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8.1.4.Subject noun phrases in the expletive construction

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Expletive constructions are typically used to introduce a new entity into the domain of discourse. Generally speaking, these constructions are only possible if the subject is an indefinite or weak noun phrase; this is normally referred to as the definiteness effect. This is illustrated in(70): whereas the expletive construction with the indefinite noun phrase een man in (70a) is perfect, the corresponding construction with the definite noun phrase de man in (70b) is ungrammatical.

a.		Er	staat	een man	voor	de deur.
		there	stands	a man	in.front.of	the door

b.	*	Er	staat	de man	voor	de deur.
		there	stands	the man	in.front.of	the door

It is, however, not correct to claim that definite noun phrases are categorically excluded in the expletive construction. If the expletive construction contains a definite subject that is explicitly marked as introducing a new “topic”, the result is acceptable. This marking typically involves the adjective volgende'following', which is used to announce a list of “new” topics, as in (71a&b). Another option that seems to favor this construction is the adverb nog in (71b&b'). Note that examples such as (71b') are also possible with noun phrases introduced by the distal demonstrative pronoun, but not with the proximate one; this is discussed in Section 5.2.3.2, sub IIB.

a.		Er	waren	de volgende gastsprekers	op de conferentie: ...
		there	were	the following invited.speakers	at the conference

b.	.. en	dan	zijn	er	nog	de volgende problemen:	ten eerste, ...
	.. and	then	are	there	still	the following problems	first
	'.. and then we still have the following problems: first ...'

b'.	.. maar	dan/nu	is er	ook	nog	het probleem van de afvalverwerking.
	.. but	then/now	is there	also	still	the problem of the waste disposal
	'.. but then/now we still have the problem of waste disposal.'

It is generally assumed that the expletive er occupies the canonical subject position, and that the indefinite subject occupies some lower position in the clause, presumably its base-position within the VP. If so, the expletive construction is just another case (in addition to scrambling) that shows that indefinite noun phrases resist leftward movement within the middle field of the clause.

I. Specific/nonspecific readings
II. Partitive/non-partitive readings
III. Generic/non-generic readings

[+] I. Specific/nonspecific readings

The indefinite noun phrase in an expletive construction can either be specific or nonspecific. The most plausible reading of (72a) is the one where the speaker is not able to identify the person in question, whereas the most plausible reading of (72b) is that at least the speaker is able to identify the person in question in discourse. These examples also show that the nonspecific indefinite noun phrase in (72a) must follow the adverb, that is, cannot be scrambled. The specific one in (72b), on the other hand, can more readily be placed in the position in front of the adverb, which indicates that it can at least marginally be scrambled. In the case of a quantifier like iemand'someone' in (72c), scrambling is even the normal means to make the distinction between the two interpretations: if the quantifier follows the adverb, it is preferably construed as nonspecific, whereas it must be construed specifically if it precedes it.

a.	Er	is	<*een man>	gisteren <een man>	overreden.
	there	is	a man	yesterday	run.over
	'A man was run over yesterday.'

b.		Er	is	<?een broer van mij>	gisteren <een broer van mij>	overreden.
		there	is	a brother of mine	yesterday	run.over

c.		Er	is	<iemand>	gisteren <iemand>	overreden.
		there	is	someone	yesterday	run.over

The examples in (73) show that the nonspecific indefinite noun phrase is not commonly used without the expletive, whereas the specific one can be used without the expletive. For completeness’ sake, note that we have put aside the fact that in some varieties of Dutch, examples such as (73a) are also acceptable without the expletive; we are only discussing the varieties here that do not allow this.

Gisteren is *(er) een man overreden.

Gisteren is (er) een broer van mij overreden.

Gisteren is (er) iemand overreden.

It should be noted, however, that the expletive is sensitive not only to the type of its subject, but also to the presence or absence of some presupposition in the clause; cf. Bennis (1986). Consider the examples in (74). In (74a) the adverbial phrase voor mijn huis follows the indefinite subject and is construed as part of the focus of the clause: since there is no other presupposition, the expletive must be realized. However, if the adverbial phrase precedes the subject, it can (but need not) be construed as the presupposition of the clause; if it is, the expletive may be dropped.

a.	Gisteren	is	*(er)	een man	voor	mijn huis	overreden.
	yesterday	is	there	a man	in.front.of	my house	run.over
	'Yesterday, a man was run over in front of my house.'

Gisteren is (er) voor mijn huis een man overreden.

