ADJECTIVAL CLAUSES IN ENGLISH AND ALBANIAN

Abstract

This study is to point out similarities and differences of English and Albanian language, trying to compare of both languages. Many languages do not distinguish between adjectives and names etc, i.e., the Albanian language differs in terms of gender and plural adjectives, while English has not such a feature. Therefore formal distinctions between parts of speech should be done within the framework of a given language and should not be applied in other languages. In this study we have analyzed adjective structures in Albanian and English. In this study, we argue for the existence of two local domains (phases, cf. Chomsky 2001, 2009) inside the DP: the n-phase, parallel to the vP (as in Svenonius 2004), and the d-phase, parallel to the CP. Two acknowledged phrasal properties are discussed. (i) The n/d-phases define their own peripheries: peripheries are essentially modal-quantificational spaces, as shown by the decomposition of Topic-Focus features recently proposed (McNay 2005, 2006). Phases are assumed to be domains of linearization: after (internal or external) merge, syntactic objects are hierarchical, but not linear, so phases must be linearized before they are sent to PF. The distribution and interpretation of DP-internal adjectives is taken to be indicative of these two domains.

Keywords: adjectival clauses, syntax, semantic, functional adjectives, identity adjectives, adjective position, determiner functional category, nominal modifiers, syntactic edges, adjective ordering.