A Corpus-based Study of Transfers in English Nominal Groups

Abstract This article investigates the possibility to form determiner complexes in English nominal groups and the potential of leftward transfer of functional elements in nominal groups. The research finds that it is not possible to form hypotactic determiner complexes; rather there are hypotactic numeral complexes, hypotactic Epithet adjective complexes, hypotactic Classifier noun complexes and hypotactic Thing noun complexes, and the words for all the slots have the potential to form paratactic complexes. The corpus-based research confirms the potential of leftward transfer in nominal groups. Thereby, four types of shifts were identified: the shift from the Thing noun to the Classifier noun or adjective is a process of metaphorization from the group rank to the word rank; (2) the shift from the Classifier adjective to the Epithet2 adjective is a process of subjectification from the distinctive to the nondistinctive features of the Thing noun within the domain of ideational metafunction; (3) the shift from the Epithet2 adjective to the Epithet1 adjective is a process of subjectification from the domain of ideational metafunction to that of interpersonal metafunction; (4) the shift from the Epithet1 adjective to the post-Deictic adjective is a process of grammaticalization from the open-set attitude adjectives to the closed-set attitude adjectives.