Khmer Noun Phrase Structure in Administrative and Academic Register: An NP-Movement Analysis Based on Royal Decrees and Scientific Articles Corpus.

Abstract

This paper investigates the syntactic architecture of Khmer Noun Phrases (NPs) within high registers, specifically focusing on administrative texts (rɪɜc kriːt - Royal Decrees) and academic discourse (at tʰaː bɔt β̞i tʰjɪɛ kaː - Scientific Articles). Utilizing the X-bar Theory framework and the Determiner Phrase (DP) Hypothesis, this study addresses the typological challenges posed by Khmer's strict head-initial nature versus its distinctive surface linear word order: [Noun - Adjective - Numeral - Classifier - Demonstrative]. Through a quantitative analysis of 240 complex DPs, the study found that this surface complexity does not violate the head-initial principle; rather, it is the result of systematic NP-movement mechanisms within the DP. The core NP undergoes leftward movement across functional heads, consistently displacing the Demonstrative (nih) to the absolute final position in 100% of the sampled cases, serving as a critical syntactic boundary marker. Furthermore, the research elucidates the phenomenon of structural compression and extreme recursion characteristic of high-register Khmer. Empirical data reveals a significant register-specific divergence: academic prose exhibits a higher density of nominalization via ka: (43.6%) to maximize information density, while administrative texts rely on unprecedented right-branching adjunct chains, reaching depths of up to 23 layers to ensure legal precision. These findings provide significant typological insights into Austroasiatic syntax, demonstrating how massive recursive structures—heavily reliant on Pali-Sanskrit loanwords—are densely packed into a single DP [1] without disrupting the language’s fundamental head-initial principles.