This is the first of a two-volume selection of refereed and revised papers, originally presented at the international conference From NP to DP at the University of Antwerp. The papers address issues in the syntax and semantics of the noun phrase, in particular the so-called DP-hypothesis which takes noun phrases to be headed by a functional head D(eterminer). The major concerns can be grouped around 3 subthemes: the internal syntax of noun phrases, the syntax and semantics of bare nouns and indefinites and the expression of measurement in noun phrases. The wealth of data coming from over 40 different languages combined with a thorough introduction to the current issues in the field of NPs/DPs and some alternative syntactic and semantic analyses, provide a comprehensive reference work from both a descriptive and a theoretical point of view. The second volume is concerned exclusively with the expression of possession in noun phrases.

Table of contents

Introduction: The syntax and semantics of noun phrases: Theoretical background Martine Coene and Yves D'hulst 1–33 Introduction: Case studies Martine Coene and Yves D'hulst 35–46 1. Determiner Phrases in Old and Modern French Paul Boucher 47–69 2. On pro-nouns and other “pronouns” Rose-Marie Déchaine and Martina Wiltschko 71–89 3. Modification in the Balkan nominal expression: An account of the (A)NA : AN(A) order contrast Mila Dimitrova-Vulchanova 91–118 4. Subnominal empty categories as subordinate topics Petra Sleeman 119–137 5. ‘Transparent’ free relatives as a special instance of ‘standard’ free relatives Alexander Grosu 139–178 6. Resolving number ambiguities in Sakha: Evidence for the Determiner Phrase as a processing domain Edith Kaan and Nadezhda Vinokurova 179–193 7. Weak indefinites Greg Carlson 195–210 8. Predicate–argument mismatches and the Adjectival Theory of indefinites Fred Landman 211–237 9. Determinerless nouns: A parametric mapping theory Giuseppe Longobardi 239–254 10. A Russellian interpretation of measure nouns Almerindo E. Ojeda 255–276 11. Generalizing over quantitative and qualitative constructions Jenny Doetjes and Johan Rooryck 277–295 12. On three types of movement within the Dutch nominal domain Norbert Corver 297–328 13. Semi-lexical nouns, classifiers, and the interpretation(s) of the pseudopartitive construction Melita Stavrou 329–353 Index of languages 355 Index of subjects 356–359