Implementation of a notional grammar

This chapter introduces the formulation of notional grammar that is adopted and further developed in this book. Word-classes are differentiated by combinations of (simplex – non-binary) notional features, and these combinations underlie the differences in the syntax of the word-classes and coincidences in distribution between particular classes. A distinction is made between lexical (noun, verb, adjective) and functional (determinatives – pronouns and determiners; operatives – ‘finite auxiliaries’; functors – adpositions and cases) categories. Names are determinatives in previous notional accounts. Sentence structure is projected from such categorizations and from the valency and modificational requirements of members of these categories. Syntax involves the erection of dependency trees the sequencing of whose nodes is inalterable. Relationships which have been allowed for by ‘movement’ are provided for in terms of argument-sharing, whereby a single element is dependent on more than one mother (governor). Focus is given to aspects of syntax relevant to the behaviour of names — complements and modification.