Editing Determiner phrase (section)

==The competing analyses==
Although the DP analysis is the dominant view in generative grammar, most other grammar theories reject the idea. For instance, representational [[phrase structure grammar]]s follow the NP analysis, e.g. [[Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar]], and most [[dependency grammar]]s such as [[Meaning-Text Theory]], [[Functional Generative Description]], and [[Lexicase Grammar]] also assume the traditional NP analysis of noun phrases, [[Word Grammar]] being the one exception.<ref name=":1" /> [[Construction Grammar]] and [[Role and Reference Grammar]] also assume NP instead of DP. [[Noam Chomsky]], on whose framework most generative grammar has been built, said in a 2020 lecture, <blockquote>I’m going to assume here that nominal phrases are actually NPs. The DP hypothesis, which is widely accepted, was very fruitful, leading to a lot of interesting work; but I’ve never really been convinced by it. I think these structures are fundamentally nominal phrases. [. . . ] As far as determiners are concerned, like say ''that'', I suspect that they are adjuncts. So I’ll be assuming that the core system is basically nominal.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chomsky |first=Noam |year=2020 |title=The UCLA lectures (April 29 – May 2, 2019) |url=https://lingbuzz.net/lingbuzz/005485 |access-date= |website=lingbuzz.net |pages=51}}</ref></blockquote>The point at issue concerns the hierarchical status of determiners. Various types of determiners in English are summarized in the following table.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Article !! Quantifier !! Demonstrative !! Possessive
|-
| a/an, the || all, every, many, each, etc. || this, that, those, etc. || my, your, her, its, their, etc.
|}

Should the determiner in phrases such as ''the car'' and ''those ideas'' be construed as the head of or as a dependent in the phrase? The following trees illustrate the competing analyses, DP vs. NP. The two possibilities are illustrated first using dependency-based structures (of [[dependency grammar]]s):

[[File:DP vs. NP 5.png|DP vs. NP 5|center]]

The a-examples show the determiners dominating the nouns, and the b-examples reverse the relationship, since the nouns dominate the determiners. The same distinction is illustrated next using constituency-based trees (of [[phrase structure grammar]]s), which are equivalent to the above:

[[File:DP vs. NP 6.png|DP vs. NP 6|center]]

The convention used here employs the words themselves as the labels on the nodes in the structure. Whether a dependency-based or constituency-based approach to syntax is employed, the issue is which word is the head over the other.