- Dutch
- Frisian
- Saterfrisian
- Afrikaans
-
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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
-
- 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
- Compositions
- 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
-
- General
- Morphology
- Morphology
- 1 Word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 1.1.1 Compounds and their heads
- 1.1.2 Special types of compounds
- 1.1.2.1 Affixoids
- 1.1.2.2 Coordinative compounds
- 1.1.2.3 Synthetic compounds and complex pseudo-participles
- 1.1.2.4 Reduplicative compounds
- 1.1.2.5 Phrase-based compounds
- 1.1.2.6 Elative compounds
- 1.1.2.7 Exocentric compounds
- 1.1.2.8 Linking elements
- 1.1.2.9 Separable Complex Verbs and Particle Verbs
- 1.1.2.10 Noun Incorporation Verbs
- 1.1.2.11 Gapping
- 1.2 Derivation
- 1.3 Minor patterns of word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 2 Inflection
- 1 Word formation
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
- 0 Introduction to the AP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of APs
- 2 Complementation of APs
- 3 Modification and degree quantification of APs
- 4 Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative
- 5 Attribution of APs
- 6 Predication of APs
- 7 The partitive adjective construction
- 8 Adverbial use of APs
- 9 Participles and infinitives as APs
- Nouns and Noun Phrases (NPs)
- 0 Introduction to the NP
- 1 Characteristics and Classification of NPs
- 2 Complementation of NPs
- 3 Modification of NPs
- 3.1 Modification of NP by Determiners and APs
- 3.2 Modification of NP by PP
- 3.3 Modification of NP by adverbial clauses
- 3.4 Modification of NP by possessors
- 3.5 Modification of NP by relative clauses
- 3.6 Modification of NP in a cleft construction
- 3.7 Free relative clauses and selected interrogative clauses
- 4 Partitive noun constructions and constructions related to them
- 4.1 The referential partitive construction
- 4.2 The partitive construction of abstract quantity
- 4.3 The numerical partitive construction
- 4.4 The partitive interrogative construction
- 4.5 Adjectival, nominal and nominalised partitive quantifiers
- 4.6 Kind partitives
- 4.7 Partitive predication with a preposition
- 4.8 Bare nominal attribution
- 5 Articles and names
- 6 Pronouns
- 7 Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- 8 Interrogative pronouns
- 9 R-pronouns and the indefinite expletive
- 10 Syntactic functions of Noun Phrases
- Adpositions and Adpositional Phrases (PPs)
- 0 Introduction to the PP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of PPs
- 2 Complementation of PPs
- 3 Modification of PPs
- 4 Bare (intransitive) adpositions
- 5 Predication of PPs
- 6 Form and distribution of adpositions with respect to staticity and construction type
- 7 Adpositional complements and adverbials
- Verbs and Verb Phrases (VPs)
- 0 Introduction to the VP in Saterland Frisian
- 1 Characteristics and classification of verbs
- 2 Unergative and unaccusative subjects and the auxiliary of the perfect
- 3 Evidentiality in relation to perception and epistemicity
- 4 Types of to-infinitival constituents
- 5 Predication
- 5.1 The auxiliary of being and its selection restrictions
- 5.2 The auxiliary of going and its selection restrictions
- 5.3 The auxiliary of continuation and its selection restrictions
- 5.4 The auxiliary of coming and its selection restrictions
- 5.5 Modal auxiliaries and their selection restrictions
- 5.6 Auxiliaries of body posture and aspect and their selection restrictions
- 5.7 Transitive verbs of predication
- 5.8 The auxiliary of doing used as a semantically empty finite auxiliary
- 5.9 Supplementive predication
- 6 The verbal paradigm, irregularity and suppletion
- 7 Verb Second and the word order in main and embedded clauses
- 8 Various aspects of clause structure
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
-
- 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
This section discusses the reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, which have the characteristic property that they must be bound by (= be coreferential with) an antecedent noun phrase in the same clause. We will first discuss the paradigm of the reflexive pronouns, which will be followed by a discussion of the reciprocal elkaar'each other'. The section will be concluded with a discussion of the so-called binding properties of these pronouns.
