- Dutch
- Frisian
- Afrikaans
-
Dutch
-
Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological processes
- Phonology-morphology interface
-
Word stress
-
Primary stress in simplex words
- Monomorphemic words
- Diachronic aspects
- Generalizations on stress placement
- Default penultimate stress
- Lexical stress
- The closed penult restriction
- Final closed syllables
- The diphthong restriction
- Superheavy syllables (SHS)
- The three-syllable window
- Segmental restrictions
- Phonetic correlates
- Stress shifts in loanwords
- Quantity-sensitivity
- Secondary stress
- Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables
- Stress in complex words
-
Primary stress in simplex words
- Accent & intonation
- Clitics
- Spelling
-
Morphology
-
Word formation
-
Compounding
- Nominal compounds
- Verbal compounds
- Adjectival compounds
- Affixoids
- Coordinative compounds
- Synthetic compounds
- Reduplicative compounds
- Phrase-based compounds
- Elative compounds
- Exocentric compounds
- Linking elements
- Separable complex verbs (SCVs)
- Gapping of complex words
- Particle verbs
- Copulative compounds
-
Derivation
- Numerals
- Derivation: inputs and input restrictions
- The meaning of affixes
- Non-native morphology
- Cohering and non-cohering affixes
- Prefixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixation: person nouns
- Conversion
- Pseudo-participles
- Bound forms
-
Nouns
- Nominal prefixes
-
Nominal suffixes
- -aal and -eel
- -aar
- -aard
- -aat
- -air
- -aris
- -ast
- Diminutives
- -dom
- -een
- -ees
- -el (nominal)
- -elaar
- -enis
- -er (nominal)
- -erd
- -erik
- -es
- -eur
- -euse
- ge...te
- -heid
- -iaan, -aan
- -ief
- -iek
- -ier
- -ier (French)
- -ière
- -iet
- -igheid
- -ij and allomorphs
- -ijn
- -in
- -ing
- -isme
- -ist
- -iteit
- -ling
- -oir
- -oot
- -rice
- -schap
- -schap (de)
- -schap (het)
- -sel
- -st
- -ster
- -t
- -tal
- -te
- -voud
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Univerbation
- Neo-classical word formation
- Construction-dependent morphology
- Morphological productivity
-
Compounding
- Inflection
- Inflection and derivation
- Allomorphy
- The interface between phonology and morphology
-
Word formation
-
Syntax
- Preface and acknowledgements
-
Verbs and Verb Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of verb phrases I:Argument structure
-
3 Projection of verb phrases II:Verb frame alternations
- Introduction
- 3.1. Main types
- 3.2. Alternations involving the external argument
-
3.3. Alternations of noun phrases and PPs
-
3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.3.1.1. Dative alternation with aan-phrases (recipients)
- 3.3.1.2. Dative alternation with naar-phrases (goals)
- 3.3.1.3. Dative alternation with van-phrases (sources)
- 3.3.1.4. Dative alternation with bij-phrases (possessors)
- 3.3.1.5. Dative alternation with voor-phrases (benefactives)
- 3.3.1.6. Conclusion
- 3.3.1.7. Bibliographical notes
- 3.3.2. Accusative/PP alternations
- 3.3.3. Nominative/PP alternations
-
3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.4. Some apparent cases of verb frame alternation
- 3.5. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of verb phrases IIIa:Selection of clauses/verb phrases
-
5 Projection of verb phrases IIIb:Argument and complementive clauses
- Introduction
- 5.1. Finite argument clauses
- 5.2. Infinitival argument clauses
- 5.3. Complementive clauses
- 6 Projection of verb phrases IIIc:Complements of non-main verbs
- 7 Projection of verb phrases IIId:Verb clusters
- 8 Projection of verb phrases IV: Adverbial modification
- 9 Word order in the clause I:General introduction
- 10 Word order in the clause II:Position of the finite verb (verb-first/second)
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11 Word order in the clause III:Clause-initial position (wh-movement)
- Introduction
- 11.1. The formation of V1- and V2-clauses
- 11.2. Clause-initial position remains (phonetically) empty
- 11.3. Clause-initial position is filled
- 12 Word order in the clause IV:Postverbal field (extraposition)
- 13 Word order in the clause V: Middle field (scrambling)
- 14 Main-clause external elements
-
Nouns and Noun Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
-
2 Projection of noun phrases I: complementation
- Introduction
- 2.1. General observations
- 2.2. Prepositional and nominal complements
- 2.3. Clausal complements
- 2.4. Bibliographical notes
-
3 Projection of noun phrases II: modification
- Introduction
- 3.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers
- 3.2. Premodification
-
3.3. Postmodification
- 3.3.1. Adpositional phrases
- 3.3.2. Relative clauses
- 3.3.3. Infinitival clauses
- 3.3.4. A special case: clauses referring to a proposition
- 3.3.5. Adjectival phrases
- 3.3.6. Adverbial postmodification
- 3.4. Bibliographical notes
-
4 Projection of noun phrases III: binominal constructions
- Introduction
- 4.1. Binominal constructions without a preposition
- 4.2. Binominal constructions with a preposition
- 4.3. Bibliographical notes
-
5 Determiners: articles and pronouns
- Introduction
- 5.1. Articles
- 5.2. Pronouns
- 5.3. Bibliographical notes
- 6 Numerals and quantifiers
-
7 Pre-determiners
- Introduction
- 7.1. The universal quantifier al 'all' and its alternants
- 7.2. The pre-determiner heel 'all/whole'
- 7.3. A note on focus particles
