Syntactic classes and syntactic functions

The terms “complement”, “adjunct” and “specifier” do not refer to different types of syntactic units (classes/categories) like NP or V but indicate functions which syntactic units have in a structure. They are concepts similar to that of “subject” or “object” in traditional grammars.

Just like an NP can be either subject or object in:

[ [ This boy] [ likes [ that girl ] ]

S NP VP NP

(subject) (object)

the PP can be either adjunct or complement as in:

to rely on one's friends (complement)

to sleep on a sofa (adjunct)

Just as the same phrase type may perform different functions, the same function may be performed by phrases of different types:

subject – The global warming worries me. (NP)

That the globe gets warmer worries me. (S)

complement - John knows that story (NP)

that Kennedy was killed (S)

about it (PP)

Notice that we are able to relate the difference between the subject and object to different positions in constituent structure. In the analysis which we have been assuming for the sentence like This man ate a fish, the subject NP the man is a daughter of S and a sister of VP, the object NP the fish is a daughter of VP and a sister of V.

S

NP VP

This man V NP

ate

a fish

No such structural distinction can be made between specifier (Det) and the “of” PP complement if the structure of the NP: the teacher of English i s like we have been assuming so far:

NP

Det N PP

Both Det and PP are daughters of NP and sisters of N, which means that the difference between the functions of these two modifiers are not represented in the Phrase Marker

Similarly. in the approach in which all modifiers are sisters to the head no distinction coud be made between complement and adjunct in:

to rely on one's friends (complement)

to sleep on a sofa (adjunct)

3. Intermediate structure theory:

a) Replacement by “one” argument

Consider the sentence i):

i) Mary likes [this teacher of English] but not [ that one].

It may be analyzed as being formed from the one like ii) which shows explicitly what i) means

ii) Mary likes [this teacher of English ] but not [ that teacher of English. ]

The process of changing ii) into i) involves replacement of the repeated material “teacher of English ” by the pronoun “one”

On the assumption that such replacement of a repeated material always involves a complete constituent (as has been independently shown in similar cases), we have evidence for the following structure:

[ This [ [teacher] [of English] ] ]

NP? N PP

The “intermediate” (between NP and N) level of structure within NP has been called N-bar (spelled ͞N or N’). It is the N-bar constituent that is replaced by “ one ”.