- I. The reflexive pronouns
- II. The reciprocal pronoun elkaar'each other'
- III. Binding
- A. The classical version of the Binding Theory
- B. Personal pronouns that are part of the complement of a small clause
- C. Personal pronouns that function as the subject of a small clause
- D. A potential problem: dative reflexives
- E. Personal pronouns that function as part of an argument
- F. Personal pronouns that function as part of an adverbial phrase
- G. Conclusion
- A. The classical version of the Binding Theory
The form of the reflexive pronouns is determined by their antecedent: they vary according to the person and number features involved, just like the referential personal pronouns. They differ from the referential pronouns, however, in that they are not marked for gender: the third person reflexive pronoun zich(zelf) is not sensitive to the gender of the head noun of its antecedent. The Dutch reflexive pronouns can further be divided into two morphologically distinct groups: the first group consists of monomorphemic forms, whereas the second group consists of bimorphemic forms that result from the addition of the bound morpheme –zelf to the monomorphemic forms. We will refer to these two groups as the simplex and complex reflexives, respectively. The full paradigm is given in Table 8.
singular | plural | ||||
simplex | complex | simplex | complex | ||
first person | me | mezelf | ons | onszelf | |
second person | regular | je | jezelf | je | jezelf |
polite | u/zich | uzelf/zichzelf | u/zich | uzelf/zichzelf | |
third person | zich | zichzelf | zich | zichzelf |
The simplex reflexive pronouns of the first and second person are homophonous to the reduced object forms of the corresponding referential pronouns, if available. The second person plural reflexive pronoun je differs from the referential one in that the latter must appear as the phonologically heavy form jullie. The polite reflexive form can be either u or zich; that the latter is possible may be related to the fact that the referential pronoun u behaves syntactically like a third person pronoun in that it triggers third person singular agreement on the finite verb (cf. Section 5.2.1.1, sub I); the fact that the referential pronoun u can be the antecedent of the reflexive zich(zelf) shows that it also behaves like a third person singular pronoun in this respect. Example (374) shows that the two forms u and zich are often interchangeable. However, use of the reflexive form u is infelicitous if the subject pronoun and the reflexive pronoun are adjacent, as in (374b&c). In imperative constructions such as (374d), on the other hand, zich is excluded. Note that this cannot fully be attributed to the absence of the subject pronoun given that the imperative is intrinsically second person; since zich is only used in the polite form, this should in principle suffice to indicate that the polite form is intended.
a. | U | heeft | u/zich | vergist. | |
you | have | refl | mistaken | ||
'Youʼre mistaken.' |
b. | Ik | denk | dat | u | zich/??u | vergist | heeft. | |
I | think | that | you | refl | mistaken | has |
c. | Waarschijnlijk | heeft | u | zich/??u | vergist. | |
probably | have | you | refl | mistaken |
d. | Vergis | u/*zich | niet! | |
mistake | refl | not |
If the antecedent of the reflexive pronoun is plural, two interpretations are often possible. Example (375), for example, can either refer to a situation in which the boys present themselves as a group (e.g., we are The Tramps), or to a situation in which each of the boys introduces himself. These interpretations depend on the interpretation of the plural subject, which may have either a collective or a distributive interpretation; cf. Section 5.1.1.4.
De jongens | stelden | zichzelf | voor. | ||
the boys | introduced | themselves | prt. | ||
'The boys introduced themselves.' |
The reflexive counterpart of the generic personal pronoun men is the third person form zich(zelf). The reflexive forms used with the generic personal pronouns je and ze are, respectively, je(zelf) and zich(zelf). Some examples are given in (376); see Section 5.2.1.1, sub I, for a discussion of these generic pronouns.
