Author:

Keywords:

lexical functions, modification, complementation, superordination, apposition

Abstract:

This chapter addresses a number of gaps in the description of English binominal NPs with a type noun (TN) and a second noun (N2) with lexical functions. So far the literature has concentrated mainly on NPs with the surface order ‘TN + N2’, neglecting NPs which manifest as a surface string with reversed N2 – TN order. We thrash out a functional-structural account of all the nominal constructions with lexical functions featuring these two surface sequences. We do this within the framework of Langacker’s cognitive construction grammar, which derives the meanings of constructions from the modification and complementation of heads at different levels of structural assembly. Semantically, the constructions are concerned with either taxonomies in the ‘type’ universe of interpretation or with the characterization of entities in terms of (sub)types. Grammatically, we argue, the fundamental contrast is between constructions to which either a complementation or a modification structure is central. The result is an extended and refined typology of English NP-constructions with lexical functions.