Basic English Grammar with Exercises

The Internal Structure of the DP

This suggests that there are two different empty determiners: one which is definite
and the other indefinite. The interesting thing is that these empty determiners differ in
other ways. The empty definite determiner takes only NP complements headed by
proper nouns whereas the empty indefinite determiner takes only NP complements
headed by plural nouns. This is perfectly normal behaviour for a head, as heads do
place restrictions on their complements.
To conclude the present discussion, while it seems that there is no independent
evidence that pronouns are accompanied by an empty noun, there is much evidence
that proper and plural nouns may be accompanied by empty determiners. This
conclusion itself lends support for the claim that the determiner is the head of the
phrase and that the noun is not. From this perspective, the noun is the head of its own
phrase which sits in the complement position of the determiner.

2 The Internal Structure of the DP

Having established the status of the determiner as a head, let us now look at how the
DP is arranged.

2.1 Determiners and Complements

We have already seen two subcategories of determiner: those which take NP
complements and those which take no complement. There are also determiners which
take optional NP complements:

(33) a the proposal the
b him proposal him
c that proposal that

Determiners are rather boring in this respect and it seems that there are no other
possibilities. This, as it turns out is very typical of functional categories as a whole, as
they all have very limited complement taking abilities. However, even if the range of
complements of the determiner is very limited, the arrangement of the determiner and
its NP complement still conforms to the general pattern of head–complement
relationships in English with the head preceding the complement:

(34) DP

D'

D NP

As we have seen, the determiner may impose restrictions on its NP complement,
particularly in terms of number: singular determiners take singular NP complements
and plural determiners take plural NP complements. Some determiners take mass NP
complements, and we have seen that the empty definite determiner takes a proper NP
complement: