Basic English Syntax with Exercises

adjunct rule

3.1.1 Rewrite rules and some terminology

The third rule in (1) introduces a position into the phrase called the adjunct. Given that we have yet to introduce these elements we will put off discussion of this rule until section 1.3. where we will give a fuller account of both adjuncts and the adjunction rule.

3.1.5 Adjuncts

This is different from the previous two rules in a number of ways. First, the previous rules specified the possible constituents of the various specific projections of the head: complements are immediate constituents of X' and specifiers are immediate constituents of XP. The adjunction rule in (30) is more general as it states the possible constituents of an Xn, that is, an X with any number of bars. In other words, Xn stands for XP (=X''), X' or X (=X0). The adjunct itself is defined either as a word (Y) or as a phrase (YP) and we will see that which of these is relevant depends on the status of Xn: if Xn is a word, then the adjunct is a word, if not then the adjunct is a phrase.