_{Syntactic Theory}

The Specifier

Properties of the specifier:

• not a complement
  • for verbs: the subject
  • for nouns: the determiner
  • for adjectives, adverbs, prepositions: normally no specifier
• in English: The specifier is to the left of the head.
• There is at most one specifier.
• The head determines whether there is a specifier or not (proper names (no specifier) vs. count nouns (obligatory specifier in the singular); finite verbs (overt specifier) vs. infinite verbs (no overt specifier))
• The head determines the interpretation of the specifier (i.e. it can assign a semantic role to the specifier)

Related pages:

• main page on general grammatical functions
• other grammatical functions: head, complement, modifier
• in the clause: subject

Categories: Glossary