dissertation available

[Arne Kirchner]

Hello,

my dissertation about the spanish nominal phrase
is now available at
http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/diss/2000/kirchner/index
.htm

For a first information I attach the abstract in
english (the dissertation is in german).
Additional information can be archieved soon on my
homepage (http://www.gwdg.de/~akirchn/).
Comments are very welcome.

greetings
Arne Kirchner

------------------------
Abstract

This dissertation investigates the structure of
the Spanish nominal phrase. First of all we have
to discuss whether the noun really is the head of
the phrase, as traditional grammars assume, or
whether it is the determiner that constitutes the
head of a determiner phrase. In order to resolve
this problem we have to take a close look at the
interrelation between nouns, determiners and
adjectives. Spanish grammars mostly do not
distinguish between adjectives and determiners.
Both parts of speech are considered adjectives. We
need a differentiation that includes the article,
which is traditionally supposed to be outside.
 The nominal phrase must not consist of various
parts, only a noun is possible. If determiner and
adjective are not obligatory, the question of
their status remains open, especially in a
grammatical theory like HPSG. There are some
arguments in favor of their status as complements,
others in favour of their status as adjuncts,
others for an intermediate status. These facts
require a special treatment by the grammar.
 The differentiation between determiners and
adjectives demands special features, which include
morphological, syntactic and semantic properties.
Some special treatment is needed for the
cooccurrence of determiners. Because this
differentiation is gradual, we calculate the
distance between one determiner and the other with
the aid of a mathematical method. As a result the
gradation is illustrated in a dendrogram. The
HPSGrammar must be modified by an idiosyncratic
sort of hierarchy for Spanish, so that the parts
of speech are adequately accommodated.
 We can demonstrate that the HPSGrammar is able to
integrate the special requirements of the Spanish
determiner system, in which the article can be
included. The nominal phrase is governed by the
noun. Determiners are classed as specifiers
between complementation and adjunction, while
adjectives are classed as adjuncts.