A Comparative Study Of The Sequence Of The Noun Phrase Modifiers In English,Chinese And Korean

As one kind of the phrases, noun phrase conforms to the characteristics of phrases. Usually, a noun or the word that has the charasteristcs of noun is the head of noun phrases. There are many elements in noun phrases which modify the head noun, and these elements are called modifiers. According to the position in noun phrases, modifiers can be classified into premodifiers and postmodifiers, and the sequence of the noun phrase modifiers reflects some rules, while the sequences of the modifiers in English, Chinese and Korean and the rules that the sequences of the modifiers reflect are different. This paper aims to discover all the categories of the noun phrase modifiers, the sequence of the modifiers and the rules that the sequence of the modifiers reflect in three langauges. Besides, this paper also aims to find out the similarities and differences in the sequences of the modifiers in English, Chinese and Korean, to analyze if the rules the sequences follow have universals and to find out the reasons that the universals exist in three languages. In this paper, firstly, the definition of noun phrases and modifiers will be given; secondly, the categories of modifiers and the sequences of the modifiers in English, Chinese and Korean will be studied; finally, the structure of the sequences of the modifiers in the three languages will be studied from the perspective of syntax, cognitive linguistics and typology.