Brain wrote:Trailsend wrote:
sold above table it
It seems like this noun phrase, "above table," shouldn't be able to function as an argument of sold.
Why not? I don't see any problem with this actually.
This is why I asked you what role your prepositions serve :P
An "above table" cannot sell anything, unless your language allows for a sort of implied relative pronoun, such that
sold above table it translates to "The person who is above the table sold it," and
sold he above table translates to "He sold the stuff that was above the table."
Brain wrote:
But then you can use a noun phrase as an adjective or adverb. I'm not sure that makes sense.
Not a noun phrase, a prepositional phrase containing a noun phrase. That's certainly sensible.
Prepositional phrase as adverb:
S -->
C -->
SC -->
VP ARG -->
V AdvP NP -->
runs PREP NP
he -->
runs like wind he
"He runs like the wind."
Prepositional phrase as adjective:
S -->
C -->
SC -->
VP ARG ARG -->
V NP NP -->
sold N N AdjP -->
sold he vase PREP NP -->
sold he vase on N -->
sold he vase on table
"He sold the vase on the table."
NOTE: I'm making these translations based on limited information. I'm guessing from your syntax description that the language is VSO, but that may not be the case. Your language may not handle "like" as an adverb, and if not, I'd be interested to see how it does. These are merely meant as demonstrations of how prepositional phrases function in other languages, and how that might correspond to yours.