Determiner phrase
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| Syntax: Determiner phrases |
A determiner phrase or DP is a constituent that refers to an individual. Most prototypically, it's formed by combining a determiner and a verb. For example, ké zu "the language" is a DP.
You may be more familiar with the term noun phrase or NP if you've studied English syntax. But Toaq is based on a slightly more complex branch of generative grammar that favors DPs, and anyway it doesn't have nouns, so we talk about DPs instead.
Under the hood
The determiner is actually followed by a reduced relative clause, which lets us put things like tense and aspect in the complement to say things like sá jıa fa "someone who will go".
There is an unpronounced layer called nP in-between, whose head supplies information that helps resolve pronouns in the semantics (such information is called phi features).
Semantically, there is technically only one determiner in Toaq, and it means "the". The difference between sá and tú, for example, is not in their own denotation, but in what quantifier phrase or QP they imply sits at the top of the clause.
Cho jí sá zu.
Some languages are such that I like the language.
Cho jí tú zu.
All languages are such that I like the language.
Pronouns are analyzed as DPs, too. We can think of jí as a determiner that's always followed by a covert verb and always resolves to the "speaker" constant.
See also
- Determiner phrase on Wikipedia.