Noun Phrase Constructions in Musgum (Chadic Language)

This paper tackles the Noun Phrase constructions in Musgum, a Chadic language spoken in Cameroon and Chad. It is particular to the generative grammar developed since the fifties by Chomsky. We question the structure of the Noun Phrase. At the end of the analysis, we found that the Noun Phrase can be made up of a noun, a possessive pronoun, a demonstrative pronoun, an indefinite pronoun and numerals. We brought out several Noun Phrase structures: single Noun; Noun and possessive determiner; Noun and demonstrative determiner; Noun, Possessive marker and Noun; Noun, nà (connective) and Noun. Noun Phrase (NP) can be considered as Determiner Phrase (DP). The determiner follows the noun. But in the underlying structure, it occupies a higher position: Spec-DP.