Patrycja Kliszewska

Yr 3 gr. 1

WHY SHOULD WE USE X-BAR THEORY?

In every sentence we can identify and classify individual words as different parts of speech (nouns,
verbs, adjectives, etc.) which can also be grouped in larger structures and identified as constituents
of the sentence – phrases. If we know the class of the main word in the phrase, we know the class of
its phrase, as name of the phrase has the same name as its principal constituent. In this case a Noun
Phrase is a phrase constructed around a Noun, a Verb Phrase is a phrase constructed around a Verb,
etc.
If we consider the sentence: The girl ate spaghetti we can make two different analyses according to
our knowledge:
1. S: NP VP NP
NP: (Art) N
The analysis of the sentence into its constituents tells us what the correct analysis of the sentence as
a whole and of each of its parts should be.
2. the: Art
girl: Noun
spaghetti: Noun
ate: Verb
The grammatical description of these constituents tells us the word class of each individual word. It
also shows us how word classes function in larger structures.
Having all these information we can easily represent this sentence by drawing ‘tree diagram’:
S

NP VP NP

Art N V N

The girl ate spaghetti

We can notice that our most left node NP is the subject of the sentence, while the most right NP is
the object of the sentence so we can treat it as the part of the VP. Then, we have to modify the ‘tree
diagram’:
S

NP VP

Art N V NP

The girl ate N

spaghetti

As you see, we can distinguish the major lexical categories of N(oun), V(erb), A(djective) and
P(reposition) and the phrasal categories that correspond to them: NP, VP, AP and PP. We may also
consider whether we can identify intermediate categories between the lexical and the phrasal
categories and identify a system of functional relationships. Knowing, that there is possibility to
substitute constituents by words of the same class or that constituents can be expanded, I want to
show an example of the NP: that noisy girl in two different ways.
 1. NP

Det AP N

that noisy girl

In this kind of structure all constituents of a phrase are sisters. But if we treat Adjective noisy as a
word that describes a Noun girl, we can put them together in the same node:
2. NP
(NP)X
AP N
Det
A

that noisy girl

In this case words noisy and girl are sisters and their mother is labeled X. If we are restricted only to
lexical and phrasal categories, X can be either a NP or a N. As we look at the diagram it suggests,
that X is not a whole NP, but it is something more than only a Noun. It’s more than a Noun,
because it includes a modifying AP, but less than NP, because it excludes the Determiner. There is
no traditional label for this kind of intermediate constituents and they are treated as ‘N-bar’ or N1:
NP

Det N1

AP N1

A1 N

that noisy girl

To make X-bar theory easier to understand we have to consider, that constituents can be substituted
by a proform. There are two types of proforms associated with the NP: pronouns and the proform
‘one’. I will illustrate their distribution by a phrase that small noisy girl with fair hair. First I will
illustrate this phrase using the easiest tree diagram:
NP

Det AP N PP

that small noisy girl with fair hair

If we know, that constituents can be substituted by a proform, we need to change a structure for this
NP:
NP (proform she)
Det X (proform one)
AP X (proform one)
AP X (proform one)

N PP

that small noisy girl with fair hair

Before I will show exact distribution of the words in X-bar tree diagram, I want to focus for a while
on this syntactic description of the sentence. X -bar theory tries to capture of the head – argument
construction. In this theory, one thing that all phrases have in common is that NPs have an
obligatory N constituent, VPs have an obligatory V constituent, APs have an obligatory A
constituent and PPs have an obligatory P constituent. This essential word in a phrase is called the
head, which is an obligatory element. All other elements besides the head are structurally optional
and these are: modifiers, specifiers and complements. Modifier modifies the head in a sentence
by specifying the particular situation. It is the constituent that restricts possible range of reference of
‘head’. The complement is the sister of the head. The specifier is sister to the new node, a
daughter of the maximal projection of the phrase.
According to those rules we can give some more specific information concerning all kinds of
phrases:
1. Noun Phrases – the head must be a lexical Noun. NP Specifiers include articles (a, the),
demonstratives (this, that) and quantifiers (some, many, all). NP Modifiers include AP,
relative clauses and certain PPs, typically those with locative and temporal senses. NP
Complements are those categories that subcategorize the head including S1 (embedded
sentence).
2. Adjective Phrases – the head must be a lexical Adjective. AP Specifiers include degree
words (very, absolutely). AP Modifiers include certain kinds of PPs, typically locative and
temporal expressions. AP Complements are those categories that subcategorize the head
including S1 (embedded sentence) and PPs. Many adjectives require no complement.
3. Prepositional Phrases – the head must be a lexical Preposition. PP Specifiers include degree
words (right, nearly). PP Modifiers are used rarely, but include certain kinds of Adverbials
and PPs (almost certainly, in some ways). PP Complements are those categories that
subcategorize the head. Most obvious are NPs, but we can also use S1 and PPs.
4. Verb Phrases – the head must be a lexical Verb. VP Specifiers are the perfect and
progressive auxiliaries. VP Modifiers include Adverbials of Manner and PPs. VP
Complements are those categories that subcategorize the head including ‘nothing at all’
(intransitive verbs), NPs, PPs, S1 and so on.
For each of the major lexical categories: N, V, A and P, the maximal projection is corresponding to
it: NP, VP, AP or PP. There are also intermediate levels of structure: N1, V1, P1, A1. the maximal
projection will have an X1 daughter as a head and may also have a specifier daughter. The lexical
category will be the head daughter of an X1 node. It may have complements as sisters. The
intermediate category may dominate another X1 and its sisters, and in this case the sisters will be
specifiers.
 XP

(specifier) X1

(modifier) X1

X1 (modifier)

X (complement)

(head)

XP (X2, X’’, X) – phrasal category, the maximal projection of X

X’ (X1, X’, X) – intermediate category
X – lexical category, the head of the phrase (the smallest part)
This structure is sufficient to characterize any kind of phrase.

According to this schema I will draw another diagram for NP that noisy girl with fair hair:
NP

Det N1

AP N1

A1 N1 PP

A N P1

P NP

that noisy girl with fair hair

Some generalizations:
i) The lexical category, the head of the phrasal category, is the daughter of the intermediate
X1 node.
ii) The head may itself have sisters, which are the complements of the lexical node.
iii) Constituents like the determiner, which are daughters of the phrasal node are sisters of
an intermediate node X1 – these are specifiers.
iv) Constituents, which are daughters of another intermediate X1 node are called modifiers.
A phrasal structure (XP) is the maximal projection of its head, the corresponding lexical category.
There may be any number of intermediate categories (X1). XP may have as its daughter a specifier,
the lexical head may have complements as sisters and the intermediate X1 categories dominate
modifiers.
Using X-bar structure enables us to capture more accurately the distribution of certain constituents.
It also helps us to show functional relationships between the lexical head of a phrasal category and
other phrasal constituents. We more clearly see all relations between certain words in a constituent
structure, we can also better specify the environment in which the ‘head’ of a certain phrase occurs.

LITERATURE:
K. Brown, J. Miller, Syntax
N. Fabb, Sentence Structure