A Study On Prenominal Multi-word Expressions In English

The phenomenon of multi-word expression（MWE）serving as prenominal modifier in many languages is becoming noticeable within the last decade.In English,having been a relatively recent feature of grammar,prenominal MWE is becoming more and more productive and frequently used regardless of the textual style since the21^st century,especially in the last five years.Though linguists have made some descriptions and classifications for them,deficiencies exist with respect to the extent of the data collected,scholars’theoretical stance,and the approach they take.Moreover,studies on prenominal MWEs have been mainly focused on German and Japanese,while those for English prenominal MWEs are relatively rare.Previous studies have been to support or amend some theory or are from a contextual or cultural perspective.This study provides some replenishments and corrections for the descriptive work of this phenomenon in English.English prenominal MWEs present various internal structures and demonstrate incongruences concerning syntactic sensitivity,semantics,and the extent pragmatic and textual features have to be considered.Some are complete syntactic nodes,and grammatically agree with outside elements in person,number and tense;some do not strictly obey syntactic rules in the sentence;some are structures violating grammar rules within the MWEs themselves.While most of the MWEs in the data are semantically transparent and compositional,many need to revisit the context or world concept information,and a few show semantic idiosyncrasies.This descriptive analysis helps to add language facts and arguments for those who stand for Lexicalism,various versions of revised（Lexical Integrity Hypothesis）LIH,or anti-lexicalism,among others that hold different theories.As prenominal modifiers,which have been dominantly regarded as the non-head element of a compound formed in the word-formation module of grammar,MWEs to a large extent show syntactic characteristics within and out of themselves.Therefore,they are compared with English postnominal modifiers like post-modifying phrases,relative clauses,and complement clauses.Both the prenominal MWEs and the constructions of MWE+head noun present a continuum in the grammar modules of syntax and morphology,some of them are prone to be phrases and clauses,some quotes,some citations,and some institutionalized lexicon.The present study not only shows the richness and complexities of word formation and phrase/sentence formation but also contributes to the theories of grammar architecture.