Identifying Heads and Modifiers of Noun Phrases in a Novel of Alice’s Adventures in

Wonderland
By
Milah Siti KamilatulBadriyah
1708103043

Introduction

Language structure alludes to the manners by which people request explicit words to
make legitimate and significant sentences. While the grammatical features are all the various
sorts of words that people can utilize, language structure is the set of rules, patterns, or
procedures by which people can assemble them (Herring, 2016). English is such a
complicated language; it can be hard to understand all the particular nuances that govern
these rules and patterns. For making it easy, the researcher will identify the heads and
modified on phrases from the novel. The novel is an invented prose narrative of extensive
length and a specific multifaceted nature that manages human experience (Burgess, 2018).
This novel has attractive information to identify the heads and modifiers by using the theory
of Usman (2015). The title of the novel is Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Literary Review

The combination of two or more words and the phrase construction has no subject or
predicate can be called phrase. The combination can be noun + noun (for example, garden
flowers, tour guide); adjective + noun (for example big house, white skin); or verb + adverb
(for example study hard, read carefully) and so on. Most of the parts of speech can be made
into phrases by adding information that is directly associated with them (Herring, 2016).
Therefore, there are five types of phrases which are known well namely Noun Phrase (NP),
Adjective Phrase (AP), Verb Phrase (VP), Adverb Phrase (ADVP) and Proposition Phrase
(PP). Those phrases are often used for English activities such as in writing, speaking, reading,
etc. From those phrases, the researcher will focus on examining the noun phrases in a Novel
of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. A 2001 review by Aarts noun phrase (NP) is a series
of words whose main element is a noun (as cited in Nurjanah, Pertala, & Hestiana, 2018, p. 2)
The Noun phrase has elements that shape it such as determiner, heads, pre-modifiers, and
post-modifiers (Nurjanah et al., 2018, p. 1).
A determiner is a word or phrase that is used before a noun. While head is term
utilized in the syntactic portrayal of certain sorts of expression (endocentric expressions) to

1
allude to the focal component which is distributional identical to the expression overall; once
in a while curtailed as H. Such developments are once in a while alluded to as headed (as
opposed to non-headed) or as head phrases (HP) Headedness additionally decides any
connections of accord or government in different pieces of the expression or sentence
(Crystal, 2009, p. 225) and heads may have several modifiers. For instance, the head of a
handsome good man is a man, while handsome and good are a modifier.
A modifier is a term utilized in linguistic structure to allude to the basic reliance of
one syntactic unit upon another – yet with various confinements in the extent of the term
being presented by various methodologies. Some hold the term for auxiliary reliance inside
any endocentric phrase; for example, in the big man in the garden, both the big and in the
garden modify man; pre-modification and post-modification respectively (Crystal, 2009, p.
309). The modifier has two types in noun phrases, namely pre-modification and post-
modification. The function of pre modifier is the phrases that can be filed by an adjective
phrase, noun phrase, and genitive classification (Usman, 2015, p. 11); for instance, a young
woman, a woman is a head and a young is a pre-modifier. While the function of the post
modifier is a noun phrase that can be filled by an adjective phrase, an adverb phrase, a
prepositional phrase, and a finite clause (Usman, 2015, p. 13); for instance, the exact number,
exact is as a head and number is as a post-modifier.
In this study, the researcher will discuss five sentences related to heads and modifiers
on noun phrases.

Discussion

Table words with the heads and modifiers found in the novel of Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland (Carroll, 2000)

No Sentences Heads Modifiers

1. … the sides of the well (p. 3) Well The sides
2. …a very good opportunity (p. 4) Opportunity A very good
a short of mixed flavor of cherry-tart
3. cherry-tart a short of mixed flavor
(p. 11)
4. hot buttered toast (p. 11) toast Hot buttered
5. My poor little feet (p. 15) Feet My poor little

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(1) The phrase of the sides of the well, the word the signal that the writer is referring to a
side that has already been pointed; the headword well indicates the noun which has
meaning a pole sunk into the ground to get water, oil, or gas, while sides is a pre-
modifier that indicates a situation to one side or right of place.
(2) The phrase of a very good opportunity, the word opportunity is a head that indicates a
situation that makes it conceivable to accomplish something, while the word a very good
is pre-modifier where a determiner refers to someone or something for the first time; the
words very and good are adjectives that give properties to nouns.
(3) The phrase of a short of mixed flavor of cherry-tart, the word cherry-tart is a head that
indicates acid in taste of cherry, while a short of mixed flavor is a pre-modifier where a
determiner refers to someone or something for the first time and of is a preposition that
indicating an association between two entities; the word mixed flavor is the phrase that
becomes the pre-modifier of cherry-tart, flavor is a head and mixed is a modifier; the
word short is referring measure a small size.
(4) The phrase of hot buttered toast, the word toast is a head that indicates cutting bread
cooked on the two sides by the introduction to radiant heat; the word hot buttered is a
pre-modifier of toast that indicates toast is given hot buttered for making better the
taste.
(5) The phrase of my poor little feet, feet is a head; my poor little is a pre-modifier. My is a
possessive pronoun that indicates the owner of the feet, while poor little indicates that
her feet were very poor or dirty.

However, the researcher did not find the word of post-modifiers that showed all the
conversion in the literary review in the novel of Alice's adventures in Wonderland. It is
because using the post-modifier in the noun phrases is being used rarely.

Conclusion

A noun phrase (NP) is a progression of words whose principle component is a thing

and has components that shape it, for example, determiner, heads, pre-modifiers, and post-
modifiers. A determiner is a word or expression that is utilized before a thing. While the head
is the term used in the syntactic depiction of specific sorts of articulation. A modifier is a
term used in the etymological structure to suggest the fundamental dependence of one
syntactic unit upon another – yet with different controls in the degree of the term being

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displayed by different approaches. The modifier has two sorts in thing phrases, to be specific
pre-alteration and post-adjustment.

References

Burgess, A. (n.d.). Novel literature Retrieved May 27, 2019, from

https://www.britannica.com/art/novel
Carroll, L. (2000). Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Retrieved May 26, 2019, from
https://www.adobe.com/be_en/active-use/pdf/Alice_in_Wonderland.pdf
Crystal, D. (2008). A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics (6th ed.). Malden, MA:
Blackwell.
Herring, P. (2016). The farlex grammar book: Complete English grammar rules. Retrieved
May 26, 2019, from https://www.pdfdrive.com/a-dictionary-of-linguistics-phonetics-
david-crystal-6th-edition-e7077016.html
Nurjanah, A. H., Pertala, E. C., & Hestiana, S. (2018). Analisis post-modifiers noun phrase
pada subjek kalimat dalam abstrak skripsi mahasiswa program studi administrasi
publik universitas muhammadiyah sukabumi tahun 2015 dan 2016. Retrieved May
27, 2019, from http://eprints.ummi.ac.id/669/
Usman, R. (2015). Frase nomina dalam artikel beyond film: exploring the content of movie
oleh John Scacco Retrieved May 27, 2019, from
https://ejournal.unsrat.ac.id/index.php/jefs/article/view/9029/8593