A Study On The Argument Structure Of English Complex DP

There is a phenomenon of embedded nominal phrases in the structure of English nominal phrases.These embedded nominal pmrases have their own morphological features and serve as different structural constituents in the structure of nominal phrase with non-modifying constituents.This thesis refers to these nominal phrases as Complex DPs.The core constituent of English Complex DPs,its theta role and propositional meaning are very similar to the sentence structure.The argument structure of the sentence establishes with the verb as the core,and expresses the meaning of the proposition.The arguments finally need to obtain different cases to satisfy the syntactic requirements.The internal constituents of English Complex DPs also reflect the propositional significance.At the same time,other nominal phrases constructed around the core nouns should also obtain the case to meet the syntactic requirements.In view of this,this thesis discusses the existence of the argument structure of English Complex DPs under the framework of Generative Syntax.Firstly,according to the parallel relationship between CP and DP,the English Complex DP is divided into four categories.It includes the "SVO" Pattern,the "SV"Pattern,the "VO" Pattern and the "SO" Pattern.According to the case form and semantic role,the structural relationship between internal constituents is demonstrated.It is found that the Complex DP and CP in English are generated on the basis of the argument structure.Due to the change of the property about the core word of the argument structure,the morphological form of constituents in the argument structure changes.When the argument structure establishes with verbs as the core,the arguments are represented in a nominative case and an accusative case.When the argument structure establishes with nouns as the core,the arguments are represented in a genitive case and an oblique.Obtaining a case feature is the driving force to move and merge of nominal constituents.At the same time,based on Phase Theory,this thesis makes the derivation of English Complex DPs and its argument structure.