Als | je/men | gezond | wil | blijven, ... | ||
if | you/one | healthy | want | stay … |
a. | ... dan | moet | men | zich | goed | verzorgen. | |
... then | must | one | refl | well | look.after |
b. | ... dan | moet | je | je | goed | verzorgen. | |
... then | should | you | refl | well | look.after | ||
'If one wants to keep healthy, one has to look after oneself.' |
Occasionally, the form ’mzelf is used as a reflexive pronoun within noun phrases, as in (377); the restrictions on its use will not be discussed here, but in Section 2.2.5.2.
a. | * | Ik | bekeek | een foto | van | zichzelf/’mzelf. |
I | looked.at | a picture | of | himself |
b. | Jani | bekeek | een foto | van | zichzelfi/*’mzelfi. | |
Jan | looked.at | a picture | of | himself |
Dutch has only one reciprocal pronoun, which is used for all persons and genders. The form of this pronoun is elkaar (in some varieties of Dutch, the form mekaar is used). Generally, it is used with a syntactically plural antecedent, that is, an antecedent that triggers plural agreement on the verb. This is illustrated in (378).
a. | Jij en ik | beminnen | elkaar. | |
you and I | love | each.other |
b. | Jan en Marie | sloegen | elkaar. | |
Jan and Marie | hit | each.other |
There are, however, exceptions to the general rule that the antecedent must be syntactically plural. The examples in (379), for instance, show that the generic indefinite/generic pronouns men and je can act as the antecedent of a reciprocal pronoun, despite the fact that they are syntactically singular.
a. | Men | moet | elkaar | helpen. | |
one | must | each.other | help | ||
'People should help each other.' |
b. | Je | moet | elkaar | vertrouwen. | |
you | must | each.other | trust | ||
'People should trust each other.' |
Example (380a) further shows that collective nouns like stel'couple' can sometimes also be used as the antecedent for elkaar. This is, however, not a general property of the collective nouns, as will be clear from the markedness of (380b).
a. | Het stel | kuste | elkaar. | |
the couple | kissed | each.other |
b. | * | De menigte | kuste | elkaar. |
the crowd | kissed | each.other |
Other potential cases involving a singular antecedent of elkaar are given in (381). It is not so clear, however, whether the subject really acts as an antecedent of the reciprocal given that expressions like uit elkaar gaan'to disperse/to divorce' and in elkaar vallen/zakken'to collapse' have an idiomatic flavor. One potential argument for assuming that we are dealing with idioms is that the notion of “reciprocity” is absent in the meaning of these examples. The discussion below will show, however, that this may also be the case in non-idiomatic examples.
a. | De menigte/het stel | ging | uit elkaar. | |
the crowd/the couple | went | out each.other | ||
'The crowd dispersed/the couple divorced.' |
b. | Het kaartenhuis | viel | in elkaar. | |
the house.of.carts | fell | in each.other | ||
'The house of cards collapsed.' |
c. | De man | zakte | in elkaar. | |
the man | sank | in each.other | ||
'The man collapsed.' |
That the notion of “reciprocity” is an important ingredient of the meaning of the pronoun elkaar is clear from the following experiment. If we invent a new verb, say knurven'to knurf', the first interpretation that will come to mind for a sentence like Jan en Marie knurven elkaar'Jan and Marie are knurving each other' is that it implies that both “Jan is knurving Marie” and “Marie is knurving Jan” are true; similarly a sentence like De jongens knurven elkaar'The boys are knurving each other' will be taken to imply that each of the boys is knurving the others.
Nevertheless it seems that the notion of “reciprocity” may be absent if we are dealing with asymmetric predicates. Examples of such asymmetric predicates can be found in clauses containing locational or temporal phrases like to sit in front of: if Jan is sitting in front of Marie, it immediately follows that Marie does not sit in front of Jan. The examples in (382) show that elkaar can nevertheless be used with such predicates.
a. | Jan en Marie | zitten | achter | elkaar. | |
Jan and Marie | sit | behind | each.other |
b. | De jongens | gingen | na | elkaar | weg. | |
the boys | went | after | each.other | away | ||
'The boys left one after the other.' |
c. | Ik | stapel | de dozen | op elkaar. | |
I | pile | the boxes | on each.other | ||
'Iʼm piling the boxes, one on top of the other.' |
The examples in (383) show that constructions like these do not always yield an acceptable result. Possibly, the difference in acceptability between (382) and (383) is due to the fact that in (383) the intended relation can simply be expressed by means of the symmetric preposition naast'next-to', whereas Dutch lacks symmetric prepositions that could express the intended relations in (382). To our knowledge, differences like these have never been systematically investigated.
