Граматика / English Syntax

106	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax

(10)AP

Spec		?
	A	PP
so	fond	of co ee

(11)PP

Spec		?
	P	NP
quite	in	agreement

(12)AdvP

Spec		?
	A	PP
much	faster	than me

Notice that there is a generalisation to be made here. In each case the configuration of the various phrasal components is identical. The generalised structure of each of the phrases above is as follows:

(13)	XP
(Specifier)	?

X (Head)

(Complement)

In this tree ‘XP’ is a phrase headed by X, where X stands for V, N, A, P or Adv. The Specifier is a sister of the node that dominates the Head þ Complement sequence, indicated by ‘?’. In (13) we now have an unlabelled category, namely the one that dominates the Head þ Complement string. What is the nature of this node? It doesn’t seem to have the status of something we have come across before. From the tree in (13) it appears that ‘?’ is at a level that is intermediate between the phrase level XP and the Head level X. Let us call this level X0 (read: X-bar).

Heads, Complements and Specifiers	107

We can now present a full representation of the bracketed phrases in

(1)–(5):

(14)VP

Spec		V0
	V	NP
not	destroy	the garden

(15)NP

Spec		N0
	N	PP
an	analysis	of the sentence

(16)AP

Spec		A0
	A	PP
so	fond	of co ee

(17)PP

Spec		P0
	P	NP
quite	in	agreement

(18)AdvP

Spec		Adv0
	Adv	PP
much	faster	than me

108	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax

(Following standard practice I have included Specifier nodes in the trees above. Strictly speaking this is inappropriate, because the notion Specifier is a functional one, and we saw in Chapter 4 that functional labels do not appear in trees.)

Exercise

Why would a ‘flat’ representation like (i) below for the NP an analysis of the sentence not be a satisfactory way of showing the relationships between the various components of this phrase?

(i)	NP
Spec	N	PP
an	analysis	of the sentence

The reason why flat representations are unsatisfactory is that they do not account for the fact that phrases are structured hierarchically, i.e. the relationships between the various elements that make up a phrase are not the same. In the NP an analysis of the sentence we want to account for the fact that the Determiner an bears a relationship to the Head noun and PP taken together. (15) is able to account for this, (i) in the exercise above is not.

Observe that in the trees in (14)–(18) the Specifiers are di erent types of elements. The Specifier position of VP is the subject of much current research which we can’t go into here. In this book we will assume that in VPs negative elements such as not and never are in Spec-of-VP. In NPs determiners are Specifiers, and in the remaining phrasal categories the Specifier position contains intensifying elements.

You will have noticed that both the Specifier and Complement positions in (13) are in brackets. This indicates that they are optional. Specifiers appear only if the meaning of the phrase requires it. Thus, for example, in the case of VPs, a Specifier not appears only if we want to express a negative VP. The Specifier position is left empty if the VP does not contain not. Similarly, in the case of NPs without determiners (e.g. trains in Trains are slow), we will assume that the Specifier position remains empty. As for Complements, these appear only if the Head of a phrase requires their presence. What exactly is meant by ‘requires their presence’ will be clarified in Section 7.4.

In (13), we regard each of the levels XP, X0 and X as projections of the Head. To be more precise, XP is the maximal projection of the Head (also called a double-bar projection, sometimes written as X00), while the X0-level is

Heads, Complements and Specifiers	109

a single-bar projection. The Head itself is a zero-bar projection (or lexical projection). Every phrase, then, has three levels of structure: X00, X0 and X.

Exercise

Assign tree structures to the bracketed phrases below:

(i)[the destruction of Carthage]

(ii)He is [so envious of his sister]

(iii)We are [citizens of the world]

(iv)She [travelled to Rome]

(v)He walked [straight through the door]

Your answers should look like this:

(i)NP

Spec		N0
Det	N	PP
the	destruction	of Carthage

(19)AP

Spec		A0
	A	PP
so	envious	of his sister
(20)	NP
Spec		N0
	N	PP
	citizens	of the world

110	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax
(21)	VP
Spec		V0
	V	PP
	travelled	to Rome

(22)PP

Spec		P0
	P	NP
straight	through	the door

We end this section with two tables (Tables 7.1 and 7.2) showing typical Specifiers and Complements for the di erent phrase types.

Clausal Complements will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 8.

Table 7.1 Typical Specifiers for the Major Phrase Types NP, VP, AP and PP

Phrase	Specifier	Example(s)
NP	determiners	[the examination]
		[our car]
		[many answers]
VP	negative elements	He does [not like planes]
		She [never eats meat]
AP	degree adverbs	[how nice]
		They are [so eager to please]
		He isn’t [that/this fat]
		[too bad]
		That’s [rather/quite disgusting]
		She is [as rich as the Queen]
PP	adverbs	The supermarket is [right up your street]
		My o ce is [quite in disarray]
		The o ce is [just to your left]

Adjuncts	111

Table 7.2 Typical Complements for the Major Phrase Types NP, VP, AP and PP

Phrase	Head	Complement	Example(s)
NP	N	PP	his insistence [PP on the arrangement] (cf. He
			insists on the arrangement.)
			their specialisation [PP in wines] (cf. They
			specialise in wines.)
		clause	their realisation [that-clause that all is lost] (cf. They
			realise that all is lost.)
			her consideration [whether-clause whether the
			expense was worth it] (cf. She considered
			whether the expense was worth it.)
			her requirement [for-clause for all candidates to
			comply with the rules] (cf. She requires all
			candidates to comply with the rules.)
		NP	a literature teacher (cf. He teaches literature/a
			teacher of literature)

Note: Complement-taking nominal Heads often have a verbal counterpart (cf. (2) and (6) above).