- 7.4. Bibliographical notes
- 8 Syntactic uses of noun phrases
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Adjectives and Adjective Phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- 2 Projection of adjective phrases I: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adjective phrases II: Modification
- 4 Projection of adjective phrases III: Comparison
- 5 Attributive use of the adjective phrase
- 6 Predicative use of the adjective phrase
- 7 The partitive genitive construction
- 8 Adverbial use of the adjective phrase
- 9 Participles and infinitives: their adjectival use
- 10 Special constructions
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Adpositions and adpositional phrases
-
1 Characteristics and classification
- Introduction
- 1.1. Characterization of the category adposition
- 1.2. A formal classification of adpositional phrases
-
1.3. A semantic classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3.1. Spatial adpositions
- 1.3.2. Temporal adpositions
- 1.3.3. Non-spatial/temporal prepositions
- 1.4. Borderline cases
- 1.5. Bibliographical notes
- 2 Projection of adpositional phrases: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adpositional phrases: Modification
- 4 Syntactic uses of the adpositional phrase
- 5 R-pronominalization and R-words
-
1 Characteristics and classification
-
Phonology
-
Frisian
- General
-
Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
-
Phonological Processes
- Assimilation
- Vowel nasalization
- Syllabic sonorants
- Final devoicing
- Fake geminates
- Vowel hiatus resolution
- Vowel reduction introduction
- Schwa deletion
- Schwa insertion
- /r/-deletion
- d-insertion
- {s/z}-insertion
- t-deletion
- Intrusive stop formation
- Breaking
- Vowel shortening
- h-deletion
- Replacement of the glide w
- Word stress
- Clitics
- Allomorphy
- Orthography of Frisian
-
Morphology
- Inflection
-
Word formation
-
Derivation
- Prefixation
- Infixation
-
Suffixation
- Nominal suffixes
- Verbal suffixes
- Adjectival suffixes
- Adverbial suffixes
- Numeral suffixes
- Interjectional suffixes
- Onomastic suffixes
- Conversion
-
Derivation
-
Syntax
-
Verbs and Verb Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Unergative and unaccusative subjects
- Evidentiality
- To-infinitival clauses
- Predication and noun incorporation
- Ellipsis
- Imperativus-pro-Infinitivo
- Expression of irrealis
- Embedded Verb Second
- Agreement
- Negation
-
Nouns & Noun Phrases
- Classification
- Complementation
- Modification
-
Partitive noun constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Nominalised quantifiers
- Kind partitives
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Bare nominal attributions
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers and (pre)determiners
- Interrogative pronouns
- R-pronouns
- Syntactic uses
-
Adjective Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification and degree quantification
-
Comparison by degree
- Comparative
- Superlative
- Equative
-
Attribution
- Agreement
- Attributive adjectives vs. prenominal elements
- Complex adjectives
- Noun ellipsis
- Co-occurring adjectives
- Predication
- Partitive adjective constructions
- Adverbial use
- Participles and infinitives
-
Adposition Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Intransitive adpositions
- Predication
- Preposition stranding
-
Verbs and Verb Phrases
-
Afrikaans
- General
-
Phonology
- Afrikaans phonology
-
Segment inventory
-
Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- The diphthongised long vowels /e/, /ø/ and /o/
- The unrounded mid-front vowel /ɛ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /ɑ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /a/
- The rounded mid-high back vowel /ɔ/
- The rounded high back vowel /u/
- The rounded and unrounded high front vowels /i/ and /y/
- The unrounded and rounded central vowels /ə/ and /œ/
- The diphthongs /əi/, /œy/ and /œu/
-
Overview of Afrikaans consonants
- The bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/
- The alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/
- The velar plosives /k/ and /g/
- The bilabial nasal /m/
- The alveolar nasal /n/
- The velar nasal /ŋ/
- The trill /r/
- The lateral liquid /l/
- The alveolar fricative /s/
- The velar fricative /x/
- The labiodental fricatives /f/ and /v/
- The approximants /ɦ/, /j/ and /ʋ/
-
Overview of Afrikaans vowels
-
Word stress
- The phonetic properties of stress
- Primary stress on monomorphemic words in Afrikaans
- Background to primary stress in monomorphemes in Afrikaans
- Overview of the Main Stress Rule of Afrikaans
- The short vowels of Afrikaans
- Long vowels in monomorphemes
- Primary stress on diphthongs in monomorphemes
- Exceptions
- Stress shifts in place names
- Stress shift towards word-final position
- Stress pattern of reduplications
-
Phonological processes
- Vowel related processes
- Consonant related processes
- Homorganic glide insertion
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Phonotactics
- Morphology
-
Syntax
- Afrikaans syntax
-
Nouns and noun phrases
- Characteristics of the NP
- Classification of nouns
- Complementation of NPs
- Modification of NPs
-
Binominal and partitive constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Partitive constructions with nominalised quantifiers
