adjunct

a constituent not selected by a head.

adjunction

a type of movement where a new position is formed as a result of the movement creating an adjunction structure, like the (simplified) movement of the PP in the following tree structure representation where the S node is doubled:

daughter

an immediate constituent of a node which then is the mother node.

lexicon

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

node

a symbol defining syntactic units (heads, intermediate constituents, phrases) connected by branches in a tree structure representation.

phrase

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

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.

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

3.1.6 Summary

Before moving on to look at other aspects of syntactic processes, let us consolidate what we have said in this section. X-bar theory is a theory of basic structure comprising of just three rules. These rules are generally applicable to all structures and substructures, no matter what their category: they are category neutral. The categorial status of a specific structure depends on the lexical elements it contains, in particular one word acts as the head of each phrase and this determines the category of the phrase by projecting its own categorial properties, established in the lexicon, to the X' node above it and ultimately to the XP.

The three X-bar rules introduce three elements besides the head. The complement is introduced as the sister of the head. It always follows the head and is restricted by the head’s subcategorisation requirements. Thus, if a head selects for a PP complement, the complement must be a PP. The specifier is introduced as the sister to X' and daughter of XP. Specifiers precede the head and are restricted to one per phrase. The last element of the phrase, the adjunct, can be introduced at any X-bar level: X, X' and XP. This element expands what it is adjoined to into another element of the same type. Therefore the process is recursive and in principle any number of adjuncts can be added to a structure.

We will have far more to say about X-bar structures as we proceed through this book and many more examples of heads, complements, specifiers and adjuncts will be provided. However, all of these will conform to the basic principles set out here and as such the theory of structure provided by X-bar principles is an extremely general and explanatory one.

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