A two-rule analysis of measure noun phrases

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21248/hpsg.2003.7

Abstract

In this paper we present an analysis of English measure noun phrases. Measure noun phrases exhibit both distributional idiosyncrasy, in that they appear in positions normally filled by degree adverbs: "a ten inch long string"; and agreement discord: "ten inches is enough", "it is ten inch/*inches long". The analysis introduces one idiosyncratic construction, the Measure Phrase Rule, which links together syntax and inflectional morphology. Combined with existing rules, in particular the Noun-noun Compound Rule, the new rule accounts for the both the distributional and agreement idiosyncrasies. The rule has been implemented and tested in the ERG, a broad-coverage grammar of English. Our analysis supports the position that broad-coverage grammars will necessarily contain both highly schematic and highly idiosyncratic rules.

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Published

2003-10-01

How to Cite

Flickinger, Dan & Bond, Francis. 2003. A two-rule analysis of measure noun phrases. Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar 111–121. (doi:10.21248/hpsg.2003.7) (https://proceedings.hpsg.xyz/article/view/561) (Accessed March 28, 2024.)