Examining its subject from a generative perspective, this highly
detailed text deals with the syntax of nominal expressions. It focuses
on empirical data taken from the Spanish language, though the author
goes further to draw conclusions of wider theoretical interest from
material culled from other languages too.
The book considers crucial phenomena in the nominal domain, such as
extraction out of nominal phrases and ellipsis in these phrases, as well
as their modification. In doing so it provides the reader with a unified
explanation of a number of phenomena that have not previously been
analyzed under a single basic account. In particular, Ticio explores how
economy notions interact with a number of functional categories, with
the length and type of movements allowed, and with the existence of
three internal domains within nominal expressions. She uses these
observations to inform her analysis of the structure of arguments and
adjuncts in nominal expressions, and of the potential these elements
have for extraction. To test the empirical adequacy of her analysis, she
employs phenomena such as the properties of attributive adjectives,
partial cliticization and nominal elision in Spanish nominal phrases.
Aimed at specialized linguists as well as those with a particular
interest in Spanish and Romance languages, the research laid out in this
book contributes to the general discussion on linguistic theory by
providing additional material relevant to key ongoing debates in the
theory of grammar, such as the need to have a distinction between
adjuncts and specifiers, and the lack of head movement (N movement).