a. | * | Jan en Marie | zitten | links | van | elkaar. |
Jan and Marie | sit | to.the.left | of | each.other | ||
'Jan and Marie are sitting to the left of each other.' |
b. | ?? | Ik | leg | de dozen | rechts | van | elkaar. |
I | put | the boxes | to.the.right | of | each.other | ||
'I put the boxes to the right of each other.' |
A satisfactory discussion of reflexive, reciprocal, and referential personal pronouns implies that some attention must be paid to the syntactic constraints on their interpretation: it is not the case that they can be coreferential with just any noun phrase in the sentence. These syntactic restrictions on what has become known as binding have been in the center of much generative research of the last forty years, and it seems impossible to do full justice to this research within the confines of this study on nouns and their projections. Nevertheless, although we plan to discuss this topic more extensively elsewhere, we still want to highlight some of the results of this research here; see Broekhuis (1994) for a preliminary version of the more exhaustive discussion of this issue.
Most of the research on binding is based on the empirical observation that English referential and reflexive personal pronouns are in complementary distribution. The same thing holds for the Dutch referential and complex reflexive pronouns. This is illustrated in the primeless examples in (384), in which coreferentiality is indicated by italics. The primed examples serve the purpose of showing that referential phrases normally cannot be used if a referential or reflexive pronoun is possible; these examples are excluded on the intended reading, according to which Jan and de jongen refer to the same individual.
a. | Ik | denk | dat | Jan | zichzelf/*hem | bewondert. | |
I | think | that | Jan | himself/*him | admires | ||
'I think that Jan admires himself.' |
a'. | * | Ik | denk | dat | Jan | de jongen | bewondert. |
I | think | that | Jan | the boy | admires |
b. | Jan denkt | dat | ik | hem/*zichzelf | bewonder. | |
Jan thinks | that | I | him/himself | admire | ||
'Jan thinks that I admire him.' |
b'. | * | Jan denkt | dat | ik | de jongen | bewonder. |
Jan thinks | that | I | the boy | admire |
Data like (384) were accounted for by means of Binding Theory, which found its classical formulation in the so-called binding conditions proposed in Chomsky (1981). Although alternative proposals have been formulated since then, we will take the somewhat simplified formulation of these conditions in (385) as point of departure for our discussion.
a. | Reflexive and reciprocal personal pronouns are bound in their local domain. |
b. | Referential personal pronouns are free (= not bound) in their local domain. |
c. | Referential noun phrases like Jan or de jongen'the boy' are free. |
Let us start by clarifying some of the terms used in these conditions. A noun phrase is said to be bound if it is coreferential with a c-commanding antecedent. The term c-command refers to an asymmetric syntactic relation between the constituents in a sentence. Although the relation is generally defined in structural terms, it also seems possible to express it by means of the hierarchy in (386), in which A > B indicates that A c-commands B and everything that is embedded in B.
subject > direct object > indirect object-PP > PP-complement > adjunct |
We will apply the terms binding and c-command to the examples in (384). We can say that the reflexive pronoun zichzelf in (384a) is bound by the noun phrase Jan given that the latter is a subject and the former a direct object. We can also say that the referential pronoun hem in (384b) is bound by matrix subject Jan given that the latter c-commands the direct object sentence that contains the pronoun (recall that A > B indicates that A c-commands B and everything that is embedded in B).
Now consider again the three binding conditions in (385), which are normally referred to as binding conditions A, B and C. The fact that example (384b') is ungrammatical on the intended reading shows that c-command does not suffice to license binding: binding condition C expresses this by saying that a referential expression cannot be bound at all, which, of course, correctly excludes (384b'). Binding conditions A and B further express that noun phrases that can in principle be bound may differ with respect to the syntactic domain in which this is possible. If we assume for the moment that the relevant domain is the minimal clause in which we find the bound element, the data in (384a&b) will follow: in (384a) the antecedent Jan is within the local domain of the pronoun, and binding conditions A and B predict that a reflexive pronoun can, but a referential pronoun cannot be bound by Jan; in (384b) the antecedent Jan is not within the local domain of the pronoun, and binding conditions A and B therefore predict that a referential pronoun can, but a reflexive pronoun cannot be bound by Jan. This derives the complementary distribution of the referential and reflexive personal pronouns illustrated in (384a&b).
