An HPSG analysis of 'a beautiful two weeks'

In this article we investigate a type of noun phrase in English, which is exemplified by a beautiful two weeks and a lucky three students. We call such examples determiner-modifier-numeral-noun constructions (DMNNCs). DMNNCs look similar to what we call the numeral-modifier-noun constructions (NMNCs) such as two beautiful weeks and three lucky students, but differ in several respects: e.g., an indefinite article can occur in DMNNCs but cannot in NMNCs; the numeral follows the modifier in DMNNCs but precedes the modifier in NMNCs. In this article we will mainly discuss the syntax of DMNNCs in some detail and consider how they might be analysed within Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG; Pollard and Sag 1987, 1994). While sketching some analyses which have been proposed for DMNNCs, we look at some data which seems problematic to these analyses. We then develop an analysis of DMNNCs in which the peculiarities of the construction are attributed to the special constructional constraints. We argue that HPSG can provide a satisfactmy account of these properties of DMNNCs. (Ryukoku University)