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Binominal name constructions
- Binominal genitive constructions
- Bare nominal attribution
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- Syntactic uses of the noun phrase
-
Adjectives and adjective phrases
- Characteristics and classification of the AP
- Complementation of APs
- Modification and Degree Quantification of APs
- Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative degree
- Attribution of APs
- Predication of APs
- The partitive adjective construction
- Adverbial use of APs
- Participles and infinitives as adjectives
-
Verbs and verb phrases
- Characterisation and classification
- Argument structure
- Verb frame alternations
- Complements of non-main verbs
- Verb clusters
- Complement clauses
- Adverbial modification
- Word order in the clause: Introduction
- Word order in the clause: position of the finite Verb
- Word order in the clause: Clause-initial position
- Word order in the clause: Extraposition and right-dislocation in the postverbal field
- Word order in the middle field
- Emphatic constructions
- Adpositions and adposition phrases
The examples in (267) show that noun phrases modified by a restrictive relative clause can fulfill a variety of syntactic functions in the clause: subject, (in)direct object, PP-complement, predicate and adverbial phrase.
a. | De man | [die daar woont] | speelt | goed | piano. |
subject
|
|
the man | who there lives | plays | well | piano | |||
'The man who lives there plays the piano well.' |
b. | Jan heeft | gisteren | de man | [die daar woont] | ontmoet. |
direct object
|
|
Jan have | yesterday | the man | who there lives | met | |||
'Yesterday, Jan met the man who lives there.' |
c. | Ik | heb | de man | [die daar woont] | een CD | gegeven. |
indirect object
|
|
I | have | the man | who there lives | a CD | given | |||
'Iʼve given the man who lives there a CD.' |
d. | Ik | heb | naar de man | [die daar woont] | geluisterd. |
PP-complement of V
|
|
I | have | to the man | who lives there | listened | |||
'Iʼve listened to the man who lives there.' |
e. | Jan is de beste pianist | [die | ik | ken] |
predicate
|
|
Jan is the best pianist | who | I | know | |||
'Jan is the best pianist that I know.' |
f. | Ik | heb | gisteren | gedanst | met de man | [die daar woont]. |
adv. phrase
|
|
I | have | yesterday | danced | with the man | who there lives | |||
'Yesterday I danced with the man who lives there.' |
Noun phrases modified by a restrictive relative clause can furthermore be used as complement or modifier within another noun phrase. This is illustrated in (268).
a. | Mijn bewondering | voor de man | [die daar woont] | is groot. |
PP-complement
|
|
my admiration | for the man | who there lives | is great | |||
'My admiration for the man who lives there is .' |
b. | De muziek | van de man | [die daar woont] | is erg mooi. |
PP-modifier
|
|
the music | of the man | who there lives | is very beautiful |
Subsection I will show, however, that the function of the relative clause itself is the same in all these cases. This is followed in Subsection II by a discussion of the position of restrictive relative clauses and their antecedent in the clause.
- I. The function of restrictive relative clauses
- II. The positions of antecedent and relative clause
Restrictive relative clauses serve to restrict the set of possible referents of their antecedent. Although restrictive relative clauses have this function regardless of the form of the antecedent, it has different implications for relative clauses with definite antecedents and those with indefinite antecedents. In what follows, these two types of relative clauses will therefore be treated separately.
What the sentences in (267) and (268) have in common is that the relative clause restricts the set of possible referents of the definite antecedent noun in such a way that the hearer can be assumed to be able to identify its intended referent. From a communicative point of view the presence of the relative clause is required, since if it were left out, the hearer would not have sufficient information to pick out the intended referent of the DP. The fact that the restrictive relative clause serves to restrict the referent set of the antecedent is also clear from the dialogue in (269): the definite article in the first sentence suggests that the hearer is able to identify the intended referent of the noun phrase de man. Bʼs question, however, makes clear that the hearer fails to do so, and B provides additional information in the form of a restrictive relative clause, which restricts the set of male persons to the unique male person who lives next to him/her.
a. | De man | speelt | goed | piano. |
speaker A
|
|
the man | plays | well | piano |
b. | Welke man? |
speaker B
|
|
which man |
c. | De man | [die | naast mij | woont]. |
speaker A
|
|
the man | who | next.to me | lives | |||
'The man who lives next to me.' |
As a logical result of their restrictive function, restrictive relative clauses cannot felicitously be used to modify antecedents with unique referents. This will be illustrated in the following subsections for proper nouns and noun phrases with unique referents, antecedents with demonstrative determiners and possessive pronouns, and antecedents in the form of personal pronouns.
