This dissertation is a defense of the hypothesis that the noun phrase is headed by afunctional element (i.e., \non-lexical " category) D, identi ed with the determiner. In this way, the structure of the noun phrase parallels that of the sentence, which is headed by In (ection), under assumptions now standard within the Government-Binding (GB) framework. The central empirical problem addressed is the question of the proper analysis of the so-called \Poss-ing " gerund in English. This construction possesses simultaneously many properties of sentences, and many properties of noun phrases. The problem of capturing this dual aspect of the Possing construction is heightened by current restrictive views of X-bar theory, which, in particular, rule out the obvious structure for Poss-ing, [NP NP VPing], by virtue of its exocentricity. Consideration of languages in which nouns, even the most basic concrete nouns, show agreement (AGR) with their possessors, points to an analysis

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