Nominal phrase structure in Spanish with a brief reference to English and San Pablo Güilá Zapotec: a configurational perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24201/clecm.v12.350Keywords:
noun phrase, determiner phrase, spanish, formal syntax, maximal projectionAbstract
This work proposes a presumably complete syntactic structure of the noun phrase (NP) in Spanish, which includes the maximal projections nP (little n phrase), PossP (possessive phrase), NumP (numeral phrase), DP (determiner phrase), and QP (quantifier phrase). One of its main contributions is the recognition of an important boundary between PossP and NumP, since NP together with nP and PossP make up the domain in which nominal lexical heads express all their arguments and adjuncts, while NumP, DP and QP are maximal projections with functional heads and their respective adjuncts. These projections, but not NP, nP or PossP, constitute lawful agentive subjects. A second contribution consists of the recognition that Poss (head of PossP) is occupied exclusively by inalienable nouns (kinship terms and part nouns) while the rest of the nouns remain in n (head of nP). The empirical evidence comes from the position of the mayor and menor adjectives with respect to one type of head and the other (el hermano mayor de Juan vs. el mayor problema de México). The third main contribution consists of the recognition of the maximal projections FNum and FQ as constructs whose head positions are versatile in that both allow the occurrence of both quantifiers and cardinal numerals. Unlike previous works on NP in Spanish (e.g., Ticio 2003, 2010; Roca 2015), in this work, the discussion centrally considers the position occupied by different types of adjuncts with respect to nominal arguments. In this regard, a brief comparison is made between the syntax of adjectives in Spanish and the syntax of adjectives in English and in San Pablo Güilá Zapotec to show that in Spanish, this syntax is more complex than in the other two languages. Finally, the theoretical approach of the work is not ascribed to all the assumptions of minimalist syntax, although in general, it falls within what we could roughly call formal syntax.
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