Restrictive relative clauses are infelicitous with proper nouns and uniquely referring noun phrases as antecedents; since there is no need for additional information to identify the intended referent, restrictive relative clauses are simply superfluous. Actually, using a restrictive relative clause in such situations will only lead to confusion, as it will suggest a referent set with more than one member. Consider in this respect the sentences in (270). Sentence (270a) is acceptable in any context, because in the default case there is only one sun in the domain of discourse (domain D), so that no further identifying information is needed for the hearer to pick out the intended referent. Adding a restrictive relative clause, as in (270b), has the effect of canceling the default value by suggesting that the set of suns in domain D has a cardinality greater that one.
a. | De zon | gaat | elke dag | weer | onder. | |
the sun | goes | every day | again | under | ||
'The sun sets every day.' |
b. | $ | De zon | [die | ʼs morgens | op komt] | gaat | elke dag | weer | onder. |
the sun | that | in the morning | rises | goes | every day | again | under | ||
'The sun which rises every morning sets every day.' |
Something similar holds for proper nouns: (271a) is acceptable in any context, given that in the default case there is one person with the given name in domain D: adding a restrictive relative clause normally leads to unacceptability, as shown by example (271b).
a. | Wibi Soerjadi | speelt | mooi | piano. | |
Wibi Soerjadi | plays | beautifully | piano | ||
'Wibi Soerjadi plays the piano beautifully.' |
b. | * | Wibi Soerjadi | [die | naast mij | woont] | speelt | goed | piano. |
Wibi Soerjadi | who | next me | lives | plays | beautifully | piano |
The only context in which a proper noun can be followed by a restrictive relative clause is when the proper noun fails to uniquely identify the intended referent within the given context. In that case the referent set denoted by the proper noun is indeed larger than one, which means that the restrictive relative clause has the function of enabling the hearer to select the intended referent. Thus, in the given situation, where both father Jozef and son Isaac are well-known painters, sentence (272a) is perfectly acceptable. Note, however, that in such cases the proper noun no longer functions as a proper noun but as a common noun phrase, as shown by the obligatory use of the definite determiner de'the'. The acceptability of (272b), which also includes a proper noun modified by a restrictive relative clause, can be accounted for in a similar way. See also Sections 1.2.1 and 5.1.2.1 for a more detailed discussion of proper nouns.
a. | De Israëls | [die het beroemdst is] | was een impressionist. | |
the Israels | that the most.famous is | was an impressionist |
b. | De Kennedy | [die | is omgekomen] | was een zoon van de voormalige president. | |
the Kennedy | who | is killed | was a son of the former president | ||
'The Kennedy who was killed was a son of the former president.' |
Example (273b) shows that, in the general case, restrictive relative clauses cannot easily be used in noun phrases that contain a demonstrative determiner. This is due to the fact that the demonstrative suggests that there are other (linguistic or extra-linguistic) means available to uniquely identify the referent in question.
a. | Het concert | [waar | ik | gisteren | naar | toe | ben | geweest] | was fantastisch. | |
the concert | where | I | yesterday | to | toe | am | been | was fantastic |
b. | *? | Dit concert | [waar | ik | gisteren | naar | toe | ben | geweest] | was fantastisch. |
this concert | where | I | yesterday | to | toe | am | been | was fantastic |
In contrastive contexts like those in (274), demonstratives can co-occur with restrictive relative clauses. This is as might be expected, since in such contexts there are always two or more referents which need to be distinguished: the relative clause functions to set the contrasted referents apart from any other elements, while the demonstrative serves to distinguish the contrasted elements from each other.
a. | Dit concert | dat | ik | van hem | heb | bijgewoond | was beter | dan het vorige. | |
this concert | that | I | of him | have | attended | was better | than the previous |
b. | Dat schilderij | dat | hij | van haar | gemaakt | heeft, | is mooier | dan dit hier. | |
that painting | that | he | of her | made | has | is nicer | than this here | ||
'That painting that he has made of her is nicer than this one here.' |
In non-contrastive contexts, the distal demonstratives dat/die'that/those' can be used in combination with a restrictive relative clause provided that the demonstrative does not have its usual (uniquely) identifying function. In (275a), for instance, the demonstrative dat is used to introduce an entity into the discourse (comparable to English this), while in (275b) the deictic force of the demonstrative die is insufficient to identify the referent in question. In (275c) the stressed demonstrative is used to refer to an as yet unidentifiable, generic referent set. In all these sentences it is possible to replace the demonstrative by the definite article, whereas leaving out the relative clause will yield unacceptable results in the given contexts.
