The Argument For Classifier As Central In The Nominal Group

Martin & Rose (2007: 96):

Lexically, we are concerned with five functional elements of nominal groups. First, in Halliday’s model, the central function of a nominal group is called the Thing. The lexical noun that realises a Thing is a class of person or thing, such as girl, man, window, bed. Second, the Thing may be sub-classified by an item functioning as Classifier. Classifier and Thing together form a unified lexical element:

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Here again Martin & Rose confuse the two distinct notions of 'word', lexical item and grammatical rank unit, and use the confusion to justify their claim that Classifier, along with Thing, is 'central' to the nominal group, without identifying the sense in which they are 'central'.

To be clear, the claim that Classifier is 'central' to the nominal group rests on the claim that the grammatical structure Classifier^Thing forms a "unified lexical element". The argument is therefore invalidated by any Classifier^Thing structure that does not form "a unified lexical element", such as plastic warthog.

Lexical items composed of more than one word are also sometimes called lexical chunks, gambits, lexical phrases, lexical units, lexicalised stems, or speech formulae. The term polyword listemes is also sometimes used.