The English Noun Phrase: The Nature of Linguistic Categorization

by Evelien Keizer

• ISBN13: 9780521849616
• ISBN10: 0521849616
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-09-03
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

English has an interesting variety of noun phrases, which differ greatly in structure. Examples are 'binominal' (two-noun) phrases ('a beast of a party'); possessive constructions ('the author's opinion'); and discontinuous noun phrases ('the review [came out yesterday] of his book'). How are these different noun phrases structured? How do we produce and understand them? These questions are central to this original study, which explores the interaction between the form of noun phrases, their meaning, and their use. It shows how, despite the need in linguistic analysis for strict categories, many linguistic constructions in fact defy straightforward classification - and concludes that in order to fully explain the internal structure of utterances, we must first consider the communicative, pragmatic and cognitive factors that come into play. Drawing on a range of authentic examples, this book sheds new light not only on the noun phrase itself but also the nature of linguistic classification.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. xii
Introduction	p. 1
The structural approach: possibilities and limitations
Headedness within the NP	p. 9
Introduction	p. 9
Internal structure: headedness within the NP	p. 9
Semantic criteria	p. 10
(Morpho)syntactic criteria	p. 12
Discourse factors	p. 20
Conclusion	p. 20
Close appositions	p. 22
Introduction	p. 22
Criteria from previous analyses	p. 23
Introduction	p. 23
Intonation and form of the elements	p. 25
Headedness and syntactic omissibility	p. 30
Reference and semantic omissibility	p. 34
Order of the elements	p. 37
Modified definition and preliminary analysis	p. 38
Further evidence	p. 39
Definiteness	p. 39
Anaphoric relations	p. 49
Headedness	p. 53
Summary: underlying representations	p. 58
Conclusion	p. 59
Appositions with of	p. 61
Introduction	p. 61
of-constructions with referring embedded NPs	p. 62
NPs with of-modifiers and of-complements	p. 62
Partitive NPs	p. 65
Of-constructions with non-referring embedded NPs: qualifying of-constructions	p. 71
Of-appositions	p. 73
The form of of-appositions	p. 73
Headedness	p. 76
Underlying representation	p. 82
Conclusion	p. 82
Binominals	p. 85
Introduction	p. 85
General characterization	p. 85
Semantic features	p. 86
Syntactic and formal features	p. 88
Headedness	p. 93
Introduction	p. 93
Semantic criteria	p. 95
Syntactic criteria	p. 96
Pragmatic criteria	p. 99
Additional evidence	p. 101
Conclusion	p. 106
Pseudo-partitive constructions	p. 109
Introduction	p. 109
General characterization	p. 109
Types of pseudo-partitive constructions	p. 112
Quantifier nouns	p. 112
Measure nouns	p. 113
Container nouns	p. 113
Part nouns	p. 115
Collection nouns	p. 115
Headedness	p. 116
Existing analyses	p. 116
Semantic criteria	p. 117
Syntactic criteria	p. 120
Pragmatic criteria	p. 132
Additional properties	p. 135
Conclusion	p. 149
Sort/kind/type-constructions	p. 152
Introduction	p. 152
Analysis: preliminary characterization	p. 153
Type I: the referential SKT-construction	p. 153
Type II: the qualifying construction	p. 153
Type III: constructions of the third kind	p. 154
Type I: the referential SKT-construction	p. 155
Semantic characterization	p. 155
Discourse properties	p. 155
Syntactic/formal properties	p. 156
Underlying representation	p. 161
Type II: the qualifying construction	p. 162
Semantic characterization	p. 162
Discourse properties	p. 163
Syntactic/formal properties	p. 165
Underlying representation	p. 169
Type III: constructions of the third kind	p. 169
The postdeterminer analysis	p. 169
Problematic cases: the sort/kind/type of + N2[subscript Plur]	p. 176
Conventionalized referential constructions	p. 181
Conclusion	p. 183
Conclusion	p. 185
The cognitive-pragmatic approach: some applications
The flexibility of language	p. 189
Introduction	p. 189
Pragmatics	p. 190
Information structure	p. 190
Given and new	p. 191
Topic: D-topic, S-topic and G-topic	p. 194
Focus	p. 199
Conclusion	p. 201
Cognition	p. 202
Introduction	p. 202
Prototype theory	p. 203
Activation	p. 206
Conclusion	p. 216
Complements and modifiers	p. 218
Introduction	p. 218
Some existing proposals	p. 219
Introduction	p. 219
Relational versus non-relational nouns	p. 221
Complements versus modifiers	p. 230
Conclusion	p. 244
A cognitive approach to noun frames	p. 245
Introduction	p. 245
The 'conceptual perspective'	p. 246
The network approach	p. 250
Prototype effects	p. 252
Some examples	p. 256
Relational nouns and definiteness revisited	p. 261
Conclusion	p. 262
Discontinuous NPs	p. 264
Introduction	p. 264
Theoretical background	p. 265
Syntax and semantics: restrictions on extraposition	p. 265
Processing and pragmatics: principles and preferences	p. 267
Multifunctional theories of word order: interacting principles	p. 269
The multifactor hypothesis	p. 271
Some existing accounts of extraposition	p. 274
Presentation versus predication: Gueron (1980)	p. 274
Complexity: Hawkins (1994)	p. 277
A multifunctional approach: examples from the corpus	p. 282
Introduction	p. 282
Displacement from NP into clause-final position	p. 283
Displacement within NP: complement-modifier switch	p. 303
Conclusion	p. 304
Possessive constructions: the author's opinion versus the opinion of the author	p. 307
Introduction	p. 307
Traditional accounts: interacting principle	p. 308
Some absolute constraints	p. 308
Preferences and tendencies	p. 309
Conclusion	p. 314
Theoretical and experimental approaches: the single-factor approach versus the multifactor approach	p. 314
The single-factor approach	p. 314
Interactive principles: Rosenbach (2002)	p. 327
The present study	p. 329
The difference between prenominal and postnominal possessives	p. 332
Prenominal possessives	p. 333
Postnominal of-constructions	p. 341
Conclusion	p. 353
Conclusions	p. 355
Bibliography	p. 357
Author index	p. 373
Subject index	p. 376
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