Re: Combined Cases? and NP?

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 19:44:39  0100 Carsten Becker <post@...>
wrote.

>I just wanted to ask what "combined cases" (in Latin) are, how they work
and
>have evolved.
Sounds like a job for Ray. I haven't the slightest notion what they are,
personally.

>And the usual second question: What is an "NP"? This term appears here
every
>now and then, but I still do notknow what it means.
It's a Noun Phrase, i.e. a noun plus all its associated baggage -- the
article, adjectives, and (um) some other stuff, probably, depending on the
language (plurality particles might be an example). Basically, all the stuff
that "modifies" the noun, i.e. the stuff that distinguishes that particular
occurence of the noun from the generic concept of the noun.

Start with the noun "fox" in the sentence "The quick, brown fox jumps over
the lazy dog". The NP is what you get when someone says "which fox?", i.e.
_the_ _quick_ _brown_ _fox_. The word "fox" is the "head" of the NP, and all
the other words _the_, _quick_ and _brown_ are the "modifiers" of the head.



Paul