a. | Dat concert | waar | ik | het | gisteren | over | had, | was fantastisch. | |
that concert | where | I | it | yesterday | about | had | was fantastic | ||
'This concert I was talking about yesterday was fantastic.' |
b. | Die jongen | die | daar | bij het raam | zit, | woont | naast mij. | |
that boy | who | there | at the window | sits | lives | next.to me | ||
'That boy who is sitting at the window over there is living next to me.' |
c. | Ik | bezoek | alleen | die concerten | waarvoor | studenten | korting | krijgen. | |
I | visit | only | those concerts | where-for | students | discount | get | ||
'I go only to those concerts for which students get a discount.' |
Noun phrases containing a possessive pronoun or a genitive possessor behave in much the same way as noun phrases containing a demonstrative pronoun. Generally speaking, the use of a possessor suffices to pick out the intended referent, and, as a result, they typically do not co-occur with a restrictive relative clause. This is shown by example (276a). Once again, exceptions must be made for those cases in which the possessor does not uniquely identify the intended referent within the given context. This is typically the case with family names in examples such as (276b); cf. also Section 5.2.2.2, sub I. Moreover, as with the demonstratives in (274), constructions with a possessor can be more or less felicitously restricted by a relative clause in a contrastive context like (276c).
a. | * | Mijn boek | dat | ik | gisteren | gekocht | heb, | was duur. |
my book | that | I | yesterday | bought | have | was expensive |
b. | Mijn oom | die | voor een Amerikaans bedrijf | werkt, | is | vaak | in New York. | |
my uncle | who | for an American company | works | is | often | in New York |
c. | ? | Zijn boek | dat | Gerard Reve gesigneerd | heeft | is veel ouder | dan het mijne. |
his book | that | Gerard Reve signed | has | is much older | than the mine | ||
'His book which Gerard Reve has signed is much older than mine.' |
A personal pronoun can only be modified by a restrictive relative clause if the pronoun itself does not provide sufficient identifying or restrictive information in the given context; cf. also Subsection IIE. Consequently, restrictive relative clauses cannot be used to modify the singular first person pronoun ik in (277), whose referent is contextually identified as the speaker.
a. | *? | Ik | die | uit Nederland | kom, | ben | wel | gewend | aan een nat klimaat. |
I | who | from the.Netherlands | come | am | prt | used | to a wet climate |
b. | * | Ik | die | je | zo | geholpen | heeft/heb, | verdien | toch | wel | een bedankje. |
I | who | you | so | helped | has/have | earn | prt | prt | a thank.you |
Plural first person pronouns can be relativized, but only in generic contexts. Thus, the pronoun wij'we' in example (278a) has generic reference: it denotes the entire class of Dutch people. In example (278b), on the other hand, wij refers to a contextually determined set of persons, and in that case the use of a restrictive relative clause is unacceptable. Note that the pronoun in (278a) must be stressed, which is probably due to the fact that the referent of a reduced pronoun is always recoverable from the linguistic context.
a. | Wij/*We | die | uit Nederland | komen, | zijn | gewend | aan veel regen. | |
we | who | from the.Netherlands | come | are | used | to a lot of rain | ||
'We from the Netherlands are used to a lot of rain.' |
b. | * | Wij | die | uit Nederland | komen, | gaan | het toernooi | winnen. |
we | who | from the.Netherlands | come | go | the championship | win | ||
'We from the Netherlands will win the championship.' |
Second person pronouns can also be relativized only in exceptional cases, that is, if the use of the pronoun alone does not sufficiently narrow down the set of possible referents. In (279a), the pronoun is used to address some person who is standing among other people, and the restrictive relative clause is used to properly identify the intended person as the person who is laughing more loudly than the others. In (279b), on the other hand, the pronoun refers to a uniquely identified hearer, and the addition of a restrictive relative clause is infelicitous. Note that the pronoun in (278a) must again be stressed.
a. | Jij/*Je | die | daar | zo hard | lacht, | moet | nu | maar | eens | werken. | |
you | who | there | so loudly | laughs | should | now | prt | prt | work | ||
'You who are laughing so loudly better go to work now.' |
b. | *? | Jij | die | me | zo | geholpen | heeft/hebt, | hebt | wel | een bedankje | verdiend. |
you | who | me | so | helped | has/have | has | prt | a thank.you | earned |
Third person pronouns more freely accept relativization provided that they are non-reduced. For pronouns with (regular) specific reference, this is illustrated in example (280).
