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{{refgram|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, {{t|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 {{t|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 [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_features#Syntactic_analysis phi features]).

Semantically, there is technically only one determiner in Toaq, and it means "the". The difference between {{t|sá}} and {{t|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.

{{Example|Cho jí {{green|sá}} zu.|{{gray|''Some'' languages are such that}} I like {{green|the}} language.}}
{{Example|Cho jí {{green|tú}} zu.|{{gray|''All'' languages are such that}} I like {{green|the}} language.}}

[[Pronoun]]s are analyzed as DPs, too. We can think of {{t|jí}} as a determiner that's always followed by a covert verb and always resolves to the "speaker" constant.

== See also ==
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determiner_phrase Determiner phrase] on Wikipedia.