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Extraction of the NP complement from a simple postpositional phrase
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The Noun Phrase (NP) complement of a simple postpositional phrase can be extracted.

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The following examples show that extraction may take place from a simple postpositional phrase:

1
a. Hokker kant binne de bern út?
which side are the children out
In which direction did the children go?
b. Sels hie ik noch gjin idee, hokker kant oft er út woe
myself had I yet no idea which side COMP he out wanted
As for me, I did not have any idea yet in which way he wanted to go

The directional (or perhaps motional) aspect is translated into English with the aid of the verb to go. Contrastive topicalisation of the complete postpositional phrase is possible with a verb of motion:

2
Dizze kant út rûnen de fammen, dy kant út de feinten
this way out walked the girls that way out the boys
The girls walked THIS WAY, the boys THAT WAY

Contrastive topicalisation does not seem possible with the past tense of the verb to be, although question formation is fine (as shown in (1a)):

3
*Dizze kant út wiene de fammen, dy kant út de feinten
this way out were the girls that way out the boys
The girls were THIS WAY, the boys THAT WAY

This sentence sounds much better in the present tense, even though or because its meaning must be translated into English as a past tense:

4
Dizze kant út binne de fammen, dy kant út de feinten
this way out were the girls that way out the boys
The girls went THIS WAY, the boys THAT WAY
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