a. | dat | hij/*ie | die | daar | zo mooi | piano | speelt | woont | naast | mij. | |
that | he | who | there | so beautifully | piano | plays | lives | next.to | me | ||
'He who is playing the piano so beautifully lives next to me.' |
b. | Zij/*ze | die | naast me | woont, | heeft | me | dat | verteld. | |
she | who | next.to me | lives | has | me | that | told | ||
'She who lives next to me told me that.' |
c. | Ik | heb | hem/*’m | die | naast me | woont | een tijd | niet | meer | gezien. | |
I | have | him | who | next.to me | lives | a time | not | more | seen | ||
'I havenʼt seen him/her who lives next to me for some time.' |
In the primeless examples of (281), the same thing is shown for the more special use of pronouns with nonspecific singular reference. Since the pronouns in these examples lack a specific referent and have very little semantic content, the resulting constructions are very similar to so-called semi-free relatives discussed in Section 3.3.2.2, sub IA3. Thus, the antecedent personal pronouns in these constructions can be replaced by the element degene(n)'the one(s)', although this will result in the loss of the gender information expressed by the masculine and feminine pronouns in (281).
a. | Wil | hij/*ie | die | de sleutels | heeft | deze | zo snel mogelijk | terugbrengen. | |
wants | he | who | the keys | has | these | so quickly possible | return | ||
'Could he/the person who has the keys return them as quickly as possible?' |
a'. | Wil degene die de sleutels heeft deze zo snel mogelijk terugbrengen. |
b. | Zij/*ze | die | haar sleutels | heeft | verloren | kan | deze | hier | ophalen. | |
she | who | her keys | has | lost | can | these | here | collect | ||
'She/the female person who has lost her keys can collect them here.' |
b'. | Degene die haar sleutels heeft verloren kan deze hier ophalen. |
In the primeless examples of (282), the same thing is shown for pronouns with nonspecific universal reference. In this case the pronoun with universal reference can be replaced by quantifiers like iedereen'everyone', in which case the universal reference of the antecedent is emphasized; in (282b') this, of course, requires that the number specification of the verbs is adjusted to the singular feature of the quantifier iedereen.
a. | dat | hij/*ie | die | te laat | komt, | wordt | gestraft. | |
that | he | who | too late | comes | is | punished | ||
'that any person who is late will be punished.' |
a'. | dat | iedereen | die te laat komt, | wordt | gestraft. | |
that | everyone | who too late comes | is | punished |
b. | Zij/*ze | die | zich | hebben | ingeschreven, | krijgen | tijdig | bericht. | |
they | who | refl | have | registered | receive | in good time | news | ||
'Those persons who have registered will be informed in good time.' |
b'. | Iedereen | die zich heeft ingeschreven, | krijgt | tijdig | bericht. | |
everyone | who refl has registered | receives | in good time | news |
The examples in (283) show that there is no restriction on the syntactic function of the relativized personal pronoun in the matrix clause: in these examples, the antecedent pronoun functions as, respectively, subject, direct object and indirect object. Note that, just like the subject pronoun, the object pronouns must be non-reduced. As will be clear from (283c), the syntactic function of the antecedent pronoun in the main clause need not correspond to that of the relative pronoun in the relative clause: the former functions as the indirect object of the main clause and the latter as the subject of the relative clause. Note that the pronoun antecedent must have the form required by its syntactic function in the matrix clause; using the form required by a pronoun with the syntactic function of the relative pronoun, as in (283c'), leads to severe ungrammaticality.
a. | Zij/*ze [RC | die daar binnenkomt] | is mijn buurvrouw. | |
she | who there enters | is my neighbor | ||
'She who is just coming in is my neighbor.' |
b. | Ik | ken | hem/*’m [RC | die ze ontslagen hebben] | niet | persoonlijk. | |
I | know | him | who they fired have | not | personally | ||
'I donʼt know him who they have fired personally.' |
c. | Ze | hebben | (?)haar/*’r [RC | die | de hoofdrol | speelt] | een Oscar | toegekend. | |
they | have | her | who | the leading part | plays | an Oscar | awarded | ||
'They have awarded her who plays the lead an Oscar.' |
c'. | * | Ze | hebben | zij [RC | die | de hoofdrol | speelt] | een Oscar | toegekend. |
they | have | she | who | the leading part | plays | an Oscar | awarded |
Above we have repeatedly pointed out that modification by a restrictive relative clause is only possible with the strong form of the pronouns. Given that the neuter singular third person pronoun is normally pronounced in its reduced form ’t'it', it will not come as a surprise that modification of this pronoun is not possible; as is shown in example (284c), the demonstrative form dat'that' is used instead (with the pronoun wat as relative element).
a. | * | We | hebben | het/’t | dat | we | zo graag | hebben | wilden, | gisteren | gekocht. |
we | have | it | that | we | so much | have | wanted | yesterday | bought |
b. | We | hebben | dat | wat | we | zo graag | hebben | wilden, | gisteren | gekocht. | |
we | have | that | which | we | so much | have | wanted | yesterday | bought | ||
'We have bought this/that which we wanted to have so much, yesterday.' |
The examples in (285) show that restrictive relative clauses can also have an indefinite antecedent. Again, the relative clauses have a restricting function, although the use of the indefinite article een or the quantifier enkele'some' indicates that in this case they do not serve the purpose of identifying one particular referent for the hearer; the relative clause simply serves to restrict the set of possible referents by providing relevant additional information. In (285), the set of students is restricted to those individuals that attend the speakerʼs class.
