The Linear Constituent Order of the Noun Phrase: An Optimality Theoretic Account

This paper provides an analysis of the linear constituent order of the NP in three different types of languages based on 33 languages: the NP with the prenominal modifiers, the NP with the postnominal modifiers, and the NP with both prenominal and postnominal modifiers (the mixed NP). Languages have NPs that feature different linear order, of the NP constituents. We attribute such different linear constituent orders within the NP to the linguistic distance and the limits imposed by the constituency and adjacency. We use the various kinds of alignment constraints which properly reflect the linguistic distance between the noun and each constituent. Language universals on word order provide us some general orders of various NP constituents. If we adopt the linguistic distance, the limits imposed by the constituency and the adjacency, and the alignment constraints, we can explain the complicated differences of NP constituent orders of languages of the world.