Quirky NPs with Special Reference to Close Apposition

Resumo

My thesis focuses on the Noun Phrase in general, and which of its constituents is the head of the whole syntactic structure in particular. Since Bloomfield (1933), who analyzed this structure as a construct purely endocentric, that is, a structure that develops the same function as one of its constituents (which is considered the head of the structure), different analyses have been taken into account with the aim of clarifying the internal structure of the Noun Phrase. This structure began to be analyzed by Abney (1987), from the point of view of the Generative Grammar, in a completely different way form what has been done until that moment. Abney¿s work follows the linguistic advances which appeared with Chomsky¿s work (1986). One of the main ideas of the Generative Grammar is that functional categories are a central element in the study of syntax. Because of this importance, Abney¿s analysis considers that the determiner is the head of the structure and the noun is the complement. This theory is known as the ¿DP hypothesis. I began to study this syntactic structure with the aim o preparing a research work by means of which I may explain the internal characteristics of the Noun Phrase. From my point of view, this structure has a head, and this is the lexical element, that is, the noun, contrary to Abney (1987). Thus, my thesis aims to offer an analysis opposed to the one proposed by the Generative Grammar, ant the one more current nowadays. I will take into account the Cognitive Grammar developed by Langacker (1987, 1991) as the linguistic framework for the developing my thesis. I will also take into account appositive structures. The study of these structures resolves around centrality, which of the two structures is the main one, which structure complements the other (and if there is only one head). Usually, appositive structures comprise a proper name and a Noun Phrase made up of a determiner and a noun and its classic vision is that they are doubly endocentric. The main aim of my thesis is, as I said before, defending that the noun is the head of the Noun Phrase. I consider that the communicative relations between human beings should be analyzed within a communicative context which influences the knowledge of a language, its use and its formal structure. Thus, I will also take into account the relations that speakers and hearers establish with their context when they use language.