Noun modifiers

NOUN MODIFIERS

We have earlier cited an instance of submodification in the case of a noun modifier:-

e.g.

a French history textbook

In this example, we saw that "French" served as the modifier for the noun "history" - in other words, it is the "history" which is "French", not the "textbook". Thus we have here an embedded nominal group "French history" which functions as a modifier to "textbook".
Noun modifiers are often themselves modified in this way, thereby functioning as embedded nominal groups within the larger nominal group structure. They may also be modified by participles, as in the following example:-

e.g.

a used car salesman

Here it is the "car" which has undergone the process denoted by the participle, not the "salesman". Thus "used car" should also be understood as an embedded nominal group.

We have seen in earlier discussions that there is often a relationship between premodifying and postmodifying forms. A qualifier is typically a prepositional group, and the noun which forms the prepositional complement can in many instances occur as noun modifier, as in the following examples:-

e.g.

(i) a rod of steel - a steel rod
(ii) the key to the door - the door key

These patterns typically occur where there is an indication of substance or function, as in (i) and (ii) above, and also to indicate time, place or constituency, as in examples (iii), (iv) and (v) below:-

e.g.

(iii) the sky at night - the night sky
(iv) the paper in the morning - the morning paper
(v) a department of the university - a university department

These can often give rise to quite complex chaining of nouns in premodification, as the following example illustrates:-

e.g.

the mystery of the bomb on the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand
the New Zealand Rainbow Warrior bomb mystery

Long strings of nouns such as this often occur in newspaper headlines, especially in moodless clauses, because they function as a sort of semantic condensing of information into a single nominal group, information which potentially would otherwise be expressed in more expanded forms.

Each of the noun modifiers in fact represents a potential group in itself, and this condensing effect is a principal function of premodification by other nouns. The steps by which the transfer of nouns to premodifiers occurs can be shown for the above example as follows, illustrating how the final sequence of noun modifiers is arrived at:-

e.g.

the mystery of the bomb on the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand
the bomb mystery on the Rainbow Warrior in New Zealand
the Rainbow Warrior bomb mystery in New Zealand
the New Zealand Rainbow Warrior bomb mystery