The noun phrase

Australian languages are regularly described as not having NPs in the classic sense, but rather loosely ordered expressions that are merely associated in terms of joint reference. This chapter shows that Australian languages exhibit more diversity in the nominal domain than is sometimes assumed in the literature, and focuses on two points which can be regarded as defining for NPs: syntactic unithood and the presence of determiners. Moreover, the chapter also argues for a different perspective in dealing with the nominal domain: typologising languages in terms of the full range of structural possibilities they have available provides a more interesting picture than doing so on the basis of a yes/no question about the presence of NPs. The same goes for determiners, where the focus should not just be on specialised determiners, but also on elements that can switch between different functions.