A Synchronic and Diachronic Study on the Syntactic Structure, Semantics and Pragmatics of English Possessive Forms

虽然Abney（1987）提出的属格农场的DP分析似乎基本正确，但本研究表明，英语中有许多属格形式是无法分析的，应该采用Taylor（1996）提出的复合分析。从历史上看，自16世纪以来，复合动词一直在稳步增长。过去三年来，我在美国、加拿大、澳大利亚和英国进行的调查显示，目前这种情况正在增加。因此，它们是所有属格形式研究中不可忽视的重要语言形式。这项研究发现了化合物分析和动物状态之间有趣的相关性。很明显，英语中，尤其是新闻英语中，充满活力的状态正在消失。通过本研究的一个新发现是，它正在从复合动词中消失，并在与DP分析相容的物主形式中存在。由于生命状态在本质上是语用的，因此值得注意的是，语用状态对所有格形式的句法结构很敏感，尽管这一点尚未得到充分证明。但这并不意味着Det在现代英语中变得不稳定。上述调查表明，诸如all、both和halt等限定词；都转向了限定词的范畴。只有在Det建立良好的情况下，这种转变才会被允许。因此，我们可以说Det在现代英语中是根深蒂固的。为了进一步推动本研究中的主张，我将继续收集数据，并继续研究它们对语言变化理论的影响

Although the DP analysis of genitive farms proposed by Abney (1987) seems to be basically correct, the present study has shown that there are many genitive forms in English that are not analyzable by it, and the compound analysis proposed by Taylor (1996) should be adopted for them. It was also shown that historically the compound genitives have been steadily increasing since the 16th century. The surveys I have conducted for the past three years in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the Great Britain revealed that they are increasing at the very present time. Therefore, they are important linguistic forms we can never ignore in any study of the genitive forms.This study found an interesting correlation between the compound analysis and the animacy condition. It is clear that the animacy condition is disappearing from English, especially from, journalism English. A new finding through this study is that it is disappearing from the compound genitives and it is alive in the genitive forms that are compatible with the DP analysis. Since the animacy condition is pragmatic in nature, it will be relevant to notice that the pragmatic condition is sensitive to the syntactic structure of the genitive forms, though this point has not yet fully evidenced. But this does not mean that the category Det is becoming unstable in present-day English. The surveys mentioned above demonstrate that predeterminers, such as all, both and halt; are shifting to the category of determiner. This shifting will be allowed only if Det is well established. Thus we can say that Det is well established in present-day English.To further motivate the claims made in this study, I will continue gathering data and pursue their consequences for the theory of language change