A noun phrase (IG) ( eng. Noun phrase , NP) is a phrase in which the noun is the apex , that is, the main word that defines the characteristic of the entire component. Sometimes groups with a vertex in the form of a pronoun also belong to the IG, but more often they are designated as PRNP or PrNP ( English pronoun phrase ) [1] [2] [3] . In modern syntactic theories, it is generally accepted that even if a name does not contain dependents, it is still a name group (consisting of one word).
Usually noun groups function as objects and subjects of verbs, predicative expressions and complements of prepositions and postpositions . Nominal groups can be nested inside each other, for example, a ghost castle with ghosts contains a prepositional phrase (PP) with ghosts , the complement of which is another ghost IG in an instrumental case.
A noun group containing a determinant is a determinate group (DG) ( English determiner phrase , DP). The determinant can be unpronounceable ( English silent determiner ), then the IG is still DG [4] .
Name Group Identification
The noun phrase in the following sentences is underlined, and the vertex is in bold.
- The sentence contains a noun phrase .
- Different words were written on the board .
- Pushkin was a great poet .
- Different words were written on the board .
In order to identify the name group, you need to try to replace it with the pronoun [3] . In this case, this is possible (see below), which means that the noun phrase was identified correctly.
- It contains it.
- They were written on it .
- He was them .
- They were written on it .
Types of dependents in a noun group
The top of the noun phrase can carry the following types of dependent (modifiers):
- adjectives - for example, good , green , old ;
- adverbs that modify the adjective included in the IG - for example, indescribably large , long forgotten , well-built ;
- nominal associates - father’s brother, Petya’s circle, colonel’s dog;
- prepositional groups - a thing in itself , a bride for marriage , a howl to the moon ;
- relative sentences - the boy I hit , the dog that runs , the soup cooked yesterday ;
- infinitive groups - the man to beat , in Russian this function is performed by the construction “preposition + verbal name” - a whipping boy, a drinking cup .
The position where a particular modifier should be used depends on the characteristics of a particular language. In English, adjectives and nominal adjuncts precede the vertex name ( Paul's best friend ), and relative sentences come after the vertex ( and man that lies ).
For the Russian language, the following patterns can be formulated: adjectives precede the vertex name ( good day ), adverbs modifying the adjective ( well-built man ), and after it are placed adjuncts ( Vasya's friend ), prepositional groups ( whipping boy ) and relative sentences ( train who could ).
Syntax Function
Nominal groups can act both as a subject and a direct object , and as a complement to a prepositional group, which can be an indirect object.
Consider, as an example, a sentence. A little boy was eating soup at the table. The diagram shows its simplified syntactic structure. There are three nouns in this sentence:
- a little boy acts as a subject and consists of a vertex and its modifier. The subject is located in the position of the specifier of the component of the TP in connection with the sign of the SWU ( English extended projection principle ) [3] ;
- soup - IG in accusative , consisting only of the vertex name and acting as a direct object;
- table - IG in the instrumental case . It is a complement of a prepositional group with a vertex in the form of a preposition for , which controls the instrumental case, attributing it to its complement. The whole prepositional group is an indirect object of the verb.
- soup - IG in accusative , consisting only of the vertex name and acting as a direct object;
Graphing Methods for Name Groups
There are several ways to provide a nested group (IG) in the form of a tree. The first problem that you will encounter is to determine whether nouns in a given language are determinate groups or not. If we talk about English, then in modern syntactic theories it is customary to assume that any noun phrase has a determinant in it, expressed or zero, therefore, it is DP [4] .
With the Russian language, everything is more complicated, and there is no established point of view on this subject [5] [6] [7] .
Nevertheless, there are the following main ways to represent the syntactic structure of a noun phrase in the form of a tree [8] .
Direct Component Tree
A tree (graph) of direct components with binary branching:
NP NP | DP DP
/ \ | | / \ |
det N 'N' | det NP NP
| / \ / \ | | / \ / \
the adj N 'adj N' | the adj NP adj NP
| | | | | | | | |
big N big N | big N big N
| | | | |
house houses | house houses
Dependency Tree
A tree reflecting the dependencies between words:
Notes
- ↑ Crystal, D. - A dictionary of linguistics and phonectis (1997).
- ↑ Lockwood, D. - Syntactic Analysis and Description: A Constructional Approach (2005).
- ↑ 1 2 3 Radford, A. - Minimalist Syntax (2004).
- ↑ 1 2 Bošković, Ž. - What will you have, DP or NP? (2008).
- ↑ Irurtzun, A. & Madariaga, N. - On the Syntax and Semantics of DP Internal Scrambling in Russian (2010)
- ↑ Bošković, Ž. - Left branch extraction, structure of NP, and scrambling (2005)
- ↑ Lyutikova, E. A. - On the question of the categorical status of nouns in Russian (2010)
- ↑ Coene, M. & D'hulst, Y. - From NP to DP Volume 1: The syntax and semantics of noun phrases (2003)