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An open-sesame approach to English noun phrases: defining the NP (with an introduction to the special issue)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2011

ANA ELINA MARTÍNEZ-INSUA  and
JAVIER PÉREZ-GUERRA
ANA ELINA MARTÍNEZ-INSUA
Affiliation:
Department of English, University of Vigo, FFT, Campus Universitario, E–36310 Vigo, [email protected], [email protected]
JAVIER PÉREZ-GUERRA
Affiliation:
Department of English, University of Vigo, FFT, Campus Universitario, E–36310 Vigo, [email protected], [email protected]
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Abstract

The category of the noun phrase in English has received much attention in the literature. This article discusses the main defining features of the category from different theoretical angles. Issues such as its structural status, the determination and characterisation of its (morphosyntactic, semantic, cognitive) head, the structural slots which are available in the phrase, and the different possibilities as far as word order is concerned will be approached from structural, syntactic, functional and cognitive perspectives. In the second half of the article, after a review of recent literature on the English noun phrase, we offer a summary of the research included in this issue.

Type
Research Article
Information
English Language & Linguistics , Volume 15 , Issue 2: The structure of the noun phrase in English: synchronic and diachronic explorations , July 2011 , pp. 201 - 221
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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