ABSTRACT
In this chapter we will investigate the structural properties of noun phrases and the various ways in which they determine crosslinguistic word order variation. It is shown that noun phrases instantiate a number of inflectional categories which parallel those found in sentences, thus implying that there is a structural similarity between the two constructions, as is widely recognised in the literature. It is argued that for this structural similarity to be captured properly each of the inflectional elements instantiated in noun phrases should be assigned a full categorial status on a par with their counterparts in sentences. This argument is shown to be independently motivated on empirical grounds having to do mainly with word order. It is argued that word order properties, among others, are better explained once noun phrases are assigned a structure whereby each of the inflectional categories projects its own X-bar structure. Word order variation is shown to be determined by variation in the lexical properties of the inflectional elements instantiated, along the lines suggested in the previous chapter to account for word order variation in sentences. The lexical properties of the inflectional categories are argued to determine the structural properties of noun phrases and the movement possibilities of the substantive elements. The last section of the chapter deals with the properties of C (omplementiser) elements and their grammatical function. It is included for two reasons. First, C elements are also functional categories which, moreover, play a major role in the grammar as we will see below. Second, their putative function as nominalisers has crucial implications for the overall analysis suggested in this work for the structural properties of sentences and noun phrases. Before we embark on our task a word of caution about the expression ‘noun phrase’. This expression is used to refer to constructions which categorially may be DPs or AGRPs; in other words, the expression ‘noun phrase’ is not used synonymously with NP.
