- 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
Before we can apply the adjunct/complement tests provided in Section 2.2.1 to determine whether the postnominal PPs are adjuncts or complements of the picture/story noun, we have to point out that it is often not immediately clear whether a certain postnominal PP is part of the noun phrase or positioned outside the noun phrase where it functions as a complement of the verb or a restrictive adverbial phrase. Therefore, we will first consider the possible functions of these PPs in some more detail and suggest ways of distinguishing between these functions. The overall aim of this section is to find a way of establishing the status of the PPs in the various constructions, as complement of the noun or as an independent constituent (complement of the verb or restrictive adverbial phrase).
Observations on PP-extraction from noun phrases headed by picture nouns are complicated by the fact that the acceptability of the resulting structures depends on the choice of the verb (Kooij & Wiers 1977/1978, Klein & Van der Toorn 1979, De Haan 1979, etc.). This is illustrated in (522) for the verbs zien'to see' and beschadigen'to damage' by means of topicalization; similar observations can be made with, e.g., relativization and questioning, but this will go unillustrated here. As shown in the primeless examples, both verbs are possible if the van-PPs follow the picture noun. If the PP is topicalized, as in the primed examples, a contrast arises between the two verbs: the result is highly questionable with the verb beschadigen'to damage', but normally fine with the verb zien'to see': an exception is (522c''), where the agentive van-PP apparently blocks topicalization of the theme.
a. | Ik | heb | een tekening | van de WestertorenTheme | gezien/beschadigd. | |
I | have | a drawing | of the Westertoren | seen/damaged | ||
'Iʼve seen/damaged a drawing of the Westertoren.' |
a'. | Van de WestertorenTheme heb ik een tekening gezien/*?beschadigd. |
b. | Ik | heb | een tekening | van RembrandtAgent | gezien/beschadigd. | |
I | have | a drawing | of Rembrandt | seen/damaged | ||
'Iʼve seen/damaged a drawing by Rembrandt.' |
b'. | Van RembrandtAgent heb ik een tekening gezien/??beschadigd. |
c. | Ik | heb | een tekening | van de WestertorenTh | van RembrandtAg | gezien/beschadigd. | |
I | have | a drawing | of the Westertoren | of Rembrandt | seen/damaged | ||
'Iʼve seen/damaged a drawing of the Westertoren by Rembrandt.' |
c'. | Van Rembrandt heb ik een tekening van de Westertoren gezien/??beschadigd. |
c''. | Van de Westertoren heb ik een tekening van Rembrandt ??gezien/*?beschadigd. |
One way of accounting for these contrasts is to assume that with verbs like zien'to see' the van-PPs need not form part of the noun phrase, but may function as an independent constituent, e.g., as a complement to the verb or as a restrictive adverbial phrase. This would mean that sentences containing such verbs may be given two different structures: one in which the PP is situated within, and one in which it is situated outside the noun phrase. Of course, this difference in structure should correspond not only to a difference in syntactic behavior, but also in interpretation.
In order to find out whether such an approach is tenable, Subsection A will consider in detail constructions of picture nouns used in combination with three types of verbs: verbs of creation like maken'to make', verbs of transfer like the ditransitive verb kopen'to buy', and verbs such as beschadigen'to damage' that denote activities that in one way or another affect their theme argument. We will look at possible structural and interpretational ambiguities of constructions involving these verbs and suggest ways to disambiguate them. Subsection B will consider the behavior of verbs like zien'to see' and vervalsen'to forge' that seem to defy classification into any of the verb types distinguished so far.
