Book contents
- The English Binominal Noun Phrase
- Studies in English Language
- The English Binominal Noun Phrase
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Categorization
- Chapter 2 Of-binominal Classification
- Chapter 3 From Prototypical N+PP to Pseudo-partitive
- Chapter 4 The Evaluative Of-binominals
- Chapter 5 Three Case Studies: Cake, Beast, and Hell
- Part II Testing the Hypothesis
- Part III Theoretical Analysis
- Part IV Discussion
- References
- Index
Chapter 4 - The Evaluative Of-binominals
from Part I - Categorization
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 June 2023
- The English Binominal Noun Phrase
- Studies in English Language
- The English Binominal Noun Phrase
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Chapter 1 Introduction
- Part I Categorization
- Chapter 2 Of-binominal Classification
- Chapter 3 From Prototypical N+PP to Pseudo-partitive
- Chapter 4 The Evaluative Of-binominals
- Chapter 5 Three Case Studies: Cake, Beast, and Hell
- Part II Testing the Hypothesis
- Part III Theoretical Analysis
- Part IV Discussion
- References
- Index
Summary
The classification criteria in Chapter 2 are now applied to the final three evaluative of-binominals. The evaluative binominal noun phrase (an egg of a head) is an of-binominal construction in which the first noun ascribes a property to the second. The second noun is head, and the construction exhibits a number of noncanonical syntactic features, e.g. the first determiner has scope over the whole construction, a restricted second determiner, and irregular premodification patterns. The evaluative modifier (a whale of a time) is a new of-binominal that I propose. In the evaluative modifier, the first noun has completely decategorizated and functions as a part of the [N1 of a] chunk that denotes speaker evaluation of the referent denoted by the second noun. Furthermore, I argue that this construction needs to be distinguished from the EBNP. Finally, in the binominal intensifier (a beast of a good read), [N1 of a] functions as an intensifier or booster, modifying the gradable adjectives that follow. This study demonstrates that this final construction is much more prolific than previous research has shown.
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- The English Binominal Noun PhraseA Cognitive-Functional Approach, pp. 63 - 95Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023