Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T02:06:47.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 23 - Structure of Noun (NP) and Determiner Phrases (DP)

from Part III - Syntax

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2020

By
Dorian Roehrs
Edited by
Michael T. Putnam  and
B. Richard Page
Michael T. Putnam
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
B. Richard Page
Affiliation:
Pennsylvania State University
Get access

Summary

Following Abney’s (1987) seminal dissertation, many more phenomena in the noun phrase have been discovered and discussed. In this brief survey, I point out some recent results, some debated topics, and some new avenues for future research. I focus on structural aspects of the noun phrase discussing different nominal elements and how they relate to one another. I use contemporary German as a representative language. This is a highly inflected language, a fact that is often taken to provide clues about the analysis of certain linguistic phenomena. Other Germanic languages are discussed if they show an important relevant difference from German. I also point out some differences between North and West Germanic (East Germanic, e.g., Gothic, no longer exits).

Keywords

nominal argument structureadjectival inflectionpre-determinersdouble definitenessdiscontinuous DPsspurious indefinite articlesdoubly filled DPstypological differences in the DP
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Germanic Linguistics , pp. 537 - 564
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abney, S. 1987. The English Noun Phrase in Its Sentential Aspect. Doctoral dissertation, MIT.Google Scholar
Aboh, E. O., Corver, N., Dyakonova, M., and van Koppen, M 2010. “DP internal information structure: some introductory remarks,” Lingua 120: 782–801.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexiadou, A. 2001. Functional Structure in Nominals. Nominalization and Ergativity. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Alexiadou, A. 2003. “Some notes on the structure of alienable and inalienable possessors.” In Coene, M. and D’hulst, Y. (eds.), From NP to DP. Volume 2: The expression of possession in noun phrases. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 167–188.Google Scholar
Alexiadou, A. 2013. “Adverbial and adjectival modification.” In Dikken, M. den (ed.), The Cambridge Handbook of Generative Syntax. Cambridge University Press: 458–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexiadou, A. and Wilder, C. 1998. “Adjectival modification and multiple determiners.” In Alexiadou, A. and Wilder, C. (eds.), Possessors, Predicates and Movement in the Determiner Phrase. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 303–332.Google Scholar
Bayer, J., Bader, M., and Meng, M. 2001. “Morphological underspecification meets oblique case: Syntactic and processing effects in German,” Lingua 111: 465–514.Google Scholar
Bennis, H., Corver, N., and den Dikken, M. 1998. “Predication in nominal phrases,” The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 1: 85–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, J. B. 1993. Topics in the Syntax of Nominal Structure across Romance. Doctoral dissertation, The City University of New York.Google Scholar
Borer, H. 2005. In Name Only: Structuring Sense, Vol. I. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bošković, Ž. 2004. “Be careful where you float your quantifiers,” Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 22: 681–742.Google Scholar
Bošković, Ž. 2005. “On the locality of left-branch extraction and the structure of NP,” Studia Linguistica 59: 1–45.Google Scholar
Bošković, Ž. 2016. “Getting really edgy: On the edge of the edge,” Linguistic Inquiry 47: 1–33.Google Scholar
Broekhuis, H. and Keizer, E. 2012. Syntax of Dutch: Nouns and Noun Phrases, Vol. 1. Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
Cardinaletti, A. and Giusti, G. 2006. “The syntax of quantified phrases and quantitative clitics.” In Everaert, M. and van Riemsdijk, H. (eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Vol. V. Oxford: Blackwell: 23–93.Google Scholar
Cardinaletti, A. and Starke, M. 1999. “The typology of structural deficiency: A case study of the three classes of pronouns.” In van Riemsdijk, H. (ed.) Clitics in the Languages of Europe. New York: Mouton de Gruyter: 145–233.Google Scholar
Cinque, G. 2010. The Syntax of Adjectives: A Comparative Study. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Cirillo, R. 2016. “Why all John’s friends are Dutch, not German: On the determiner-like characteristics of the inflection on the universal quantifier in West Germanic,” Journal of Germanic Linguistics 28: 179–218.Google Scholar
Corver, N. 1997. “The internal structure of the Dutch extended adjectival projection,” Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 15: 289–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corver, N. 1998. “Predicate movement in pseudopartitive constructions.” In Alexiadou, A. and Wilder, C. (eds.), Possessors, Predicates and Movement in the Determiner Phrase. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 215–257.Google Scholar
Corver, N. and van Koppen, M. 2011. “NP-ellipsis with adjectival remnants: a micro-comparative perspective,” Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 29: 371–421.Google Scholar
