complement

an argument which follows the verb, or, more generally, a phrase selected by a head.

determiner

the head of a Determiner Phrase, a closed class item taking an NP complement defining its definiteness. Feature composition: [+F, –N, +V]

[±F]

one of the three basic binary features on which all categories can be defined. With the help of these features we can explain why we have the categories that we do and also describe how these categories are related. With the help of the three binary features we can predict what kinds of categories are possible in human language, we can give an exclusive list of them. [±F] is a feature used to distinguish between functional and thematic categories. [–F] categories have thematic content and [+F] categories do not. The categories with [+F] feature are the following: inflections, complementisers, determiners and degree adverbs. Certain categories are unspecified for the [±F] feature, see underspecification.

grammar

(a) a (finite) set of rules which tell us how to recognise the infinite number of expressions that constitute the language that we speak. (b) a linguistic hypothesis about these rules.

idiosyncratic

not predictable. The idiosyncratic properties of e.g. words are those that are specific to that word, such as its phonological form, meaning and subcategorisation frame. These properties cannot be described with the help of rules, so they must be encoded in the lexicon.

lexical entry

a collection of the idiosyncratic properties of lexical items.

lexicon

a mental dictionary where we store information about all the words we use focusing on the idiosyncratic properties such as pronunciation, meaning, etc.

maximal projection

the phrase-level projection, XP, where X is a categorial variable.

[±N]

one of the three basic binary features on which all categories can be defined. With the help of these features we can explain why we have the categories that we do and also describe how these categories are related. With the help of the three binary features we can predict what kinds of categories are possible in human language, we can give an exclusive list of them. Since we want to define verbs and nouns as polar opposites the abstract binary features [±N] and [±V] were introduced, though obviously they do not mean noun and verb and are used to define other categories besides nouns and verbs. A property linked to the [–N] feature is the ability to have a nominal complement. The categories with [+N] feature are the following: a. thematic: nouns, adjectives; b. functional: determiners, degree adverbs; unspecified for the [F] value: post-determiners, measure nouns.

noun phrase (NP)

a phrase headed by a noun. Noun heads can take PP or CP complements, DP complements are excluded since nouns are not Case assigners. The specifier position of an NP is occupied by what are generally called post-determiners. NPs are complements of DPs.

phrase

a group of words that can undergo syntactic operations (e.g. movement) as a unit.

preposition

a syntactic unit preceding its complement, the most often a DP defining a special syntactic and/or semantic relationship between the complement and another constituent: cat in the bag/grapes of wrath/tea without sugar/a reduction of taxes. Feature composition: [–F, –N, –V].

preposition phrase (PP)

a phrase headed by a preposition. It usually takes a DP complement but certain types of CPs can also appear in the complement position of PPs. PPs themselves can be complements of different constituents such as verbs, nouns and adjectives.

specifier position

a position defined by X-bar Theory. The specifier is sister to X', daughter of XP. It is a phrasal position, the nature of the phrase depends on what it is the specifier of. E.g. the specifier of IP is the subject, the specifier of DP is the possessor in possessive structures.

subcategorisation frame

that part of the lexical entry that states the categorial status of the complement.

[±V]

one of the three basic binary features on which all categories can be defined. With the help of these features we can explain why we have the categories that we do and also describe how these categories are related. With the help of the three binary features we can predict what kinds of categories are possible in human language, we can give an exclusive list of them. Since we want to define verbs and nouns as polar opposites the abstract binary features [±N] and [±V] were introduced, though obviously they do not mean noun and verb and are used to define other categories besides nouns and verbs. The categories with [±V] feature are the following: a. thematic: verbs, prepositions; b. functional: inflections, degree adverbs, aspectual auxiliaries; unspecified for the [F] value: aspectual auxiliaries, post-determiners.

word category

a set of expressions that share certain linguistic features, a grouping of words that cluster together, e.g. noun, verb. See also functional category, thematic category.

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Basic English Syntax with Exercises

3.1.3 Heads and Complements

But if the structural rules of the grammar are themselves so general as to not make reference to categories how do categorial features come to be in structures? One would have thought that if all the grammar is constructed from are rules that tell us how phrases are shaped in general, then there should only be one kind of phrase: an XP.

To see how categorial information gets into structure we must look more closely at heads and the notion of projection. We have seen how heads project their properties to the X' and thence to XP, the question we must ask therefore is where do heads get their properties from? The main point to realise is that the head is a word position and words are inserted into head positions from the lexicon. In chapter 1 we spent quite some time reviewing the lexical properties of words, including their categorial properties. These, we concluded, are specified for every lexical item in terms of categorial features ([±F, ±N, ±V]). If we now propose that a head’s categorial features are projected from the lexical element that occupies the head position we can see that phrases of different categories are the result of different lexical elements being inserted into head positions.

One way to envisage this is to think of X-bar rules as building a general X-bar structure devoid of categorial properties. So we might start with the following:

(18)

We then populate this structure by inserting words into it from the lexicon and these bring along with them their categorial features. Suppose we insert the verb fall into the head position, as this is categorised [–F, –N, +V] (i.e. verb) these will project to the head position:

(19)

These features then project to the X':

(20)

And finally they end up on the maximal projection:

(21)

In this way we can see that categorial features are actually projected into structures from the lexicon. This makes a lot of sense given that categorial properties are to a large extent idiosyncratic to the words involved in an expression and are not easily predicted without knowing what words a sentence is constructed from. Things which are predictable, such as that all phrases have heads which may be flanked by a specifier to its left and a complement to its right, are what are expressed by the X-bar rules. Thus we have a major split between idiosyncratic properties, which rightly belong in the lexicon, and general and predictable properties which rightly belong in the grammar.

The structure in (21) is still incomplete however and we must now consider how to complete it. Let us concentrate firstly on the complement position. At the moment this is expressed by the general phrase symbol YP. This tells us that only a phrasal element can sit here, but it does not tell us what category that phrase must be. Yet, it is clear that we cannot insert a complement of just any category into this position:

(22)afell [PP off the shelf]
b*fell [DP the cliff]
c*fell [VP jumped over the cliff]

This restriction clearly does not come from the X-bar rules as these state that complements can be of any category, which in general is absolutely true. But in specific cases, there must be specific complements. Again it is properties of heads which determine this. Recall that part of the lexical entry for a word concerns its subcategorisation. The subcategorisation frame of a lexical element tells us what kind of complement there can be. For fall, for instance, it is specified that the complement is prepositional:

(23)fallcategory: [–F, –N +V]
Θ-grid:<theme,path>
subcat:prepositional

Thus through the notion of subcategorisation, the head imposes restrictions on the complement position, allowing only elements of a certain category to occupy this position:

(24)

As we know that the complement must be prepositional, we also know by the general principles of X-bar theory that only a preposition could be inserted into the head position of this phrase and the lexical properties of this head will, in turn, impose restrictions on what can appear in its complement position:

(25)

In this structure, off is inserted into the head position of the PP complement of the verb and as this preposition selects for a DP complement (as most of them do), only a determiner could be inserted into the head position of this phrase. The determiner would then impose restrictions on its complement, ensuring this to be an NP and hence only a noun could be inserted into the head of the determiner’s complement. Obviously, this could continue indefinitely, but in this case the process stops at this point as the noun subcategorises for no complement.

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