On Prepositional Phrases inside numeral expressions in Polish

This article focuses on the Polish structure NUM + na ‘out of’ + NUM (e.g. trzy na sto ‘three out of one hundred’). We explore the idea that, in most cases, the construction in question consists of a Determiner Phrase (DP) and an adjunct Prepositional Phrase (PP) – i.e. that it does not occupy a single numerical slot. We further postulate that this complex expression includes two occurrences of the quantified noun, one of them being subject to PF-ellipsis (deletion under identity). However, if the PP-internal (lower) numeral is a Q-type numeral (such as pięć ‘five’), the construction may be reanalysed as ‘mono-phrasal’. In such cases, the whole expression forms only one DP and the lower Q-numeral becomes the head of the numerical complex. The analysis we put forward in the present paper is based on the assumption that Polish is a DP-type language. We also take Q-numerals to be functional heads which occupy Q° and take NPs as their complements.