Discussion Details
| Title: | 'The Matter' - NP Substitution for AP |
| Submitter: | Hank Mooney |
| Description: | The phrase 'the matter' is used in English as a synonym (??) for the word
'wrong', as in 'Something was the matter with him.' 'What's the matter?' 'Is something the matter?' The use of a noun phrase in a syntactic slot that calls for an adjective is unusual, and I'm wondering if anyone has addressed this usage and its implications for syntactic theory in an article or book. Some questions that come to my mind are: Are there other instances of noun phrases substituting for adjectives in English? Any instances of similar things in other languages? How do speakers process this usage? Hank Mooney granjon@sonic.net |
| Date Posted: | 06-Jul-2008 |
| Linguistic Field(s): | Syntax |
| LL Issue: | 19.2156 |
| Posted: | 06-Jul-2008 |
