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Frank Van Eynde: On the Notion `Determiner'
Following a common practice in generative grammar, HPSG treats the
determiners as members of a separate functional part of speech (Det).
The status of the functional parts of speech is a matter of debate and
controversy. The auxiliaries, for instance, are commonly treated as
members of a separate functional category (Aux or Infl) in many variants
of generative grammar, including GB, MP and LFG, but in
GPSG and HPSG, it is a matter of equally common practice
to treat them as members of V and to reject the postulation of
a separate functional category, see
Pullum & Wilson (1977) and Gazdar, Pullum & Sag (1982).
This text makes a similar case for the determiners; more
specifically, it argues that the determiners are categorially
heterogeneous, in the sense that some are members of A, whereas
others are members of N. The argumentation is mainly based on
inflectional morphology and morpho-syntactic agreement data.
The consequences of the categorial heterogeneity are hard to
reconcile with the specifier treatment of the determiners in
Pollard & Sag (1994) and with the Det-as-head treatment in
Netter (1994), but it can smoothly be integrated in the
functor treatment of the prenominals in Allegranza (1998) and
Van Eynde (2002).
Maintained by Stefan Müller
Created: November 4, 2003
Last modified: November 30, 2003
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