Picture nouns are often used in combination with verbs of creation such as schilderen'to paint' or maken'to make'. We will see that the van-PP in such constructions is ambiguous in the way indicated in (523b&b'): it can function either as a complement of the picture noun, as indicated by (523b), or as a restrictive adverbial phrase, as indicated by (523b'). We will also see that this difference in structure can be motivated by appealing to an interpretational difference; see Klein & Van der Toorn (1979).
a. | Ik | heb | een tekening | van RembrandtTheme | gemaakt. | |
I | have | a drawing | of Rembrandt | made | ||
'Iʼve made a drawing of Rembrandt.' |
b. | Ik heb [NP een tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Theme] gemaakt. |
b'. | Ik heb [NP een tekening] [PP van Rembrandt]Adv gemaakt. |
By way of comparison, example (524) provides similar constructions with the ditransitive verb kopen'to buy', which represents the second type of verb. Here, however, the ambiguity is of a different kind: the van-PP can be interpreted either as the agent or theme argument of the noun, as in (524b), or as a complement of the verb, as in (524b').
a. | Ik | heb | een tekening | van RembrandtAgent/Theme/Source | gekocht. | |
I | have | a drawing | of Rembrandt | bought | ||
'Iʼve bought a drawing by/of/from Rembrandt.' |
b. | Ik heb [NP een tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme] gekocht. |
b'. | Ik heb [NP een tekening] [PP van Rembrandt]Source gekocht. |
Example (525), finally, provides a construction with the affective verb beschadigen'to damage', which, we will see, only allows the interpretation with the PP as complement of the noun: the structure in (525b') does not occur.
a. | Ik | heb | een tekening | van RembrandtAgent/Theme | beschadigd. | |
I | have | a drawing | of Rembrandt | damaged | ||
'Iʼve damaged a painting by/of Rembrandt.' |
b. | Ik heb [NP een tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme] beschadigd. |
b'. | * | Ik heb [NP een tekening] [PP van Rembrandt]Adv beschadigd. |
In what follows, we will refer to van-PPs that are part of the noun phrase as dependent PPs, and van-PPs that are external to the noun phrase and function as an argument of the verb or as a restrictive adverbial phrase as independent PPs. The two types of independent PPs will be distinguished by means of the labels assigned to them.
The distinction between dependent and independent van-PPs relates to a difference in interpretation, which can be made more conspicuous by adding the ordinal numeral eerste'first'; cf. also (472) and (475) in Section 2.2.5.1. The examples in (526a&b) turn out to be ambiguous: if the van-PP is dependent on the picture noun, as in the primed examples, we are not dealing with the first drawings I ever made or bought, but merely with the first drawing of Rembrandt I made/bought; if the PP is independent of the noun, as in the doubly-primed examples, the drawings in question are the first ones I made or bought. The second reading is not available for (526c), which can only mean that it is the first picture made by or depicting Rembrandt that is damaged. From this, we can conclude that the van-PP cannot be used independently with verbs like beschadigen.
a. | Ik | heb | mijn eerste tekening | van Rembrandt | gemaakt. | |
I | have | my first drawing | of Rembrandt | made | ||
'I (have) made my first drawing of Rembrandt.' |
a'. | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Theme] gemaakt. |
a''. | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening] [PP van Rembrandt]Adv gemaakt. |
b. | Ik | heb | mijn eerste tekening | van Rembrandt | gekocht. | |
I | have | my first drawing | by Rembrandt | bought | ||
'I (have) bought my first painting by/of/from Rembrandt.' |
b'. | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme] gekocht. |
b''. | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening] [PP van Rembrandt]Source gekocht. |
c. | Ik | heb | mijn eerste tekening | van Rembrandt | beschadigd. | |
I | have | my first drawing | of Rembrandt | damaged | ||
'I (have) damaged my first painting by/of Rembrandt.' |
c'. | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme] beschadigd. |
c''. | *? | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening] [PP van Rembrandt]Adv beschadigd. |
Insertion of the negator niet'not' can also be used to disambiguate these sentences, provided that we assume that it can only be placed between the noun and an independent van-PP, i.e., that it cannot occur internal to the noun phrase. This correctly predicts that (527a&b) will only be acceptable on the reading that the picture involved is the first I ever made/bought, whereas the construction in (527c) is unacceptable, as neither of the two possible structures is available.
a. | Ik | heb | mijn eerste tekening | niet | van Rembrandt | gemaakt. | |
I | have | my first drawing | not | of Rembrandt | made | ||
'I didnʼt make my first drawing of Rembrandt.' |
a'. | * | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening niet van Rembrandt]Theme gemaakt. |
a''. | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening] niet [PP van Rembrandt]Adv gemaakt. |
b. | Ik | heb | mijn eerste tekening | niet | van Rembrandt | gekocht. | |
I | have | my first drawing | not | of Rembrandt | bought | ||
'I didnʼt buy my first drawing from Rembrandt.' |
b'. | * | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening niet van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme gekocht. |
b''. | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening] niet [PP van Rembrandt]Source gekocht. |
c. | * | Ik | heb | mijn eerste tekening | niet | van Rembrandt | beschadigd. |
I | have | my first drawing | not | of Rembrandt | damaged |
c'. | * | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening niet van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme beschadigd. |
c''. | * | Ik heb [NP mijn eerste tekening] niet [PP van Rembrandt]Adv beschadigd. |
Topicalization of the noun phrase can also be used to distinguish the two readings. Of course, since van-PP can be dependent on the noun with all verbs, it does not come as a surprise that it is always possible to topicalize the van-PP along with the noun phrase. Since in Dutch only a single constituent can be placed before the verb in sentence initial position (the constituency test), the prediction is that only the structures in the singly-primed examples are acceptable. This predication is again borne out: the sentences in the primeless examples can only mean that in 1982 it was the first time I made/bought/damaged a painting of Rembrandt; the reading corresponding to the doubly-primed examples that this picture was the first I ever made/bought/damaged is not available.
a. | Mijn eerste tekening | van Rembrandt | heb | ik | gemaakt | in 1982. | |
my first drawing | of Rembrandt | have | I | made | in 1982 | ||
'My first drawing of Rembrandt I made in 1982.' |
a'. | [NP Mijn eerste tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Theme]i heb ik ti gemaakt in 1982. |
a''. | * | [NP Mijn eerste tekening]i [PP van Rembrandt]Adv-j heb ik titj gemaakt in 1982. |
b. | Mijn eerste tekening | van Rembrandt | heb | ik | gekocht | in 1982. | |
my first drawing | of Rembrandt | have | I | bought | in 1982 | ||
'My first drawing by/of Rembrandt I bought in 1982.' |
b'. | [NP Mijn eerste tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme]i heb ik ti gekocht in 1982. |
b''. | * | [NP Mijn eerste tekening]i [PP van Rembrandt]Source-j heb ik titj gekocht in 1982. |
c. | Mijn eerste tekening | van Rembrandt | heb | ik | beschadigd | in 1982. | |
my first drawing | of Rembrandt | have | I | damaged | in 1982 | ||
'My first drawing by/of Rembrandt I damaged in 1982.' |
c'. | [NP Mijn eerste tekening [PP van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme]i heb ik ti beschadigd in 1982. |
c''. | * | [NP Mijn eerste tekening]i [PP van Rembrandt]Adv-j heb ik titj beschadigd in 1982. |
Next, let us consider the possibilities for topicalizing the picture noun only, leaving the PP in the original position. Here we would expect only the doubly-primed structures to yield acceptable results. The examples in (529) show that this prediction is also borne out: the examples in (529a&b) can only express that the drawing in question is the very first one I made or bought, which means that these sentences must be assigned the structures in (529a''&b''). The fact that (529c) does not allow this type of topicalization again shows that the PP cannot be used independently with the verb beschadigen'to damage'.
a. | Mijn eerste tekening | heb | ik | van Rembrandt | gemaakt. | |
my first drawing | have | I | of Rembrandt | made | ||
'My first drawing I made of Rembrandt.' |
a'. | * | [NP Mijn eerste tekening]i heb ik [NPti [PP van Rembrandt]Theme] gemaakt. |
a''. | [NP Mijn eerste tekening]i heb ik ti [PP van Rembrandt]Adv gemaakt. |
b. | Mijn eerste tekening | heb | ik | van Rembrandt | gekocht. | |
my first drawing | have | I | of Rembrandt | bought | ||
'My first drawing I bought from Rembrandt.' |
b'. | * | [NP Mijn eerste tekening]i heb ik [NPti [PP van Rembrandt]] gekocht. |
b''. | [NP Mijn eerste tekening]i heb ik ti [PP van Rembrandt]Source gekocht. |
c. | * | Mijn eerste tekening | heb | ik | van Rembrandt | beschadigd. |
my first drawing | have | I | of Rembrandt | damaged |
c'. | * | [NP Mijn eerste tekening] heb ik [NPti [PP van Rembrandt]] beschadigd. |
c''. | * | [NP Mijn eerste tekening] heb ik ti [PP van Rembrandt]Adv beschadigd. |
Finally, let us look at the possibilities for topicalizing the van-PP. Not surprisingly, it appears that only independent van-PPs can be topicalized. The relevant examples can be found in (530). The examples in (530a&b) indeed seem to have the interpretation associated with the independent use of the PP: example (530a) expresses that the very first drawing I ever made was one of Rembrandt, and example (530b) expresses that the drawing was bought from Rembrandt (source) and that it was indeed the first I ever bought. As expected by now, example (530c) is degraded: the reading associated with (530c') is at best marginally acceptable in the (unlikely) context where I am planning to damage several of my drawings of/by Rembrandt.
a. | Van Rembrandt | heb | ik | mijn eerste tekening | gemaakt. | |
of Rembrandt | have | I | my first drawing | made | ||
'Of Rembrandt I (have) made my first drawing.' |
a'. | * | [PP Van Rembrandt]Theme-i heb ik [NP mijn eerste tekening ti] gemaakt. |
a''. | [PP Van Rembrandt]Adv-i heb ik [NP mijn eerste tekening] ti gemaakt. |
b. | Van Rembrandt*Agent/*Theme/Source | heb | ik | mijn eerste tekening | gekocht. | |
of Rembrandt | have | I | my first drawing | bought | ||
'From Rembrandt I bought my first drawing.' |
b'. | * | [PP Van Rembrandt]i heb ik [NP mijn eerste tekening ti] gekocht. |
b''. | [PP Van Rembrandt]Source-i heb ik [NP mijn eerste tekening] ti gekocht. |
c. | ?? | Van RembrandtTheme/Agent | heb | ik | mijn eerste tekening | beschadigd. |
of Rembrandt | have | I | my first drawing | damaged | ||
'Iʼve damaged my first drawing of Rembrandt.' |
c'. | ?? | [PP Van Rembrandt]Theme/Agent-i heb ik [NP mijn eerste tekening ti] beschadigd. |
c''. | * | [PP Van Rembrandt]Adv-i heb ik [NP mijn eerste tekening] ti beschadigd. |
It should be noted, however, that it is possible to force the reading associated with (530a'), according to which the drawing in question is not my very first, but the first I made of Rembrandt, by adding an adverb like nu'now' or inmiddelsook'by now also'. Clearly, this cannot be accounted for by assuming that only PPs functioning as independent constituents can be topicalized; we therefore assume the same thing to be possible with complements of picture nouns.
a. | Van Rembrandt | heb | ik | nu | mijn eerste tekening | gemaakt. | |
of Rembrandt | have | I | now | my first drawing | made | ||
'Of Rembrandt I (have) made my first drawing now.' |
b. | [PP Van Rembrandt]Theme-i heb ik nu [NP mijn eerste tekening ti] gemaakt. |
b'. | * | [PP Van Rembrandt]Adv-i heb ik nu [NP mijn eerste tekening] ti gemaakt. |
This subsection discusses constructions with the non-affective verbs zien'to see' and vervalsen'to forge' to see whether there are reasons for assuming that these, too, can be combined with an independent van-PP. The answer will be negative; we will show that the structure in (532b') is excluded.
