The English Noun Phrase in its Sentential Aspect - Vinartus

3. THE DP-ANALYSIS 51Though the idea that the Determiner is the head of the noun phraseseems rather odd at rst, the conceptual considerations I havejustsketchedmake it seem a very natural, even necessary development of current viewsof phrase structure. I will discuss the Det-as-head analysis in more detailin Chapter Four. I have introduced it here because I will occasionally makereference to it in the remainder of this chapter, and in the next.As a bibliographic note, I would also like topoint out that the Detas-headanalysis, and the analysis in which there is an Inectional (i.e.,functional) head of the noun phrase, are also not so odd that others havenot thought of it before me. When I rst began exploring the possibility,I thought it quite novel, but I have since discovered comparable proposalsin Brame 1981, 1982, Hale 1980, Hellan 1986, Horrocks & Stavrou 1985,Hudson 1984, Kornlt 1984, Kuroda 1986, Reuland 1985, Szabolcsi 1981,1984. For the most part, these authors appear to be unaware of each other'swork.The determiner as head of the noun phrase is also, of course, a very wellestablishedtenet in the Montagovian semantic tradition (Montague 1974),and receives particular attention in the Generalized Quantier proposal ofBarwise & Cooper 1981, cf. Higginbotham & May 1980.3.5 The Position of 'sIn this section, I would like to consider how Case is assigned to the possessorunder the DP-analysis. It is generally assumed that the 's is involved inCase-assignment to the possessor. But what precisely is the position of 's,and what is its relation to the possessor?3.5.aMorphological Case AxOne possibility that can be immediately eliminated is that 's is a morphologicalcase-marking. As is well-known, 's cliticizes to the entire subjectnoun phrase it does not appear simply as an ax on the head: 19,20(61) a. [a cousin of mine]'s houseb. [the man in the store]'s sudden disappearance19 If words like mine, your, are suppletive from I's (or me's), you's, then cliticizationof 's feeds morphological processes. This is not problematic.20 The text examples are not perfectly well-formed. Later, in a dierent context, I markthem as marginal. I think they are suciently good, though, to illustrate the claim that's is not simply a case ax which attaches to the head of the noun phrase.