The English Binominal Noun Phrase
A Cognitive-Functional Approach

Taking a multi-theoretical approach, this book offers the first in-depth study of the function and development of evaluative of-binomials.

Elnora ten Wolde (Author)

9781108830959, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 July 2023

280 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.646 kg

'The English Binomial Noun Phrase provides a comprehensive look at an often overlooked, yet important and complex aspect of the English language. This work will be a great resource for scholars and researchers.' Randi Reppen, Professor Emerita, Northern Arizona University

The binomial noun phrase, or of-binomial, is an important phenomenon in the English language. De?ned as a noun phrase that contains two related nouns, linked by the preposition of, examples include a hell of a day and a beast of a storm. This pioneering book provides the ?rst extensive study of the evaluative binominal noun phrases (EBNP) in English, exploring the syntactic rules that govern them, and the (functional) semantic and pragmatic links between the two nouns. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods, corpus data, and two different theoretical approaches (Construction Grammar and Functional Discourse Grammar), it argues that the EBNP now functions as a stage in a grammaticalization path that begins with a prototypical N+PP construction, continues with the head-classi?er, and ends with two new of-binominal constructions: the evaluative modi?er and binominal intensi?er. Comprehensive in its scope, it is essential reading for researchers in syntax, semantics, and English corpus linguistics.

Figures
Tables
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. Of-binominal Classification
3. From Prototypical N+PP to Pseudo-partitive
4. The Evaluative Of-binominals
5. Three Case Studies: Cake, Beast, and Hell
6. Diachronic Evidence
7. Premodification Evidence
8. The EBNP Family: A Construction Grammar Analysis
9. The EBNP Family: A Functional Discourse Grammar Analysis
10. Discussion and Conclusions
11. References.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK], Semantics, discourse analysis, etc [CFG], Linguistics [CF]