The English Noun Phrase in its Sentential Aspect - Vinartus

42 CHAPTER 2. NOUN PHRASE AND SENTENCEappear in all languages. Some languages lack English-type adjectives, ornearly so (Swahili is a famous example). Other languages appear to lacka separate class of adpositions, using nouns instead (the Mayan languages,for instance).Further, there are two distinct categories, with very dierent syntacticproperties, which meet notional criteria of adjective-hood (i.e., they typicallydenote physical attributes, emotional states, etc.). In some languages,\adjectives" (in the notional sense) are syntactically very similar to|evena subcategory of|verbs in other languages they behave syntactically likenouns. Many languages have both syntactic types, with a preponderanceof one or the other. 10 It appears, then, that there are at least two syntacticcategories that are notionally adjectives, one essentially nominal ([+N]),as in English, and one essentially verbal ([-N]). If so, and if both syntactictypes of adjective constitute major categories, then we have ve majorcategories, not four.These are my reasons for being skeptical of the standard [NV] categorytetrachotomy. I do not claim that I haveproven in this brief discussionthat there is no feature [V] nonetheless, I do not adopt it. I do assumenouns are distinguished from adjectives, and prepositions are distinguishedfrom verbs, but I do not assume that these two distinctions necessarily haveanything in common.I assume two major features, [F], [N], which dene four major classesof syntactic categories. 11 I also assume that there are minor features thatdistinguish subclasses of syntactic categories, but I will not argue here fora particular set of minor features. Unless a given minor feature cuts acrossmajor syntactic-category classes, the question of the identity of the minorfeatures is not very interesting. (A candidate for a minor feature whichcuts across major syntactic-category classes is that which distinguishesnouns and adjectives. In section IV-3, I examine the possibility that thisfeature also distinguishes between main verbs and auxiliaries: i.e., thatN:A::V:Aux.)The four major classes of syntactic categories are as follows:10 See Dixon (1982) for a detailed notional characterization of \adjective" and a surveyof language types with regard to the syntactic expression of \adjective" notions.11 I do not assume that categories are necessarily dened by their feature compositions.I assume that features dene classes of categories, but I leave open the question whetherit is possible for two categories to have all feature specications in common, yet remaindistinct categories.