Why the Noun is not the Head of the DPwe to analyse a phrase consisting of just a pronoun as this would appear to be an NP
that lacks a noun. This brings us full circle to the observations we started with. Under
the proposal that the determiner is the head, there appear to be DPs that lack
determiners:
(25) DP
D'
D NP
? Geoffrey
And under the proposal that nouns are the head of the phrase, there appear to be NPs
that lack nouns:
(26) NP
D N'
us N
?
It seems that whatever option we take we face a problem.
There is a way to solve the problem, either way, which involves a slightly more
abstract analysis. Suppose the phrases in question do have heads, but they are
unpronounced. The idea of an unpronounced, phonologically ‘empty’ element has
been made use of several times already in this book. For example as the understood
subject of an imperative or as the trace left behind by a movement. So the idea is not
without precedence. Making use of this idea, we have two opposing analyses:
(27) DP DP
D' D'
D D NP
him e Jackie
(28) NP NP
D N' N'
him N N
e Jackie