Noun Phrase Complexity in English (Studies in English Language) - Softcover

Berlage, Eva

 
9781108790420: Noun Phrase Complexity in English (Studies in English Language)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1108790429 ISBN 13: 9781108790420
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2019

Synopsis

This book explores noun phrase (NP) complexity in English, showing that it is best accounted for both by a linear and a hierarchical parameter: its length and its type of postmodifier(s). The study is methodologically unique in that it combines univariate and multivariate analyses in an investigation of four different syntactic variables. Drawing on more than three billion words of British and American data, Eva Berlage shows that the length and the structure of the NPs, along with language-external factors such as the regional variety of English, work as powerful determinants of the variation. On a theoretical level, the book reveals that the structural complexity of NPs cannot be sufficiently captured by (phrasal) node counts but that we need to incorporate the degree to which NPs are sentential. The book is designed for researchers and students interested in syntax, language variation, sociolinguistics, structural complexity and the history of English.

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About the Author

Eva Berlage is Junior Professor of English Linguistics at Universität Hamburg.

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Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication date
2019
Language
English
ISBN 10 
1108790429
ISBN 13 
9781108790420
Binding
Paperback
Number of pages
300

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781107015128: Noun Phrase Complexity in English (Studies in English Language)

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  110701512X ISBN 13:  9781107015128
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2014
Hardcover