a. | Een student | die mijn colleges volgt, | heeft | een boek | van me | geleend. | |
a student | who my classes follows | has | a book | from me | borrowed | ||
'A student who attends my classes borrowed a book from me yesterday.' |
b. | Ik | heb | een boek | geleend | aan enkele studenten | die mijn college volgen. | |
I | have | a book | lent | to some students | who my classes follow | ||
'Iʼve lent a book to some students who attend my classes.' |
Indefinite antecedents of restrictive relative clauses can be specific, that is, known to the speaker but not to the hearer, or nonspecific, that is, neither known to the speaker nor the hearer. This is illustrated by (286a) and (286b&c), respectively.
a. | Ik | ontmoette | daar | een paar mensen | die | ik | nog | van vroeger | kende. | |
I | met | there | a few people | who | I | yet | of before | knew | ||
'I met some people that I knew from the old days there.' |
b. | Ik | ben | op zoek | naar een student | die | geïnteresseerd | is in taalkunde. | |
I | am | on search | to a student | who | interested | is in linguistics | ||
'Iʼm looking for a student who is interested in linguistics.' |
c. | Ik | ben | op zoek | naar studenten | die | geïnteresseerd | zijn | in taalkunde. | |
I | am | on search | to students | who | interested | are | in linguistics | ||
'Iʼm looking for students who are interested in linguistics.' |
The primeless examples in (287) show that indefinite antecedents of restrictive relative clauses can also have a generic interpretation. When the semantic content of the head antecedent noun is small or predictable, these constructions are similar in meaning to semi-free relative constructions or constructions with nonspecific third person pronoun antecedents. Examples of both are given in the primed examples in (287).
a. | Een student | die | bij mij college | loopt, | moet | hard werken. | |
a student | who | with me class | walks | must | hard work | ||
'A student who attends my classes has to work hard.' |
a'. | Degene/Hij | die | bij mij | college | loopt, | moet | hard werken. | |
the.one/he | who | with me | class | walks | must | hard work |
b. | Studenten | die | bij mij | college | lopen, | moeten | hard werken. | |
students | who | with me | class | walk | must | hard work | ||
'Students who attend my classes have to work hard.' |
b'. | Degenen/Zij | die | college | bij mij | lopen, | moeten | hard werken. | |
those/they | who | class | with me | walk | must | hard work |
Relative clauses always follow their antecedent. Although we will see shortly that they need not be adjacent to it, in most cases the relative clause does immediately follow the antecedent. Some examples are given in (288).
a. | [De man [RC | die | naast mij | woont]] | speelt | goed | piano. | |
the man | who | next.to me | lives | plays | well | piano | ||
'The man who lives next to me plays the piano well.' |
b. | Ik | heb | gisteren | [de man [RC | die | naast me | woont]] | ontmoet. | |
I | have | yesterday | the man | who | next.to me | lives | met | ||
'I met the man who lives next to me yesterday.' |
c. | Ze | hebben | [de actrice [RC | die in deze film speelt]] | een Oscar | toegekend. | |
they | have | the actress | who in this film plays | an Oscar | awarded | ||
'They have awarded the actress who stars in this film an Oscar.' |
That the relative clause need not immediately follow the antecedent can be seen from example (289), in which the relative clause is in extraposed position. Extraposition of the relative clause is quite common, due to the tendency to place salient or heavy information in sentence-final position.
Ik | heb | gisteren | de man | ontmoet [RC | die | naast me | woont]. | ||
I | have | yesterday | the man | met | who | next.to me | lives |
It is normally not possible, however, to split the antecedent and the relative clause by means of leftward movement of the antecedent: the (a)-examples of (290) show that scrambling of the antecedent must pied-pipe the relative clause, and the (b)-examples show that the same thing holds for topicalization.
a. | Ik heb de man [die naast me woont] gisteren ontmoet. |
a'. | * | Ik heb de man gisteren [die naast me woont] ontmoet. |
b. | De man [die naast me woont] heb ik gisteren ontmoet. |
b'. | * | De man heb ik gisteren [die naast me woont] ontmoet. |
Note that the ban on scrambling and topicalization of the antecedent normally also holds if the relative clause is in extraposed position. The unacceptability of the examples in (291) may be a special instantiation of the so-called freezing principle, that is, the more general rule that extraction from a moved phrase is excluded. There may, however, be more to it since we will see in Subsection D that wh-movement of the antecedent is sometimes possible with extraposed relative clauses.
a. | * | Ik heb de man gisteren ontmoet [die naast me woont]. |
b. | * | De man heb ik gisteren ontmoet [die naast me woont]. |
In what follows we will consider in more detail the constructions in which the relative clause is in extraposed position or the antecedent is moved leftward. In all cases, the notion of focus will play a crucial role: extraposition is only acceptable if the relative clause contains focal information, while topicalization/wh-movement is only possible in those cases in which the antecedent carries focus. We will end with a discussion of constructions with personal pronoun antecedents, which form an exception to the general observation that it is possible to topicalize both antecedent and relative clause.