VP	V	NP	She placed [NP an advertisement].
		clause	They know [that-clause that the sun will shine
			tomorrow]
		PP	He looked [PP at the picture]

Note: for many more examples of verbal Complements see Chapter 4.

AP	A	PP	glad [PP about your decision]
			pleased [PP with the result]
			dependent [PP on his brother]
		clause	I am so eager [to-infinitive clause to work with you]
			He’s engaged [-ing clause teaching the students]
			She’s unsure [Wh-clause what we should do next]
PP	P	NP	in/under/behind [NP the car]
		PP	out [PP of love]
			from [PP behind the bookcase]
			down [PP by the sea]
		clause	He is uncertain about [Wh-clause what you said to me]

7.2Adjuncts

The phrases we have looked at so far contained only a Specifier, a Head and a Complement. Phrases can, however, be structurally more complicated. Consider first the bracketed VP below:

(23)The defendants denied the charge: they claim that they did [VP not destroy the garden deliberately]

112	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax

In this sentence the AdvP deliberately modifies the sequence destroy the garden, and is positioned after the Head destroy and its Complement the garden. This AdvP functions as an Adjunct in that it tells us how the defendants destroyed the garden (or rather, in this particular case, how they didn’t destroy the garden). Disregarding the AdvP for a moment, the structure of the VP in (23) is as in (24) below (¼14):

(24)VP

Spec		V0
	V	NP
not	destroy	the garden

How can we now add the Adjunct?

One way of doing this is simply to have a third branch coming from V0 for the AdvP, as in (25):

(25)VP

Spec		V0
	AdvP	V	NP

not

deliberately destroy

the garden

However, this representation cannot account for the fact that deliberately modifies destroy and the garden taken together: ‘what did the defendants not deliberately do?’ Answer: ‘destroy the garden’.

Another way of positioning Adjuncts in VPs is to adjoin them to V0. This is done as follows:

(26)VP

Spec			V0
		V0		AdvP
		V	NP
		destroy	the garden	deliberately
not

Adjuncts	113

What we have done here is repeat the V0-node and add the AdvP as its daughter. This process is called Adjunction and is defined as follows:

Adjunction

Category B is adjoined to category A:

1.by making B a sister of A and

2.by making A and B daughters of a copy of the original node A

A

A ! A

B ! A

B

We can have adjunction to the right, as in (26), shown schematically in the definition above, but also adjunction to the left, as in (27) below, where deliberately is left-adjoined to the lower V0:

(27)		VP
Spec			V0
		AdvP		V0
			V	NP
		deliberately	destroy	the garden
not

In this case the Adjunct is positioned between the Specifier and the Head. Notice that in both (26) and (27) the Complement the garden is closer to the Head destroy than the Adjunct deliberately: the Complement is a sister of V, whereas the Adjunct is a sister of the V0 that immediately dominates V. This situation is exactly what we want: deliberately is not an argument of destroy and hence more peripheral to it than the garden, which is an argument of the verb.

Up to now we have used the term Adjunct in a somewhat restricted sense to refer to the grammatical function of a constituent that specifies the ‘how’, ‘when’, ‘where’ or ‘why’ of the situation expressed by a sentence. Under this definition the AdvP deliberately in (23) clearly qualifies as an Adjunct. We will now widen the notion of Adjunct, in such a way that not only VPs can contain them, but other phrase types as well. Consider the strings below:

(28)[NP an analysis of the sentence with tree diagrams]

(29)[AP so fond of co ee after dinner]

(30)[PP quite in agreement about this]

(31)[AdvP much faster than me by far]

114	Cross-Categorial Generalisations: X-bar Syntax

The italicised strings in the bracketed phrases above, like deliberately in (26) and (27), have a modifying function and we will therefore analyse them as Adjuncts. Like Adjuncts in VPs, they are adjoined to a bar level category in tree structures.

Exercise

Draw the tree structures for (28)–(31).

The answers are given in (32)–(35):

(32)
	NP
Spec		N0
	N0		PP
	N	PP
an	analysis	of the sentence	with tree diagrams
(33)
	AP
Spec		A0
	A0		PP
	A	PP
so	fond	of co ee	after dinner
(34)
	PP
Spec		P0
	P0		PP
	P	NP
quite	in	agreement	about this

		Adjuncts	115
(35)
	AdvP
Spec		Adv0
	Adv0		PP
	Adv	PP
much	faster	than me	by far

Consider next (36)–(39):

(36)[NP a silly analysis of the sentence]

(37)[AP so terribly fond of co ee]

(38)[PP quite unhesitatingly in agreement]

(39)[AdvP clearly faster than me]

In these cases we have Adjuncts that are positioned before the Head (compare the VP in (27)). (40)–(43) are the tree structure representations for these phrases:

(40)
	NP
Spec		N0
	AP		N0
		N	PP
a	silly	analysis	of the sentence
(41)
	AP
Spec		A0
	AdvP		A0
		A	PP
so	terribly	fond	of co ee