摘要：The present paper discusses the occurrence, structure, and complexity of thepostmodifier in the Nigerian English noun phrase (NP) showing tendencies forstructural simplification. It also compares its findings with patterns in British,Ghanaian, Singaporean, Honk Kong varieties. The paper shows how variablesrepresenting syntactic function, register, and weight shed light on specific contextswhere we might or might not find (1) NP with or without a postmodifier (2) a clausal orphrasal postmodifier, and (3) a simple or a complex postmodifier. In addition, the papershows that the extent of variation among different varieties of English is dependent onvariables crucial to the construction choices being investigated. For instance, in (1), apostmodifier is realised while no postmodifier is realised in (2). (1) My car which I justbought last week has been stolen, and (2) My car has been stolen.The NP in (1) isstructurally complex because it realises the clausal type of post modifier, ‘which I justbought last week’. Meanwhile in (2), the NP (the car) lacks a postmodifier. In otherwords, the occurrence viz-a-viz non-occurrence of a postmodifier contributes to theoverall structural and semantic complexity of the entire noun phrases, irrespective ofthe syntactic positions of the NP. Quantitative analyses of 8897 NPs indicate that inNigerian NPs, a postmodifier is more unlikely to occur (61%) than not (39%). Furtheranalyses show that prepositional phrase (57%), rather than clause (32%) or adjective(9%) or adverbials (2%), is the most preferred structural postmodifier type. It is alsoshown that realised postmodifiers are more likely to be structured in two-to-four words(51%) than four-words above. As for the predictive strength of variables studied,syntactic function is found to edge register in asserting influence and explainingdifferent scenarios and contexts where we might or might not find a postmodifier,together with its structural type and weight. In other words, register, which is reputedas a significant indicator of structural variation (Biber, 2007; De Haan, 1993; Schilkand Schaub, 2016) is outweighed by syntactic function. The study further attests thatsignificant structural simplification is largely present in the postmodifier structure ofthe Nigerian English noun phrase.
关键词：postmodifier; Nigerian English noun phrase; New Englishes; register;syntactic function and weight; structural simplification
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