期刊名称：Linguística : Revista de Estudos Linguísticos da Universidade do Porto
印刷版ISSN：1646-6195
出版年度：2013
卷号：08
页码：17-38
出版社：Universidade do Porto
摘要：The nature of N1N2 constructions, or nouns in apposition, is controversial:
depending on the theoretical framework, they can be considered as compounds or as
syntactic constructions.
Indeed, nouns in apposition function as a hybrid category, in a double way:
(i) the same lexical structure in apposition is viewed either as a coordinative
construction, as a subordinative or as an attributive construction.
(ii) N2 functions as a modifier or as an attributive item of N1; in Portuguese, when
plural is syntactically mandatory, N1 (the head) is systematically pluralized; N2 either
rejects inflection or behaves as a predicator, allowing inflectional marks.
We claim that Romance NN behave as a specific type of compounds. This assumption
is grounded on their behaviour by contrast with phrasal properties.
Portuguese compounds are characterized by a narrow relationship between internal
structure, headness and inflectional patterns. In Portuguese, by default, the head of
compound is inflected. NN related by an attributive semantic link are nowadays
particularly unstable and problematic regarding inflection. Inflectional variation — widely
attested — helps in determining the status of NN in apposition: as two inflectional patterns
are available, we must verify if they correspond to two different constructions or to one
structure with two readings. The analysis addressed is supported by empirical data of
contemporary Portuguese language extracted from Brazilian and European databases,
and requires the theoretical articulation of a double predicative class of N2 (holistic and
partitive) with inflectional fluctuation of attributive N2 in the second situation: performing
a continuum, double inflection is close to holistic predication and single inflection (of N1)
is close to partitive predication; systematic double inflection is close to coordination and
inflectional oscillation is close to attribution. The predicative power of nouns in apposition
supports their partitive and their holistic reading. Inflectional fluctuation of N2 illustrate in
an optimistic way their hybrid nature.