Something similar can be observed in (75). Although for some unknown reason (75a) is perhaps somewhat marked on a nonspecific interpretation of the subject, it seems that this reading does require the expletive to be present, which is consistent with the fact that the object is preferably interpreted as a nonspecific indefinite noun phrase. In (75b), which may again be somewhat marked on a nonspecific interpretation of the subject, the expletive can be readily left out; this is related to the fact that the definite object het boek can (but need not) be interpreted as part of the presupposition of the clause. In (75c), which readily allows a nonspecific interpretation of the subject, the expletive cannot be used, which is due to the fact that the object pronoun het must be construed as part of the presupposition of the clause; see Broekhuis (2007/2008) for more discussion.

a.		dat	?(er)	een man	een boek	gekocht	heeft.
		that	there	a man	a book	bought	has

b.		dat	(?er)	een man	het boek	gekocht	heeft.
		that	there	a man	the book	bought	has

c.		dat	(*er)	een man	het	gekocht	heeft.
		that	there	a man	it	bought	has

From the data in (73) to (75), we may conclude that, in the absence of a presupposition, the expletive must be realized if the subject is nonspecific. An exception must be made, however, for nonspecific indefinite noun phrases modified by certain attributive adjectives or restrictive relative clauses. The primed examples in (76) show that they can be placed in the regular subject position, that is, the position occupied by the expletive in the primeless examples. Probably, the attributive adjective/relative clause makes the noun phrase sufficiently specific to occupy this position.

a.		Daarna	werd	er	nog	een tachtig jaar oude man	binnengelaten.
		after.that	was	there	prt	an eighty year old man	prt.-admitted

a'.

Daarna werd een tachtig jaar oude man nog

binnengelaten.

b.		Daarna	werd	er	nog	een man	die	te laat	kwam	binnengelaten.
		after.that	was	there	prt	a man	who	too late	came	prt.-admitted

b'.

Daarna werd een man die te laat kwam nog binnengelaten.

The examples in (77) show that modified noun phrases are even preferably placed in the regular subject position if the clause contains sentential negation. Note that these examples should not be confused with examples such as Er is een tachtig jaar oude man niet goed geworden'An eighty year old man became unwell', where the negative adverb is construed with the adjectival predicate. In these cases we are probably dealing with constituent negation ( niet goed'not well' ≈ onwel'ill').

a.	?	Er	werd	een tachtig jaar oude man	niet	binnengelaten.
		there	was	an eighty year old man	not	prt.-admitted

a'.

Een tachtig jaar oude man werd niet binnengelaten.

b.	??	Er	werd	een man	die	te laat	kwam	niet	binnengelaten.
		there	was	a man	who	too late	came	not	prt.-admitted

b'.

Een man die te laat

kwam, werd niet binnengelaten.

A second exception involves examples in which the head of the indefinite subject receives contrastive accent. So whereas an indefinite subject like een man in (78a) normally cannot occur without the expletive, it can occur without it if the noun man is contrastively stressed, as in (78a'). If the noun phrase contains a numeral or quantifier, as in (78b), the expletive may also be dropped if contrastive accent is assigned to the numeral/quantifier, although in this case the noun phrase is likely to receive a partitive reading; cf. De Hoop (1992).

a.	*?	Een man	is	gearresteerd.
		a man	has.been	arrested

a'.		Een man	is	gearresteerd	(niet een vrouw).
		a man	has.been	arrested	not a woman

b.	Er	zijn	twee studenten	gearresteerd.
	there	are	two students	arrested
	'Two students are arrested.'

b'.	Twee studenten	zijn	gearresteerd	(niet drie).
	two students	are	arrested	not three
	'Two (of the) students are arrested.'

[+] II. Partitive/non-partitive readings

That nonspecific indefinite noun phrases are normally preferably introduced by an expletive is also clear from the fact that such noun phrases may invoke special semantics when they occur in the regular subject position. Consider the (a)-examples in (79). Example (79a) merely claims that some student was arrested. If the indefinite noun phrase is placed in regular subject position, the indefinite article is preferably stressed so that we cannot immediately observe whether we are dealing with the article or the numeral één'one'. The preferred reading of the primed example is a partitive one: it is claimed that a certain student from a contextually determined set of students was arrested — the interpretation of the indefinite noun phrase comes rather close to één van de studenten'one of the students'; cf. Section 4.1.1.6, sub I. The (b)-examples in (79) show that the same phenomenon can be found in cases that unambiguously involve a numeral or a quantifier.

a.	Er	is gisteren	een student	gearresteerd.
	there	is yesterday	a student	arrested
	'A student was arrested yesterday.'

a'.

