Syntax and semantics of English partitive noun phrases : a phrase structure account
This thesis presents a phrase structure account of a particular class of English noun phrases; partitives. Constructions which are directly related, notably pseudopartitives, are also analysed, and the proposals have implications for the representation of simple noun phrases. The main aim is to provide a concise and explicit account of the data and to this end the syntactic rules are presented in a computer-usable form. The background to the analysis is provided by reviewing a number of seminal accounts of noun phrase structure, and there is also a review of some research on the semantics of noun phrases which directly bears on the work presnted here. In the absence of a semantic theory which captures all the relevant facts, some requirements are stated and some directions indicated. This thesis makes a number of specific claims, among which are the following: * Partitive noun phrases are minimally distinct from simple and pseudopartitive noun phrases syntactically and semantically. * Genitive partitive noun phrases in Old English and in languages such as modern German and Polish are closely related to the modern English partitive form. * The partitive definiteness constraint must be reformulated. * The phenomena
Matheson, Colin Angus
Syntax and semantics of English partitive noun phrases : a phrase structure account. This thesis presents a phrase structure account of a particular class of English noun phrases; partitives. Constructions which are directly related, notably pseudopartitives, are also analysed, and the proposals have implications for the representation of simple noun phrases. The main aim is to provide a concise and explicit account of the data and to this end the syntactic rules are presented in a computer-usable form. The background to the analysis is provided by reviewing a number of seminal accounts of noun phrase structure, and there is also a review of some research on the semantics of noun phrases which directly bears on the work presnted here. In the absence of a semantic theory which captures all the relevant facts, some requirements are stated and some directions indicated. This thesis makes a number of specific claims, among which are the following: * Partitive noun phrases are minimally distinct from simple and pseudopartitive noun phrases syntactically and semantically. * Genitive partitive noun phrases in Old English and in languages such as modern German and Polish are closely related to the modern English partitive form. * The partitive definiteness constraint must be reformulated. * The phenomena
syntax_semantics english partitive noun_phrase phrase_structure account present phrase_structure account particular class english noun_phrase partitive directly_relate notably also_analyse proposal implication representation simple noun_phrase main_aim provide concise explicit account_data end syntactic_rule present computer usable form background analysis provide review number seminal account noun_phrase structure also_review semantics noun_phrase directly bear work here absence semantic_theory capture relevant fact requirement state direction indicate make number specific claim among follow partitive noun_phrase minimally distinct simple noun_phrase syntactically semantically partitive noun_phrase old_english languages modern_german polish closely_related modern_english partitive form partitive definiteness constraint must reformulate phenomenon