possible to form quantifier phrases: virtually all the houses, not nearly enough houses, almost two hours.

NP

QP N

DET Q

almost two hours

3.2.1.3. Adjectives and Adjective Phrases

Adjectives and adjective phrases (AP) are NP modifiers par excellence. Here we include: general adjectives; ordinal numerals such as first and second; related adjectives such as next and last; adjectives such as same and other; the whole class of quantifiers.(i) Adjectives in English are generally positioned between determiners and the head noun, for example, that first tentative try, a large red apple.

NP

DET Adj Adj N

a large red apple

While there is a certain natural ordering relationships between the adjectives themselves, orders which deviate from this ordering are typically possible: that tentative first try, a red large apple.(ii) APs in English may be formed by pre-modification of the adjective by adverbs, or post-modification by PPs and clauses, e.g. very proud; proud of his success; proud that she has got the job.

NP NP

DET AP N Adj PP

DET Adj

a very proud man proud of his success

The type of modification has an influence on the order of noun head and adjective-phrase modifier within the noun phrase. Only pre-modified adjective phrases pattern with single adjectives occurring before the head noun: a very proud man.

Post-modified adjective phrases must occur after the head: a woman proud of her children, a woman proud that she has got the job. NP

DET N Adj Conj S a woman NP VP proud that N Aux V NP

she s en have get the job

3.2.1.4. Nouns and Noun Phrases

Nouns themselves may act as noun-phrase pre-modifiers, e.g. a rubber factory. The item rubber is a noun rather than an adjective because it can itself be modified by an adjective a corrugated rubber factory. Adjectives themselves do not permit modification by adjectives, so there is no alternative but to consider rubber as a noun. Noun-phrase modifiers of this type cannot contain determiners, although they may contain quantifiers: a party committee, a two-party committee, etc.

NP NP

NP N NP N

DET N DET Q

a rubber factory a two-party committee

3.2.1.5. Adpositions and Adpositional PhrasesAdpositions are prepositions or postpositions, typically taking NP complements.

(i) Postpositional phrases are a common form of NP postmodifiers in English: the cat on the roof, a house without a roof. Some prepositions can occur alone as postmodifiers: the room underneath. NP

NP

DET N PP DET N P P NP

DET N

The cat on the roof the room underneath

(ii) Prepositional phrases in English with the’s genitive postposition are premodifiers with a variety of functions including: the possessor function, e.g. the girl’s eyes which induces the so-called definiteness effect: the unique eyes belonging to the girl; the subject function, e.g. the government’s decree that roads should be tested; the object function, e.g. the boy’s punishment; the descriptive function, e.g. a woman’s dress of latest fashion.

NP NPDET PP N DET PP NP

N PP

The girl’s eyes a woman’s dress of latest fashion