Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:11:43.777Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Prenominal adjectives and the phrasal/lexical distinction1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Louisa Sadler  and
Douglas J. Arnold
Louisa Sadler
Affiliation:
University of Essex
Douglas J. Arnold
Affiliation:
University of Essex
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper aims to demonstrate that there is no adequate treatment of adjectives in NP in English, and attempts to remedy this. The central problem is to account for the syntactic and semantic differences between prenominal and postnominal adjectival constructions as in (i)–(iv):

(i) the navigable river

(ii) the rivers navigable

(iii) *the navigable by boat rivers

(iv) the rivers navigable by boat

Existing treatments are reviewed, and a novel analysis proposed whereby the structures in (ii) and (iv) are normal syntactic N-AP structures, but prenominally, adjectives form what we call ‘small’ syntactic constructions (X° constructions, with X° daughters) which have some properties in common with lexical/morphological constructions. If the analysis is right, it poses a serious challenge to the view that there is a strict separation of lexical and syntactic aspects of grammar: grammatical theory should recognize a kind of construction which is neither fully syntactic nor fully lexical, but has properties of both.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , March 1994 , pp. 187 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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 aspects. Ph.D. thesis, MIT.Google Scholar
Alsina, A. (1990). Predicate composition: a theory of syntactic function alternations. Ph.D. thesis, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Andrews, A. D. (1982). The representation of case in modern Icelandic. In Bresnan, J. (ed). The mental representation of grammatical relations. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 427–503.Google Scholar
Arnold, D. & Sadler, L. (1992). Noun-modifying adjectives in HPSG. Technical report, Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex.Google Scholar
Baker, M. (1988). Incorporation: a theory of grammatical function changing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Berman, A. (1974). Adjectives and adjective complement constructions in English. Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University.Google Scholar
Bolinger, D. (1967). Adjectives in English: attribution and predication. Lingua 18. 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bresnan, J. (1973). Syntax of the comparative clause construction in English. Linguistic Inquiry 4. 275–343Google Scholar
Bresnan, J. & Mchombo, S. A. (1993). The lexical integrity principle: evidence from Bantu. Ms., Stanford University.Google Scholar
Carlson, G. N. (1977). A unified analysis of the English bare plural. Linguistics and Philosophy 8. 413–457CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. (Janua Linguarum, 4.) The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Di Sciullo, A. M. & Williams, E. (1987). On the definition of word. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Emonds, J. (1976). A transformational approach to English syntax. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Flynn, M. (1983). A categorial theory of structure building. In Klein, E., Gazdar, G. & Pullum, G. K.. (eds.) Order, concord and constituency. Dordrecht: Foris. 139–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fodor, J. D. (1973). Phrase structure parsing. Linguistics and Philosophy 4. 275–343.Google Scholar
Gazdar, G., Klein, E., Pullum, G. & Sag, I. (1985). Generalized phrase structure grammar. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Giorgi, A. & Longobardi, G. (1991). The syntax of noun phrases: configuration, parameters and empty categories. (Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 57.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hellan, L. (1986). The headedness of NPs in Norwegian. In Muysken, P. & van Riemsdijk, H. C. (eds.) Features and projections. Dordrecht: Foris. 89–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendrick, R. (1978). The phrase structure of adjectives and comparatives. Linguistic Analysis 4. 255–299.Google Scholar
Hornstein, N. & Lightfoot, D. (1981). Introduction. In Hornstein, N. & Lightfoot, D. (eds.) Explanation in linguistics. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Hudson, R. (1984). Word grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hukari, T. & Levine, R. (1991). On the disunity of unbounded dependency constructions. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 9. 97–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackendoff, R. (1977). X syntax: a study of phrase structure. Cambridge. MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Keenan, E. L. & Timberlake, A. (1988). Natural language motivations for extending categorial grammar. In Bach, E., Oehrle, R. T. & Wheeler, D. (eds.) Categorial grammars and natural language structures. Dordrecht: Reidel. 265–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levi, J. N. (1978). The syntax and semantics of complex nominals. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Liberman, M. & Sproat, R. (1992). The stress and structure of modified noun phrases in English. In Sag, I. & Szabolsci, A. (eds.) Lexical matters. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 131–182.Google Scholar
Lieber, R. (1991). Deconstructing morphology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Montalbetti, M., Saito, M. & Travis, L. (1982). Three ways to get Tough. Papers from thex Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society 18. 348–366.Google Scholar
Nanni, D. (1978). The easy class of adjectives in English. Ph.D. thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.Google Scholar
Nanni, D. (1980). Adjectives in English: attribution and predication. Lingua 18. 1–34.Google Scholar
Pollard, C. & Sag, I. (1994). Head-driven phrase structure grammar. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Poser, W. J. (1992). Blocking of phrasal constructions by lexical items. In Sag, I. & Szabolsci, A. (eds.) Lexical matters. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 111–130.Google Scholar
Postal, P. (1969). Anaphoric islands. Papers from the Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society 5. 205–239.Google Scholar
Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G. & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Sadler, L. & Arnold, D. (forthcoming). Pre- and postnominal adjective constructions in HPSG. Technical report, Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex.Google Scholar
Smith, C. (1961). A class of complex modifiers in English. Language 37. 342–365.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stowell, T. (1981). Elements of phrase structure. Ph.D. thesis, MIT.Google Scholar
Svenonius, P. (1993). The structural location of the attributive adjective, (to appear in Proceedings of the West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics 12).Google Scholar
Ward, G., Sproat, R. & McKoon, G. (1991). A pragmatic analysis of so-called anaphoric islands. Language 67. 439–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar