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    Preposition stranding and R-pronouns
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    Prepositions can be stranded by R-pronouns, as in examples like the following:

    1
    Dêr hâldt er net fan
    R likes he not of
    That, he does not like

    The preposition fan of is left stranded at the end of the clause. A lof of information on the stranding of prepositions can be found in modification of Noun Phrases and R-pronouns and indefinite expletive der. Below we will briefly discuss the stranding of prepositions as the result of topicalisation.

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    Prepositions may also be stranded by topicalised Noun Phrases (NPs), as in the example below:

    2
    Praten hâldt er net fan
    talking likes he not of
    Talking, he does not like

    The standard analysis says that such examples involve the optional deletion of the preposed R-pronoun dêr there, that; the sentence above is then an instance of left-dislocation. So the following variant is also grammatical:

    3
    Praten dêr hâldt er net fan
    talking R likes he not of
    Talking, he does not like

    P-stranding is the unmarked case in spoken Frisian. The unstranded equivalent does not sound bad, though:

    4
    Fan praten hâldt er net
    of talking likes he not
    He does not like talking

    P-stranding without an overt R-pronoun is also found in passive clauses, so that it may seem as if pseudo.PAssive is involved. An example is given below:

    5
    De skealike stof waard net oer praat
    the harmful substance was not about talked
    The harmful substance was not talked about

    However, the preposed NP does not exhibit agreement with the verb, as becomes clear when a plural NP is preposed:

    6
    a. De skealike stoffen waard net oer praat
    the harmful substance.PL was.SG not about talked
    The harmful substance was not talked about
    b. *De skealike stoffen waarden net oer praat
    the harmful substance.PL was.PL not about talked
    The harmful substances were not talked about

    Preposition stranding without an R-pronoun is common in spoken Dutch in the northern and western part of The Netherlands, but banned from Standard Dutch. This type of P-stranding (i.e. without an R-pronoun) dates back in Frisian to the early 16th century.

    extra
    Literature

    More details about preposition stranding and R-pronouns can be found in Dyk & Hoekstra (1987:32-33).

    References
    • Dyk, Siebren and Hoekstra, Jarich1987Ta de Fryske syntaksisFryske Akademy
    About this article
    Author(s): Eric Hoekstra
    Category: Frisian Syntax
    Keywords: strandingR-pronoun
    Version: 1.0, December 2015
    Version history:
    version editor(s) date remarks
    1.0 Eric Hoekstra December 2015
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