next up previous contents
Next: nPUnxPU Up: Appositives, parentheticals and vocatives Previous: Appositives, parentheticals and vocatives

nxPUnxPU

The symmetric (non-peripheral) tree for NP appositives, anchored by: comma, dash or parentheses. It is shown in Figure 24.1 anchored by parentheses.
(503)0(503
(504)
The music here , Russell Smith's ``Tetrameron '' , sounded good . [Brown:cc09]  (504)0(504
(505)
...cost 2 million pounds (3 million dollars)  (505)0(505
(506)
Sen. David Boren (D., Okla.)... 

(506)0(506
(507)
...some analysts believe the two recent natural disasters - Hurricane Hugo and the San Francisco earthquake - will carry economic ramifications.... [WSJ]  

ps/punct-files/nxPUnxPU.ps.gif

{The $\beta$nxPUnxPU tree, anchored by parentheses

 

The punctuation marks are the anchors and the appositive NP is substituted. The appositive can be conjoined, but only with a lexical conjunction (not with a comma). Appositives with commas or dashes cannot be pronouns, although they may be conjuncts containing pronouns. When used with parentheses this tree actually presents an alternative rather than an appositive, so a pronoun is possible. Finally, the appositive position is restricted to having nominative or accusative case to block PRO from appearing here. Appositives can be embedded, as in ((508)), but do not seem to be able to stack on a single NP. In this they are more like restrictive relatives than appositive relatives, which typically can stack.

(507)0(507
(508)
...noted Simon Briscoe, UK economist for Midland Montagu, a unit of Midland Bank PLC. 


next up previous contents
Next: nPUnxPU Up: Appositives, parentheticals and vocatives Previous: Appositives, parentheticals and vocatives
XTAG Project
http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~xtag