NP - The Noun Phrase
Noun phrases can be recursively expanded in two ways: They allow the theoretically infinite positioning of adjectives in pre-nominal position and the recursive occurrence of prepositional phrases and relative clauses as postmodifying structures. To generate such constructions, N' can be recursively expanded.
The head of the noun phrase (NP) is the noun (N). It determines the gender and number of its dominating categories, i.e. its mother categories, N' and NP. In recent work, the determiner has been analysed as a phrasal category which no longer occupies the specifier position of NP. An alternative suggestion is thus to define the NP as part of a determiner phrase.
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The rule system
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| 1. | NP | ⇨ | Det N' |
| 2. | N' | ⇨ | (AP) N' |
| 3. | N' | ⇨ | N (PP) |
| recursive expansion of rule 2 | |||