Agreement, disagreement and the NP vs. DP debate

Frank Van Eynde

doi:10.5334/gjgl.1119

Abstract

Of special relevance for the NP vs. DP debate are nominals in which the determiner has other values for number, gender, case and/or person than the noun, for depending on whether such nominals share these values with the noun or with the determiner they provide evidence in favor of either the NP or the DP approach. This paper discusses some nominals of this kind and shows that they share the relevant feature values with the noun. It then develops an NP analysis for these nominals which is cast in the notation of Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar. It also shows what a DP analysis would look like. A comparison reveals that the NP analyses are less complex, more uniform and less stipulative. Examples are taken from Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish and Serbo-Croatian.

Highlights

IntroductionUsing the term in a theory-neutral sense, we assume that the bracketed strings in (1) are all nominals
Using the term in a theory-neutral sense, we assume that the bracketed strings in (1) are all nominals.(1) [the [blue [box]]] is emptyFor the analysis of nominals there are –broadly speaking– two approaches in generative grammar
In that analysis the noun is the head of blue box, but the determiner is the head of the blue box, so that the category of the latter is DP

Summary

Introduction

Using the term in a theory-neutral sense, we assume that the bracketed strings in (1) are all nominals. In keeping with that aim this paper focuses on a phenomenon for which the choice between the two approaches has empirical consequences It concerns the issue of whether a [Det + Nom] combination shares its number, gender, case and person values with the determiner or with the noun. 2.1 Nominals with a quantifying determiner Dutch has a number of quantifying determiners which combine with either a singular mass noun or a bare plural They include wat ‘some’, veel ‘much/many’, meer ‘more’ and genoeg ‘enough’. The case, number and gender values of the bracketed NPs in (9) are not shared with the genitive prenominal, but with the rightmost noun This provides confirming evidence for the assumption that an analysis along the lines of the NP approach might be more straightforward than one which adopts the DP approach.

NUMBER

Nominal phrases

Determiners

Conclusion