X-bar Theory - A Simple Noun Phrase

A Simple Noun Phrase

The noun phrase "the cat" might be rendered like this:

NP / \ Det N' | | the N | cat

The word the is a determiner (specifically an article), which at first was believed to be a type of specifier for nouns. The head is the determiner (D) which projects into a determiner phrase (DP or DetP). The word cat is the noun phrase (NP) which acts as the complement of the determiner phrase. More recently, it has been suggested that D is the head of the noun phrase.

Note that branches with empty specifiers, adjuncts, complements, and heads are often omitted, to reduce visual clutter. The DetP and NP above have no adjuncts or complements, so they end up being very linear.

In English, specifiers precede the X-bar that contains the head. Thus, determiners always precede their nouns if they are in the same noun phrase. Other languages use different orders. See word order.

Read more about this topic:  X-bar Theory

Famous quotes containing the words simple, noun and/or phrase:

    The state has no religion for the simple reason that it has each and everyone.
    Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)

    It will be proved to thy face that thou hast men about thee that usually talk of a noun and a verb and such abominable words as no Christian ear can endure to hear.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    Listen to any musical phrase or rhythm, and grasp it as a whole, and you thereupon have present in you the image, so to speak, of the divine knowledge of the temporal order.
    Josiah Royce (1855–1916)