2. Intermediate levels in vp

John [ ate fish on Monday] but Mary [ ate fish did so on Friday]

VP

VP

V’

V’ PP

V NP

ate on Friday

N

fish

head + complement + adjunct

kill a lion quickly with a knife

give John a book tomorrow

introduce Bill to Mary at a party

say that she is happy

l eft because it was very late

2. Properties of complements and adjuncts

• C omplements:

select head words ( may combine only with special subtypes of head words)

king of France - * boy of France

the claim that John is happy - * the pen that John is happy

• Adjuncts:

do not select head words (may combine with a variety of head words)

boy/pen/king/idea from France

boy/pen/king/idea which I like

• Complements precede adjuncts (are closer to the head)

student of art from Poznan

*student from Warsaw of art

3. X-bar theory of phrase structure

1. Basic principles of the X-bar theory of phrase structure

• All phrases are endocentric (consist of the obligatory head word + optional modifiers)

• There are three kinds of modifiers:

1. Specifier – daughter of XP

2. Adjunct – daughter of X’, sister of X’

3. Complement – daughter of X’ sister of X

• There is at least one intermediate level between X and XP – X’ (even if no complements are present)

[this [student]] but not [that [one]]

NP S

D N’ NP VP

this

N N’ V’

student

N V

Mary sleeps

• If there is more than one adjunct in a phrase, for each adjunct – a separate X’ level

The tall happy student [from Warsaw]

1 2 3

NP

D

t he N’

AP N’

A’ AP N’

PP

A A’ N’

tall P’

A PP NP

happy N P

teacher P’ from N’

P NP N

of Warsaw

N’

N

English