Rindtarindist Nimisõnafraasi osana
Coordinate structures as parts of a noun phrase

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the use of the plural form of adjectival attributes in cases where these attributes modify a distributive coordinate structure with singular conjuncts (eakad mees ja naine ‘old (pl.) man and woman’ pro eakas mees ja naine ‘old (sing.) man and woman’), as well as the use of the plural form of nouns modified by coordinated genitive attributes (Eesti ja Soome presidendid ‘the presidents of Estonia and Finland’ pro Eesti ja Soome president ‘the president of Estonia and Finland’). The use of the plural in such constructions is not as rare as is commonly believed, but rather is actually quite common in certain cases. Certain properties of the conjuncts favor the use of the plural form of adjectival attributes, for instance if the conjuncts are proper names, e.g. loodusvarade poo- lest rikkad Venemaa ja Kanada ‘Natural resource­rich Russia and Canada’, or if they are parts of the same whole, e.g. auhinnalised 5. ja 6. koht ‘award­winning 5th and 6th place’. The plural is often found in partially fixed, so­called natural compounds, e.g. Armsad Leelo ja Mare! ‘Dear Leelo and Mare!’ The properties of the attribute itself also play a role: attributes appearing in the plural are often quantitative in meaning, e.g. 16-aastased Jüri ja Aleksandr ‘16­year­olds Jüri and Aleksandr’, or have verbal properties, namely the present participle, e.g. Abrukal elavad isa ja poeg kukkusid läbi merejää ‘a father and son living on abruka fell through the sea ice’. Nouns modified by coordinated attributes appear in the plural when they are bounded and predominantly when the attributes are definite, especially proper names, e.g. Soome ja Eesti välisministrid kirjutasid alla koostöömemorandumile ‘The foreign ministers of Finland and Estonia signed the cooperation memo’.

• Details
• Contents