Marca sustantiva : topicalidad e iconicidad en la frase nominal en inglés antiguo

Abstract

This paper puts forward a definition of the concepts of communicative substantive markedness and cognitive substantive markedness that is based, respectively, on the degree of topicality and the degree of iconicity of the noun phrase. Two conclusions are reached after an analysis of empirical data from Old English: in the first place, the relationship between structural, textual and distributive markedness is not one of convergence; and, in the second place, both Old English and Present-Day English favour fully implemented noun phrases, that is, determined and/or modified noun phrases. Methodologically, this paper insists on the idea that functional explanations are often motivated by the conflict between apparently contradictory functional principles.