Eén student is gisteren gearresteerd.

b.	Er	zijn	gisteren	twee/enkele studenten	gearresteerd.
	there	were	yesterday	two/some students	arrested
	'Two/some students were arrested yesterday.'

b'.	Twee/enkele studenten	zijn	gisteren	gearresteerd.
	two/some students	were	yesterday	arrested
	'Two/some of the students were arrested yesterday.'

As we noted above, it cannot be immediately be observed whether we are dealing in (79a') with the indefinite article or the numeral één'one'. The fact illustrated in (80) that the indefinite plural noun phrase studenten cannot occur in the regular subject position suggests the latter. This supports our earlier conclusion that unmodified nonspecific indefinite noun phrases normally cannot occur in regular subject position.

a.	Er	zijn	gisteren [NP ∅	studenten]	gearresteerd.
	there	are	yesterday	students	arrested
	'Students were arrested yesterday.'

[NP ∅ Studenten] zijn gisteren gearresteerd.

[+] III. Generic/non-generic readings

A further difference between the expletive construction and the construction with the indefinite noun phrase in the regular subject position is that the noun phrase can never be interpreted generically in the former. Consider the examples in (81): the indefinite noun phrase in the expletive construction in (81a) cannot be interpreted generically, whereas example (81b) must be construed generically. The difference can be made clearer by putting the examples in the past tense: (81a') is still acceptable and expresses that it used to be the case that some hippo was lying in the water; (81b'), on the other hand, is weird since it suggests that hippos in general have changed their habit of normally lying in the water. Note that (81b') becomes acceptable on a specific or partitive interpretation if we stress een: it used to be the case that a certain hippo or one of the hippos was lying in the water.

a.		Er	ligt	meestal	een nijlpaard	in het water.
		there	lies	generally	a hippopotamus	in the water

a'.		Er	lag	meestal	een nijlpaard	in het water.
		there	lay	generally	a hippopotamus	in the water

b.		Een nijlpaard	ligt	meestal	in het water.
		a hippopotamus	lies	generally	in the water

b'.	%	Een nijlpaard	lag	meestal	in het water.
		a hippopotamus	lay	generally	in the water

The examples in (82) show that the same pattern arises in the case of plural indefinite noun phrases. Again, the primed (b)-example is unacceptable due to non-syntactic factors, given that it suggests that hippos in general have changed their habit of normally lying in the water.

a.		Er	liggen	meestal [NP	∅ nijlpaarden]	in het water.
		there	lie	generally	∅ hippopotami	in the water

a'.		Er	lagen	meestal [NP	∅ nijlpaarden]	in het water.
		there	lay	generally	∅ hippopotami	in the water

b.		[NP	∅ Nijlpaarden]	liggen	meestal	in het water.
		[NP	∅ hippopotami	lie	generally	in the water

b'.	%	[NP	∅ Nijlpaarden]	lagen	meestal	in het water.
	%	%[NP	∅ hippopotami	lay	generally	in the water

Summarizing, we can say that (unmodified) nonspecific indefinite subjects introduced by the indefinite article een/∅ must normally be part of an expletive construction. Specific indefinite subjects, on the other hand, may either be part of an expletive construction or occupy the regular subject position. Indefinite subjects with a partitive or generic interpretation, finally, cannot occur in an expletive construction but must occupy the regular subject position.

	subject	expletive
nonspecific indefinite subject	—	+
specific indefinite subject	+	+
partitive/generic indefinite subject	+	—

To conclude this section on the expletive construction we want to mention that narratives pose an exception to the general rule that nonspecific indefinite noun phrases headed by an indefinite article do not occur in the regular subject position. A story might well begin as in (84), where the function of the noun phrase een man is clearly to introduce some new discourse entity without the implication that the speakers would be able to uniquely identify the intended referent. The sentence in (84) is acceptable only if the discourse is continued with a story about this person sitting in the waiting room.

Een man	zit	in de wachtkamer bij de dokter	en ...
a man	sits	in the waiting.room of the doctor	and
'A man is sitting in the waiting room of the doctor, and ...'

References:

Bennis, Hans1986Gaps and dummiesDordrechtForis Publications
Broekhuis, Hans2007Subject shift and object shiftJournal of Comparative Germanic Linguistics10109-141
Broekhuis, Hans2008Derivations and evaluations: object shift in the Germanic languagesStudies in Generative GrammarBerlin/New YorkMouton de Gruyter
Hoop, Helen de1992Case configuration and noun phrase interpretationGroningenUniversity of GroningenThesis

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis

Category: Dutch Syntax

Publication date: 22 November 2023

Keywords: Constituent NegationDefinitenessDefiniteness EffectGenericityNegationSentential Negation

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