The c-command hierarchy in (386) in tandem with binding condition A predicts that a subject can be the antecedent of any reflexive/reciprocal pronoun functioning as an (in)direct object, a PP-complement or an adjunct in the same clause. The examples in (387) show that this is indeed the case. The hierarchy (386) in tandem with binding condition B also predicts that the referential pronoun ze'them' cannot substitute for the reflexive/reciprocal under the intended reading; this is also true but will go unillustrated here.
a. | Jan en Marie | bekeken | zichzelf/elkaar. | |
Jan and Marie | looked.at | themselves/each.other |
b. | Jan en Marie | gaven | zichzelf/elkaar | graag | cadeautjes. | |
Jan and Marie | gave | themselves/each.other | gladly | presents |
b'. | Jan en Marie | gaven | een cadeautje | aan zichzelf/elkaar. | |
Jan and Marie | gave | a present | to themselves/each.other |
c. | Jan en Marie | zorgen | voor zichzelf/elkaar. | |
Jan and Marie | take.care | for themselves/each.other | ||
'Jan and Marie look after themselves/each other.' |
d. | Jan en Marie | spraken | namens | zichzelf/elkaar. | |
Jan and Marie | spoke | on.behalf.of | themselves/each.other |
The c-command hierarchy in (386) in tandem with binding condition A predicts that a direct object can be the antecedent of any reflexive/reciprocal pronoun functioning as an indirect object, a PP-complement or an adjunct in the same clause, but crucially not of the subject. The examples in (388) show that this is indeed the case. The hierarchy in (386) in tandem with binding condition B also correctly predicts that the referential pronoun ze'them' cannot substitute for the reflexive/reciprocal under the intended reading, but this will again go unillustrated here. The diacritic “$” indicates that the example is odd for reasons not related to syntax.
a. | * | Zichzelf/Elkaar | zag/zagen | hen. |
themselves/each.other | sawsg/sawpl | them |
b. | Ik | stelde | de meisjes | aan $zichzelf/elkaar | voor. | |
I | introduced | the girls | to themselves/each.other | prt. |
c. | Hij | speelde | de meisjes | tegen $zichzelf/elkaar | uit. | |
He | played | the girls | against themselves/each.other | prt. | ||
'He played the girls off against themselves/each other.' |
d. | Ik | waarschuwde | de meisjes | voor zichzelf/elkaar. | |
I | warned | the girls | for themselves/each.other | ||
'I warned the girls about themselves/each other.' |
The other predictions that follow from the binding conditions in (385) in tandem with the c-command hierarchy in (386) are also on the right track, but we will not discuss this here; see Broekhuis (1994) for a detailed description.
Although Chomskyʼs Binding Theory is successful as far as the complex form of the reflexive and the reciprocal is concerned, the simplex reflexive introduces a number of new and intricate problems that cannot straightforwardly be accounted for by means of the three binding conditions in (385). The simplex reflexive is typically used in inherent reflexive constructions such as (389), but can also be used in certain argument positions; see Everaert (1986) for a good, virtually exhaustive, overview of the distribution of the simplex reflexives.
a. | Jan vergist | zich/*Marie | |
Jan mistakes | refl/Marie | ||
'Jan is mistaken.' |
b. | Jan schaamt | zich/*Marie | |
Jan shames | refl/Marie | ||
'Jan is ashamed.' |
That the binding conditions in (385) must be complicated in order to account for the binding behavior of the simplex reflexive zich will be immediately clear from the fact that it cannot be bound by a co-argument, whereas this is typically the case with complex reflexives and reciprocals: in this respect, the simplex reflexive behaves like the referential pronoun hem.
