Elnora ten Wolde, The English binominal noun phrase: A Cognitive-Functional approach (Studies in English Language). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. xx + 310. ISBN 9781108921893

Abstract

Review of the book: Elnora ten Wolde, The English binominal noun phrase: A Cognitive-Functional approach (Studies in English Language). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. Pp. xx + 310. ISBN 9781108921893.

This is the first book-length work devoted to a topic with a long tradition in linguistic research, specifically the Evaluative Binominal Noun Phrase (EBNP). The book examines the construction as a member of the English of-binominal family and situates it in this network, expanding on previous research. In particular, it discriminates different EBNP constructions which have been subsumed under the same heading in previous studies, namely, the classic EBNP, the evaluative modifier (EM) and the binominal intensifier (BI) constructions. The book starts with an introductory chapter where the main properties of binominals are sketched and the scope of the study is delimited. The deviation from the rules characterising canonical of-phrases, their creativity, their pervasive use in all English varieties and in many European languages as well as their long-standing use, which can be traced back to the thirteenth century, provide a plethora of ingredients to make it worth the exploration. The core of the book is divided into three parts, which provide a comprehensive description of the EBNP (part 1), a corpus-based analysis where selected data are tested against the previously described criteria (part 2), and a theoretical account from the perspective of two current competing linguistic models (part 3).