Danon, G. 2012. “Two structures for numeral–noun constructions,” Lingua 122: 1282–1307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Déchaine, R-M. and Wiltschko, M. 2002. “Decomposing pronouns,” Linguistic Inquiry 33: 409–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delsing, L-O. 1993. The Internal Structure of Noun Phrases in the Scandinavian Languages: A Comparative Study. Doctoral dissertation, University of Lund.Google Scholar
Delsing, L-O. 1998. “Possession in Germanic.” In Alexiadou, A. and Wilder, C. (eds.), Possessors, Predicates and Movement in the Determiner Phrase. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 87–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dikken, M. den. 2006. Relators and Linkers: The Syntax of Predication, Predicate Inversion, and Copulas. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Esau, H. 1973. “Form and function of German adjective endings,” Folia Linguistica 6: 136–145.Google Scholar
Gelderen, E. van. 2007. “The definiteness cycle in Germanic,” Journal of Germanic Linguistics 19: 275–308.Google Scholar
Grimshaw, J. 1990. Argument Structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Grimshaw, J. 1991. “Extended projections.” Ms., Brandeis University.Google Scholar
Grohmann, K. K. and Haegeman, L. 2003. “Resuming reflexives,” Proceedings of the 19th Scandinavian conference on linguistics. Nordlyd 31: 46–62.Google Scholar
Harbert, W. 2007. The Germanic Languages. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Jackendoff, R. 1977. X’ Syntax: A Study of Phrase Structure. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Julien, M. 2005a. Nominal Phrases from a Scandinavian Perspective. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Julien, M. 2005b. “Possessor licensing, definiteness and case in Scandinavian.” In den Dikken, M. and Tortora, C. (eds.), The Function of Function Words and Functional Categories. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 217–249.Google Scholar
Kayne, R. 1994. The Antisymmetry of Syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Leu, T. 2015. The Architecture of Determiners. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Löbel, E. 1990. “D and Q als funtionale Kategorien in der Nominalphrase,” Linguistische Berichte 127: 232–264.Google Scholar
Longobardi, G. 1994. “Reference and proper names: A theory of N-movement in syntax and logical form,” Linguistic Inquiry 25: 609–665.Google Scholar
Norris, M. 2014. A Theory of Nominal Concord. Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
Payne, J. and Huddleston, R. 2002. “Nouns and noun phrases.” In Huddleston, R. and Pullum, G. K. (eds.), The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press: 323–523.Google Scholar
Pfaff, A. 2015. Adjectival and Genitival Modification in Definite Noun Phrases in Icelandic: A Tale of Outsiders and Inside Jobs. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tromsø.Google Scholar
Postal, P. M. 1966. “On the so-called pronouns in English.” In Dinneen, F. (ed.), Nineteenth Monograph on Language and Linguistics. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press: 177–206.Google Scholar
Riemsdijk, H. van 1998. “Categorial feature magnetism: The endocentricity and distribution of projections,” The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 2: 1–48.Google Scholar
Ritter, E. 1991. “Two functional categories in noun phrases: Evidence from modern Hebrew.” In Rothstein, S. D. (ed.), Perspectives on Phrase Structure: Heads and Licensing. San Diego: Academic Press: 37–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roehrs, D. 2008. “Something inner- and cross-linguistically different,” The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 11: 1–42.Google Scholar
Roehrs, D. 2010. “Demonstrative-reinforcer constructions,” The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 13: 225–268.Google Scholar
Roehrs, D. 2013. “The inner makeup of definite determiners: The case of Germanic,” Journal of Germanic Linguistics 25: 295–411.Google Scholar
Roehrs, D. 2015. “Inflections on pre-nominal adjectives in Germanic: main types, subtypes, and subset Relations,” The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 18: 213–271.Google Scholar
Schoorlemmer, E. 2009. Agreement, Dominance and Doubling: The Morphosyntax of DP. Doctoral dissertation, University of Leiden.Google Scholar
Schoorlemmer, E. 2012. “Definiteness marking in Germanic: Morphological variations on the same syntactic theme,” The Journal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics 15: 107–156.Google Scholar
Scott, G.-J. 2002. “Stacked adjectival modification and the structure of nominal phrases.” In Cinque, G. (ed.), Functional Structure in DP and IP: The Cartography of Syntactic Structures, Vol. I. Oxford University Press: 91–120.Google Scholar
Sproat, R. and Shih, C. 1991. “The cross-linguistic distribution of adjective ordering restrictions.” In Georgopoulos, C. and Ishihara, R. (eds.), Interdisciplinary Approaches to Language: Essays in Honor of S.-Y. Kuroda. Dordrecht: Kluwer: 565–593.Google Scholar
Svenonius, P. 1994. “The structural location of the attributive adjective.” In Duncan, E., Farkas, D., and Spaelti, P. (eds.), The Proceedings of the Twelfth WCCFL, Stanford Linguistics Association: 439–454.Google Scholar
Wood, J. L. and Vikner, S. 2011. “Noun phrase structure and movement: A cross-linguistic comparison of such/sådan/solch and so/så/so.” In Sleeman, P. and Perridon, H. (eds.), The Noun Phrase in Romance and Germanic: Structure, Variation, and Change. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 89–109.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×