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5.5.Appendix: The syntax of R-words
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This section concludes the discussion on R-pronominalization and R-extraction by delving more deeply into the behavior of R-words, which, strictly speaking, goes beyond the limited domain of R-pronouns. The examples in (113) start by showing that R-pronouns can also be used as locational pro-forms.

113
R-pronouns
Locational pro-forms
a. Jan keek er zojuist naar.
  Jan looked  there  just.now  at
  'Jan looked at it just now.'
a'. Jan was er.
  Jan was there
  'Jan was there.'
b. Jan keek hier/daar goed naar.
  Jan looked  here/there  well  at
  'Jan looked at this/that well.'
b'. Jan zat hier/daar.
  Jan sat here/there
  'Jan was sitting here/there.'
c. het boek waar ik naar keek
  the book  where  at  looked
  'the book that I looked at'
c'. de stad waar Jan woont
  the city  where  Jan  lives
  'the city where Jan is living'
d. Waar keek je naar?
  what  looked  you  at
  'What did you look at?'
d'. Waar woont Jan?
  where  lives  Jan
  'Where does Jan live?'
e. Jan keek ergens goed naar.
  Jan looked  something  well  at
  'Jan looked at something carefully.'
e'. Dat boek is ergens.
  that book  is somewhere
  'That book is somewhere.'
f. Jan keek nergens goed naar.
  Jan looked  nothing  well  at
  'Jan looked at nothing carefully.'
f'. Dat boek is nergens.
  that book  is nowhere
  'That book is nowhere.'
g. Jan keek overal goed naar.
  Jan looked  everywhere  well  at
  'Jan looked at everything carefully.'
g'. de boeken liggen overal.
  the books  lie  everywhere
  'The books are lying everywhere.'

In addition, it is shown there that the R-word er is also used as an expletive in impersonal passive and existential/presentational constructions, and as the indicator of a nominal gap in quantitative er constructions. This is shown again in (114).

114
a. Er werd gedanst.
expletive er in impersonal passive
  there  was  danced
b. Er waren drie studenten in de tuin.
expletive er in presentational constr.
  there  were  three students  in the garden
c. Jan heeft er [NP drie [e]] gekocht.
quantitative er
  Jan has  there  three  bought
  'Jan has bought three [e.g., books].'

The distribution of the types of R-words in (113) and (114) interacts in various intricate ways. This interaction will be the topic of this section. Section 5.5.1 starts by discussing the difference between er and the other R-words. Section 5.5.2 continues with a discussion of the co-occurrence restrictions on the different types of R-words. Section 5.5.3 concludes this appendix by discussing the typical property of er that it can perform more than one function at the same time.

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