positioning of 'property concepts' in the NP

[Frederick J Newmeyer]

Thanks, Frans,

Those are good examples, but English semi-productively allows noun modifiers of nouns to occur prenominally as well (wood chair, city planner, etc.). I'm looking for a language where the categorially-different modifiers always occur on different sides of the head noun. Only then will I be in a position to boost my h-index! (That sounds like something one would want to do after a disappointing blood test.)

--fritz

Frederick J. Newmeyer
Professor Emeritus, University of Washington
Adjunct Professor, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University
[for my postal address, please contact me by e-mail]

On Tue, 30 Mar 2010, Franz Plank wrote:

> English?
>
> A N		a wooden chair
> N N		a chair of wood
>
> A N		He is (not) a trustworthy man
> N V		He is (not) a man to trust
>
>
> I'll be interested to see whether you'll get that 
> published in a journal boosting your h-index, 
> Fritz.
>
> Frans
>
>
>
>
>
> Quoting Frederick J Newmeyer 
> <fjn at U.WASHINGTON.EDU>:
>
>> Dear all,
>> 
>> I wonder if I might deflect the discussion from 
>> academic publishing for a moment. I am looking 
>> for an example of a language manifesting 
>> something very specific -- a language which 
>> might or might not exist:
>> 
>> 1. In this language 'property concepts' (to use 
>> a neutral term) are encoded in part by a 
>> distinct category 'Adjective' and also by what 
>> are uncontroversially Nouns or Verbs in terms of 
>> their catgeory assignments.
>> 
>> 2. In this language, within the Noun Phrase, 
>> Adjective modifiers of the Noun appear on one 
>> side of the Noun that they modify, whereas Noun 
>> or Verb modifiers appear on the opposite side of 
>> the Noun that they modify.
>> 
>> Does anybody know an example of such a language?
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> 
>> --fritz
>> 
>> Frederick J. Newmeyer
>> Professor Emeritus, University of Washington
>> Adjunct Professor, University of British 
>> Columbia and Simon Fraser University
>> [for my postal address, please contact me by 
>> e-mail]
>> 
>