Rijkhoff 2002 semantic argument

Rijkhoff (2002) argues at length, on the basis of a typological study, for a layered DP in which the main categories are Location, Quantity, and Quality. He identifies demonstratives and articles with the category Location, and those also represent the outermost layer of the noun phrase here.¹ The intermediate layer, Quantity, is associated with numerals and quantifiers, and could be identified here with numerals and the unit category. The inner layer, Quality, is where adjectives typically reside, and so this would correspond to my sort and n. Grinevald (2000) notes the correlation between noun classifiers and the categories relevant to Rijkhoff’s Quality.

1 Rijkhoff also locates relative clauses and possessors in this layer. I have not dealt with possessors at all and have only cursorily mentioned relative clauses. Possessors may move from a thematic position in NP to a licensing position higher up, so their exact position is complicated to determine (cf. Julien 2005 for extensive relevant discussion of Scandinavian possessors). Relative clauses, too, may be attached at different levels under different circumstances.