Problems With Fawcett's Argument For The Genitive Cluster

 Fawcett (2010: 212):

It is the fact that 

(1) nominal groups such as the dog undeniably occur within the unit of that we are here calling the "genitive cluster" and 

(2) the genitive element 's functions as a 'relator' to the whole nominal group (and not just dog) 

that has led to the introduction to the grammar of the present unit.

See Appendix B and, for a slightly fuller picture of this unit, Fawcett (in press).

 

Blogger Comments:

[1] To be clear, neither of these justifications for the genitive cluster withstand close scrutiny.

On the first point, the fact that nominal groups "undeniably occur" within the genitive cluster is no justification for the genitive cluster because nominal groups "undeniably occur" in a range of units, including the clause, prepositional phrase and the nominal group.

On the second point, the fact that the genitive element 's functions as a 'relator' to the whole nominal group is evidence that it functions in the nominal group rather than the cluster. (For it to function in the cluster, it must relate just to the dog).

[2] To be clear, Appendix B (pp304, 307) provides the following:

Note that the structure of the genitive cluster includes both a conjunction and an "ender" (e), as well as an element ('own') named for the word that realises it.

[3] To be clear, Fawcett (in press) is still unpublished, 21 years after the first edition of this work.