The parallelism between CP and DP (e.g. the enemy (probably/recently/violently) destroyed
the city ⇔ the enemy’s (probable/recent/violent) destruction of the city ) has been observed
since the beginning of the Generative Grammar with deverbal nouns (Lees 1964, Chomsky
1970), a new light being shed on with the DP-hypothesis (Abney 1987, Siloni 1995). This
paper will pursue such a parallelism by putting forth the existence of three domains: (i) θdomain (=Nachfeld) corresponding to NP/VP-shell; (ii) φ-domain (=Mittelfeld) and (iii) ωdomain (=Vorfeld) involving split-DP/CP. Following the cartographic approach, the
Mittelfeld comprises a series of functional projections hosting modifiers (adverbs for the
clause and adjectives for the noun phrase) as well as derived positions for agreement, Case
feature checking/matching. On a strict application of Kayne’s (1994) antisymmetry to the
phrase structure, modifiers (adverbs, adjectives) merge as unique leftward specifiers of
semantic-functional projections as advocated in Cinque (1994, 1999). The Vorfeld represents
the interpretive left-periphery of the clause/noun which is assigned a split structure in the
spirit of Rizzi (1997) for the clause and Aboh (2003) and Laenzlinger (2005) for the noun.
The Vorfeld is typically the locus for discursive (topic, focus, deixis) interpretation.
This paper offers a crosslinguistic study of the parallelism CP/DP. After having firstmerged in the NP-shell, arguments reach the Mittelfeld for Case-feature checking/matching.
They may target the Vorfeld for DP-internal topicalisation or focalisation. It will be argued
that noun raising is best analyzed as XP-movement rather than X-movement, for it can more
straightforwardly account for (i) the mirror-image of postnominal adjectives, as in (1a-b), and
(ii) the movement of the noun plus an adjective past a determiner-like element, as in (1b-c).
These are cases of pied-piped noun projection movement. The NP moves past the adjectiverelated projection to an agreement position, and then the agreement projection moves past the
other adjective/demonstrative/quantifier, as represented by the structures in (1a-c).
(1)a. un [AgrP [AgrP fromagei [NationP français]] j [QualP splendide [AgrP t j [NP t i]]]] (French)
a
cheese
french
splendid ‘a splendid French cheese’
b. el [AgrP [AgrP chicoi [SizeP alto]] j [DemP este [AgrP t j [NP ti]]]]
(Spanish)
the
boy
old
this
‘this tall boy’
c. o [AgrP kósmosi [DemP aftós]] j [QP ólos [AgrP t j [NP t i]]]
(Greek)
the
world
this
all
‘all this world’
We will concentrate our analysis on (i) modifier (adjective) preposing, (ii) argument fronting,
(iii) possessives and (iv) demonstratives. After having first-merged in the Mittelfeld,
adjectives can also second-merge in the Vorfeld with a topic head or focus head, as in (2).
(2)a. [DP une [FocP SPLENDIDE [AgrP voiture [QualP splendide [NP voiture ]]]]]
A
splendid
car
‘ a splendid car’
(French)
b. [DP to [FocP KOKKINO [DP to [NP foremo] [QualP kokkino [NP foremo ]]]]]
the
RED
the dress
‘the red dress’
(Greek)
c. [DP [TopP lepa [PossP moja [QualP lepa [NP devojčica ]]]]]
(Serbo-Croatian)
beautiful
my
girl ‘my beautiful girl’
d. [DP [FocP How clever [DP a [QualP how clever [NP boy]]]]] he is !
(English)
Arguments of deverbal nouns too can be preposed to the left-periphery of the noun phrase. In
the Serbian noun phrase in (3a), the dative argument is preposed in the Vorfeld as an effect of
topicalization, while in the Hungarian noun phrase in (3b), two arguments are preposed as an
effect of topicalization.
