Re: THEORY: Adpositional Heads
From: | Tommie L Powell <tommiepowell@...> |
Date: | Thursday, September 11, 2003, 15:31 |
In discussing "I saw a man in the house," Rob Haden wrote:
> A language that required PPs to modify the verb or noun directly
> before/after it would be far less ambiguous, no?
Yes, but that wouldn't make this particular problem go away. Here's why:
"I" is a pronoun, not a noun, and, unlike nouns, pronouns cannot be
modified (in English or in any other language that I know of). So,
though it's fine to say "The person in the house saw a man," listeners
will cringe if they hear "I in the house saw a man."
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