adjectival phrases in English

[Edith A Moravcsik]

Thanks to Bingfu Lu for his comments regarding the ordering of adjectival
phrases in English noun phrases, according to which it depends on the
the degree of referentiality or definiteness of the adjectival phrase.
- The operative constraint is one specifically on English: both in
German and in Hungarian, "this big"- and "too big"-type adjectival
expressions are ordered as all others - i.e., they are not exceptional
in their ordering.

Arnold Zwicky has just informed me that he has a relevant paper:
"Exceptional degree markers: a puzzle in internal and external syntax",
OSU WPL 47. 111-123, l995.

Edith

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                         Edith A. Moravcsik
                         Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
                         University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
                         Milwaukee, WI 53201-0413
                         USA

                         E-mail: edith at uwm.edu
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