The Prepositional Phrase Hypothesis at the Bulgarian Subject Position
Petya Osenova
Sofia University St. Kl. Ohridski, Bulgaria
Abstract
The paper considers the possibilities of expressing the Bulgarian subject with a prepositional phrase in addition to being expressed with a nominal or a nominalized phrase as presented in the Bulgarian grammar literature. To achieve this goal, a number of approaches
are discussed towards a special type of phrases in a subject position, namely the „phrases of approximation“ consisting of a preposition/adverb, followed by a numeral and a noun. Such phrases are for example „over 100 people“ or „approximately 200 books“. A conclusion is drawn that in spite of the existing alternatives for analyzing the Bulgarian subject as a prepositional phrase, it can be properly analyzed as a nominal phrase which is in the direction of the existing Bulgarian grammar tradition. Discussion on the analysis of the elements within the nominal phrase is also introduced.
Keywords: subject, Bulgarian, phrases of approximation, PP hypothesis