Extraposition of the relative clause does not seem to depend on the syntactic function of the full noun phrase, although there are certain factors that may interfere. The following subsections will discuss a number of cases.
First, the examples in (292) show that extraposition from direct object DPs is possible. This, of course, does not imply that extraposition is always possible: Subsection B, for example, will show that extraposition from the direct object requires that the relative clause contains salient/new information and Subsection D that the antecedent has not been scrambled, that is, belongs to the focus (new information) of the clause.
a. | Ik | heb | de film | gezien [RC | die | vorige week | zoʼn goede recensie | kreeg]. | |
I | have | the film | seen | that | last week | such a good review | got | ||
'Iʼve seen the film which got such a good review last week.' |
b. | Mijn neef | heeft | een tekening | gekocht [RC | die Rembrandt | in 1643 | maakte]. | |
my cousin | has | a drawing | bought | that Rembrandt | in 1643 | made | ||
'My cousin has bought a drawing that Rembrandt made in 1643.' |
The examples in (293) show that extraposition from a prepositional indirect object is also easily possible.
a. | Ik | heb | hetzelfde advies | aan de man | gegeven [RC | die naast mij woont]. | |
I | have | the.same advice | to the man | given | who next.to me lives | ||
'I gave the same advice yesterday to the man who lives next to me.' |
b. | Ik wil advies | aan iemand | vragen [RC | die | verstand | heeft | van kunst]. | |
I want advice | to someone | ask | who | knowledge | has | of art | ||
'I want to ask the advice of someone who knows about art.' |
This does not hold, however, for the nominal indirect objects in (294): the (a)- and (b)-examples in (294) show that extraposition of the relative is possible but only if the direct object is moved to a position preceding the indirect object. It seems that this fact has to do with the definiteness of the direct object, given that example (294b) much improves if we replace the demonstrative by the indefinite noun phrase advies'advice'; this is shown in (294c).
a. | ?? | Ik | heb | de man | hetzelfde advies | gegeven [RC | die | naast mij | woont]. |
I | have | the man | the.same advice | given | who | next.to me | lives | ||
'I gave the same advice yesterday to the man who lives next to me.' |
a'. | Hetzelfde advies heb ik de man gegeven [RC die naast mij woont]. |
b. | * | Ik | wil | iemand | dit | vragen [RC | die | verstand | heeft | van kunst]. |
I | want | someone | this | ask | who | knowledge | has | of art | ||
'I want to ask this of someone who knows about art.' |
b'. | Dit wil ik iemand vragen [RC die verstand heeft van kunst]. |
c. | Ik | wil | iemand | advies | vragen [RC | die | verstand | heeft | van kunst]. | |
I | want | someone | advice | ask | who | knowledge | has | of art | ||
'I want to ask the advice of someone who knows about art.' |
Example (295) shows that the acceptability of extraposition from a direct object may likewise be influenced by the presence of material to the right of the direct object. The examples in (295) show that it is easier to extract a restrictive relative clause from a direct object in a double object construction if the direct object is preceded by a nominal indirect object than if it is followed by a prepositional indirect object.
a. | Jan | heeft | Peter het boek [RC | dat | zoʼn goede recensie | had] | gegeven. | |
Jan | has | Peter the book | that | such a good review | has | given | ||
'Jan has given Peter the book that received such a good review.' |
a'. | Jan heeft Peter het boek gegeven [RC dat zoʼn goede recensie had]. |
b. | Jan | heeft | het boek [RC | dat | zoʼn goede recensie | had] | aan Peter | gegeven. | |
Jan | has | the book | that | such a good review | had | to Peter | given | ||
'Jan has given the book that received such a good review to Peter.' |
b'. | ?? | Jan heeft dat boek aan Peter gegeven [RC dat zoʼn goede recensie had]. |
Example (296a) shows that extraposition from PP-complements of a verb is fully acceptable, just like extraposition from prepositional indirect objects in (293). The same thing seems to hold for extraposition from the PP-complement of a noun or an adjective, although some people may consider examples like these somewhat marked, which may be related to the fact that the primeless examples compete with the primed examples in which the complete PP-complement is in extraposed position.
a. | dat | Jan | op de man | wachtte [RC | die hem naar huis zou brengen]. | |
that | Jan | on the man | waited | who him to house would bring | ||
'that Jan was waiting for the man who would take him home.' |
a'. | dat Jan wachtte [PP op de man [RC die hem naar huis zou brengen]]. |
b. | (?) | dat | ik | bewondering | voor de man | heb [RC | die dit mogelijk heeft gemaakt]. |
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