a. | Marie bekeek | zichzelf/*zich/*haar. | |
Marie looked.at | herself/refl/her |
b. | Jan gaf | zichzelf/*zich/*hem | graag | cadeautjes. | |
Jan gave | himself/refl/him | gladly | presents |
c. | Jan gaf | een cadeautje | aan zichzelf/*zich/*hem. | |
Jan gave | a present | to himself/refl/hem |
The examples in (391) show that the simplex reflexive zich also behaves differently from the complex reflexives and reciprocals in examples containing a predicative locational PP: in (391a) the reciprocal must be bound by the logical subject of the predicate, de honden'the dogs', whereas the simplex reflexive cannot be. Example (391b) shows that the latter must instead be bound by the subject of the clause. Again, the simplex reflexive behaves like the referential pronouns: the weak pronoun ’m can also be bound by the subject of the clause in this construction.
a. | Jan houdt [SC | de honden | bij | elkaar/*zich/*ze] | |
Jan keeps | the dogs | with | each.other/refl/them | ||
'Jan keeps the dogs together.' |
b. | Jan houdt [SC | de honden | bij | zich/’m/*zichzelf]. | |
Jan keeps | the dogs | with | refl/him/himself | ||
'Jan keeps the dogs with him.' |
The examples in (391) show that although the simplex reflexive and weak referential pronoun cannot be bound by their co-argument de honden, they can be bound by the noun phrase Jan within their minimal clause. From this we conclude that our earlier assumption that the local domain is the minimal clause containing the pronoun is wrong: in (391) it is instead constituted by the phrase marked as small clause (SC), which contains both the locational predicate and its subject. A second conclusion that can be drawn from (391) is that the simplex reflexive zich behaves like the referential pronouns in not being able to be bound with its local domain. Nevertheless the simplex reflexive does pattern with the reflexives and reciprocals in that it must have an antecedent within its minimal clause; the referential pronoun, on the other hand, may remain free in its minimal clause and refer to some contextually determined antecedent, as in (392c), or refer to some antecedent in some higher matrix clause, as in (392c').
a. | De hond | legde [SC | de botten | naast | elkaar/*zich/*ze]. | |
the dog | put | the bones | next.to | each.other/refl/them |
b. | De hond | legde [SC | het bot | naast | zich/’m/*zichzelf]. | |
the dogs | put | the bone | next.to | refl/him/himself |
c. | Ik | legde [PP | het bot | naast | ’m/*zich/*zichzelf]. | |
I | put | the bone | next.to | him/refl/each.other |
c'. | De hond | zag [clause | dat ik [SC | het bot | naast | ’m/*zich/*zichzelf] | legde]. | |
the dog | saw | that I | the bone | next.to | him/refl/each.other | put | ||
'The dog saw that I put the bone next to it.' |
The (c)-examples in (392) are crucial for our present purpose. Example (392a) simply shows again that whereas a reciprocal can be bound by the subject of a predicative PP, the simplex reflexive and referential pronoun cannot. Example (392b) shows that whereas a reflexive cannot be bound by the subject of the embedded clause, the simplex reflexive and referential pronouns can, although it might be useful to point out that zichzelf is only blocked if it has a regular accent; if it has contrastive accent on zelf, we are dealing with simplex reflexive zich strengthened by the contrastive element zelf'himself/herself/themselves', which we also find with other noun phrases; cf. Jan heeft met Marie zelf gesproken'Jan has spoken to Marie herself'; cf. Section 5.2.3.2, sub V. The (c)-examples in (392) show, however, that the simplex reflexive and the referential pronoun differ in that the former must be bound in it minimal clause, whereas the latter can remain free or be bound by some element in a higher clause.