(3)a.[DP [TopP [DP siromásnima] [QualP velikodušana [NP pomoć] [PP u novcu][DP siromásnima] ]]]
to-the-poor
generous
gift
of money
‘a gift of money to the poor’
(Serbo-Croatian)
b. [DP egy [TopP [DP a szegenyeknek] [TopP [PP a bank részérol] [QualP nagylekü
a
to-the-poor
the bank by
generous
[NP penz adomany ] [DP a szegenyeknek] [PP a bank részérol]]]]]
money gift
(Hungarian)
‘a generous gift of money to the poor by the bank’
As argued by Brugé (2004) and Laenzlinger (2005), demonstratives can surface in two
distinct positions within the noun phrase. They first-merge in the Mittelfeld and possibly
move to a deictic D-position in the Vorfeld as a parametric property, as illustrated below:
(4)a. [DP el [AgrP-NP libro viejo [DemP este [suyo de sintaxis]]]]
(Spanish)
the
book old
this his/her of syntax ‘this old book of syntax of his/her’
a’. [DPdeictic este [AgrP-NP libro [QualP viejo [suyo de sintaxis]]]]
b. [DP fete [D le] [DemP acestea [QualP frumoase ]]]
(Romanian)
girls the
these
beautiful
‘these beautiful girls’
b’. [DPdeictic aceste [AgrP-NP fete [QualP frumoase ]]]
c. [QP Sve [AgrP-NP lepe zemlje [DemP ove ]]]
(Serbo-Croatian)
all
beautiful countries
these
‘all these beautiful countries’
c’ [QP Sve [DPdeicitic ove [AgrP-NP lepe zemlje]]]
d. [DP to oreo to vivlio [DemP afto [tou Jani ]]]
(Greek)
the nice the book
this of Janis
‘this nice book of Janis’
d’. [DPdeictic afto [DP to oreo to vivlio [tou Jani ]]]]]
The first-merge position of the demonstrative is on the top of the Mittelfeld above the
adjective-related projections. The demonstrative can move to a deictic D-position in the
Vorfeld, as represented in (5). The category that can move to the intervening agreement
position is NP, AgrPNP or the adjective-related functional projection.
(5) [QP Q [DPdeicitc Dem [AgrP-NP …[DemP Dem [AgrP NP [QualP ADJ [NP N]]]]]]]
Considering now non-pronominal possessives, the examples in (6) show that in these
languages they can move to the left-periphery of the noun phrase.
(6)a. [DP [QualP lepa [NP ćerka] [DP+Gen slavnoy matematičara]]]
(Serbo-Croatian)
nice girl
famous mathematician
‘the famous mathematician’s nice girl’
a.’ [DP [TopP [DP+Gen slavnoy matematičara] [QualP lepa [NP ćerka]]]]
b. [DP (a) [NP+Nom Mari] [QualP szép [NP kalap-ja]]]
(Hungarian)
the
Mari nice hat
‘Mari’s nice hat’
b.’ [DP [CaseP [NP+Dat Mari-nak] [DP a [QualP szép [NP kalap-ja ]]]]]
c. [DP to [AdjP oreo] [DP to [NP vivlio] [DP+Gen tis Marias]]]
(Greek)
the
nice
the book
the Maria
‘Maria’s nice book’
c.’ [DP [TopP [DP+Gen Tis Marias] [DP to [AdjP oreo] [DP to [NP vivlio ]]]]]
d. [DP [AdjP Frumoasa] [NP maşină] [DP+Gen a
lui Ion]]
(Romanian)
beautiful
car
POSS the Ion
‘Ion’s beautiful car’
d.’ [DP [TopP [DP+Gen A lui Ion] [AdjP frumoasă] [NP maşină]]]
Movement of possessives to the left-periphery can be triggered either by informational
proeminence (Serbo-Croatian, Greek, Romanian) or by Case licensing (Hungarian and
English, e.g. John’s car).
To sum up, the noun phrase is a rich articulate structure exhibiting a Mittelfeld where
modifiers merge and Case and phi-features are licensed. The Vorfeld is a split-DP structure
containing a highest QP, a deictic projection and focus and topic projections. This domain is
the target of various types of movement involving adjectives, demonstratives, argument and
possessive DPs, the NP projection (Aboh 2005) and the extended nominal projection (the
subpart of the Mittelfeld containing the noun plus a pre/postnominal adjective). The
motivation for such movement is topicalisation, focalization, deixis and Case licensing.