Central Mindanao University

Graduate School
College of Education

WRITTEN REPORT
X-BAR THEORY
(Phrases)

Requirement in Grammatical Theories

presented by

VIC LYCEL T. MERTO

MALE-English
 X-bar theory

Phrases

X-bar theory is widely regarded as a substantive theory of phrase structure properties in

natural languages (Pullum,1985). It assumes that all phrases have the same structure made up of
heads and their projections. Haegman (1991). It takes into consideration that many other kinds of
lexical and phrasal units in language need to have an X-bar category added to their phrase
markers.
To describe the process, linguists noted that each kind of phrase has a head constituent
upon which a phrase is constructed. Consider this diagram; new way of categorizing phrase
markers allows linguists to create three levels of categories: X, X’, X’’
Phrase X-bar unit Head

X’’/XP X’ X
NP N’ N
AdjP Adj’ A
PP P’ P
AdvP Adv’ Adv

To learn more about the X-bar theory, let us examine the different intermediate
projections in each phrase.

Intermediate Projections in NP
We will use N’ (N-bar) to refer to the intermediate projections in NP.

Intermediate Projections in AdjP

We will use Adj’(Adj-bar) to refer to the intermediate projections in AdjP.

Intermediate Projections in AdvP

We will use Adv’(Adj-bar) to refer to the intermediate projections in AdvP.

Intermediate Projections in PP

We will use P’ (P-bar) to refer to the intermediate projections in PP.

In addition to the intermediate projections let us consider the complement and the adjunct.
A complement is a word or group of words that complete the meaning of the head (X).
On the other hand, the adjunct means an extension of a given category.

Adjectives are said to be adjoined to a given category in terms of adjunction structure.

Extending a category to create a copy, hence the fact that there are two occurrences of N’. The
newly created copy of N’ serve as the mother node for the adjoined AP, the adjunction structure
means that AP has an ambiguous relationship with N’. AP is both the sister and the daughter of
N’. Strange may sound from a real-life perspective, it is precisely the property of adjuncts which
distinguishes them from complements.
References:

Haegeman, Liliane.1991.Introduction to Binding theory.Oxford:Basil Blackwell

Pullum, Geoffrey K. 1985. Assuming some version of X-bar theory. Chicago, Illinois: Chicago
Linguistic Society.

Radford, Andrew. 1981. Transformational syntax: A student’s guide to Chomsky’s extended

standard theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.