This article attempts to account for the distribution of Icelandic adjectival inflection in a manner that also captures a problematic case that has not been satisfactorily analyzed in the literature. It is argued that weak inflection is triggered if the adjective is c-commanded by a feature [definite]. Strong inflection occurs precisely if weak inflection is not triggered. This implementation accounts for the occurrence of strong inflection on predicative adjectives and adnominal adjectives in indefinite noun phrases, but moreover allows us to account for an unexpected pattern in Icelandic where a strongly inflected adjective occurs in a definite noun phrase. It is argued that, in this case, the adjective is not c-commanded by the definite article, but, in fact, merged outside DP. This rather unorthodox assumption motivated on morpho-syntactic grounds makes a number of syntactic and semantic predictions. In particular, adjectives that are merged outside DP are expected to modify not simply an NP (of type $${<}\hbox {e,t}{>}$$), but actually a referential expression/an individual of type e. The discussion of four instances of that strongly inflected pattern—appositives, expressives, positional predicates and little partitives—provides various kinds of evidence and shows that these expectations are indeed borne out.

中文翻译：

---

形容词变化作为结构位置的诊断：冰岛语确定性域的内部和外部

本文试图以某种方式解释冰岛语形容词屈折的分布，同时也捕捉到一个在文献中没有得到令人满意分析的问题案例。有人认为，如果形容词由特征 [确定] 控制，则触发弱屈折变化。如果不触发弱拐点，则恰好发生强拐点。这种实现解释了不定名词短语中的谓语形容词和副词形容词的强屈折发生，而且还允许我们解释冰岛语中一个意想不到的模式，其中强屈折形容词出现在定名词短语中。有人争辩说，在这种情况下，形容词不是由定冠词 c-command，而是实际上合并在 DP 之外。这种基于形态句法理由的相当非正统的假设做出了许多句法和语义预测。特别是，在 DP 之外合并的形容词不仅要修饰 NP（类型 $${<}\hbox {e,t}{>}$$），而且实际上是指代表达式/类型 e 的个体. 对这种强屈折模式的四个实例——同位格、表达、位置谓词和小分词——的讨论提供了各种证据，并表明这些期望确实得到了证实。