The Syntax of Noun Phrases
Configuration, Parameters and Empty Categories

This 1991 study of the argument structure of lexical projections makes substantial advances in this relatively neglected area.

Alessandra Giorgi (Author), Giuseppe Longobardi (Author)

9780521379021, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 26 April 1991

300 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.44 kg

Alessandra Giorgi and Giuseppe Longobardi's important 1991 study of the argument structure of lexical projections, in particular of noun phrases, makes substantial advances in this relatively neglected area. Working within a Government and Binding framework, the authors present strong arguments in favour of the existence of empty categories, and evidence for the correct understanding of word order parameters and of Chomsky's Projection Principle. In particular, they elaborate and discuss a number of tests intended to define under which lexical and syntactic conditions an empty pronominal subject may or must occur in a Noun Phrase. The levels of structural attachment of the arguments of a head Noun are carefully established by supporting assumptions made in this domain with independent evidence. As well as its theoretical advances, this book provides a descriptive analysis of nominal structure in Romance, and compares it with corresponding structure in Germanic languages. It offers a valuable introduction to Italian phrase structure.

Foreword
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. On NPs - marking and c-command
2. Extraction form NP and the proper notion of Head government
3. NP parametrization: the Head-Subject hypothesis
4. Null pronominals within NPs and the syntax of DPs References
Index.

Subject Areas: Grammar, syntax & morphology [CFK]