Earticle

This article proposes a parallel-architecture approach to the class of preposition-noun (P-N) compounds in English such as downstairs. In this approach, it is argued that P-N compounds are not words but phrases, more specifically not adverbs but prepositional phrases, particularly when used with some verbs of motion such as He brought the suitcase downstairs. They are also differentiated from so-called particles like down and prepositional phrases like down the stairs, though sharing the same head down. The article argues for a class into which all these three cases can be unified. The resulting unified class is basically a preposition and can be divided into intransitive and transitive types. The article puts forward a sub-categorisation of the transitive preposition into two types; one is lexical, and the other phrasal. A classification of P-N compounds as the lexical type is suggested together with a lexical PP analysis using the notion of representational modularity.