The discussion above leads to the conclusion that it is necessary to distinguish a larger set of local domains, as in (393); in this table “bound” indicates that the relevant noun phrase must be bound within the given domain, “free” indicates that it must remain free in the given domain, and “optional” that it may but need not be bound within the given domain. Note that there are two implicational relations involved: if some element must be bound in its domain I, it must also be bound in its domain II and the sentence; if some element must be free in the sentence it must also be free in its domains I and II. The cells the values of which can be predicted from these implicational relations are shaded; in order to see whether the binding conditions are satisfied, it suffices to inspect whether the conditions in the cells without shading are satisfied.
domain I | domain II | sentence | |
complex reflexive & reciprocal personal pronouns | bound | bound | bound |
simplex reflexive personal pronouns | free | bound | bound |
referential personal pronouns | free | optional | optional |
referential expression | free | free | free |
Now, if we provisionally assume that the local domain I of a pronoun is defined as the first constituent containing both the pronoun and a subject, whereas local domain II is defined as the minimal clause of the pronoun, the data in (390) to (392) will follow. In (390), the minimal clause of the pronoun is also the first constituent containing a subject: domain I and II therefore coincide, and, consequently, it is correctly predicted that only the complex reflexive and reciprocal personal pronouns can be bound by the subject of the clause. In (391) domain I of the pronoun is constituted by the predicative PP, whereas domain II is constituted by the full sentence: consequently, we predict that the complex reflexive and reciprocal personal pronouns must find an antecedent within the PP, whereas it is instead the subject of the sentence that acts as the antecedent for the simplex reflexive and referential pronouns. The (c)-examples of (392), in which we find the same local domains as in (391), show that the referential personal pronoun can remain free or be bound by an antecedent external to the minimal clause, but the simplex reflexive personal pronoun cannot.
The claim that local domain I is the first constituent containing both the noun phrase and a subject predicts that we will find facts similar to those shown in (391) and (392) with adjectival and nominal predicates. The examples in (394) show that this prediction is partly false. The primeless examples show that it is indeed correctly predicted that the subject of the small clause can bind the complex but not the simplex reflexive, but the primed examples show that it is incorrectly predicted that the simplex reflexive pronoun can be bound by the subject of the clause. The fact that the referential pronoun can be bound by the subject of the clause is, of course, in line with the predictions.
a. | Kees acht [SC | Jan verliefd | op zichzelf/*zich]. | |
Kees considers | Jan in.love | on himself/refl | ||
'Kees believes Jan to be in love with himself.' |
a'. | Kees acht [SC | Jan verliefd | op hem/*zich]. | |
Kees considers | Jan in.love | on him/refl |
b. | Kees vindt [SC | Jan een probleem | voor zichzelf/*zich]. | |
Kees considers | Jan a problem | for himself/refl | ||
'Kees believes Jan to be a problem for himself.' |
b'. | * | Kees vindt [SC | Jan een probleem | voor hem/*zich]. |
Kees considers | Jan a problem | for him/refl |
The fact that the wrong predictions are made for the simplex reflexive pronoun shows that the definition of the two domains is not as simple as we thought earlier. Since we do not want to go into the precise definitions of local domains I and II, we will simply enumerate which constituents may function as such. Since small clause APs/NPs function both as domain I and domain II of the pronoun, we now correctly predict that the simplex reflexive pronoun cannot be bound by the subject of the clause in (394) because the latter is external to its domain II (the small clause); the referential pronoun, on the other hand, can be bound by the subject of the clause because the latter is external to its domain I.
domain I: SC-PP SC-AP SC-NP | domain II: minimal clause SC-AP SC-NP | sentence | |
complex reflexive & reciprocal personal pronouns | bound | bound | bound |
simplex reflexive personal pronouns | free | bound | bound |
referential personal pronouns | free | optional | optional |
referential expression | free | free | free |
The term minimal clause must be made a bit more precise in light of the fact that simplex reflexives that are part of the complement of an AcI-construction can be also be bound by the subject of a matrix clause. Consider the examples in (396). Example (396a) shows that the infinitival clause functions as the local domain I of the pronouns: the subject of this infinitival clause may bind the complex reflexive, but not the simplex reflexive and referential pronoun. The matrix clause clearly functions as local domain II given that the subject of this clause may bind the simplex reflexive and referential pronouns. This may give rise to the idea that the complement of an AcI-construction is actually not a “true” infinitival clause but a small clause with a VP-predicate, that is, a verbal projection without finite or infinitival tens