a. | Ik | heb | een tekening | van Rembrandt | gezien/vervalst. | |
I | have | a drawing | of Rembrandt | seen/forged | ||
'Iʼve seen/forged a drawing by/of Rembrandt.' |
b. | Ik heb [een tekening [van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme] gezien/vervalst. |
b'. | * | Ik heb [een tekening] [van Rembrandt] gezien/vervalst. |
The first reason for this conclusion is that adding the ordinal numeral eerste does not create ambiguity. The most plausible interpretation of the examples in (533a), which are perhaps more easily interpretable with vervalsen than with zien, is that the drawing is the first drawing of/by Rembrandt I ever saw/forged. An alternative interpretation is that I saw or forged a certain drawing of/by Rembrandt for the first time. The difference between these two readings relates to a difference in the specificity of the referent of the phrase mijn eerste tekening van Rembrandt; in either case the drawing in question is my first drawing of Rembrandt, so that we are dealing with dependent PPs in both cases. This suggests that structure (533b') is not available.
a. | Ik | heb | mijn eerste tekening | van Rembrandt | gezien/vervalst. | |
I | have | my first drawing | of Rembrandt | seen/forged | ||
'Iʼve seen/forged my first drawing of Rembrandt.' |
b. | Ik heb [mijn eerste tekening [van Rembrandt]Agent/Theme] gezien/vervalst. |
b'. | * | Ik heb [mijn eerste tekening] [van Rembrandt] gezien/vervalst. |
On the basis of these facts, we expect placement of the negator niet in between the picture noun and the van-PP to yield an unacceptable result. The examples in (534) show that this is indeed borne out: both sentences are semantically ill-formed, regardless of the semantic role of the constituent Rembrandt (agent, theme, possessor).
a. | * | Ik | heb | een tekening | niet van Rembrandt | gezien | (maar van Frans Hals). |
I | have | a drawing | not of Rembrandt | seen | but of Frans Hals |
b. | * | Ik | heb | mijn eerste tekening | niet van Rembrandt | gezien/vervalst | (maar van Frans Hals). |
I | have | my first drawing | not of Rembrandt | seen/forged | but of Frans Hals |
Topicalization, however, provides equivocal evidence. The fact illustrated by (535a) that topicalization of the entire noun phrase is possible again confirms that the structure in (533b) is available, but evidence in favor of the ungrammaticality of the structure in (533b') is less firm: the claim is supported by the fact illustrated by (535b) that topicalization of the noun phrase in isolation is impossible, but contradicted by the fact illustrated by (535c) that topicalization of the van-PP in isolation is allowed.
a. | Mijn eerste tekening | van Rembrandt | heb | ik | gezien. | |
my first drawing | of Rembrandt | have | I | seen | ||
'Iʼve seen my first drawing by/of Rembrandt.' |
b. | * | Mijn eerste tekening | heb | ik | van Rembrandt | gezien | (niet van Frans Hals). |
my first drawing | have | I | of Rembrandt | seen | not of Frans Hals |
c. | Van Rembrandt | heb | ik | mijn eerste tekening | gezien. | |
of Rembrandt | have | I | my first drawing | seen |
It must further be noted that examples behave slightly differently with respect to the negation test and topicalization if we use a determiner like zoʼn'such a' or een dergelijke'a similar'. Example (536a) shows that in that case negation can be placed between the noun phrases and the van-PP, and given that we can place all sort of adverbial material (like gisteren nog'only yesterday') between the noun phrase and the PP, it is very likely that we are dealing here with an independent van-PP. This suggestion is also supported by the fact illustrated in (536b) that topicalization of the picture noun may strand the PP. It seems that this difference is again related to the interpretation of the noun phrase: the noun phrase in (534a) refers to a specific token (hence the unacceptability: one and the same drawing cannot be of/by two separate persons), whereas the noun phrases in (536) refer to a type of drawing.
a. | Ik heb | zoʼn/een dergelijke | tekening | niet van RembrandtAgent/Theme | gezien. | |
I have | such a/a similar | drawing | not of Rembrandt | seen | ||
'Such a/A similar drawing Iʼve seen not by/of Rembrandt.' |
b. | Zoʼn/Een dergelijke tekening | heb | ik | (ook) | van RembrandtAgent/Theme | gezien. | |
such a/a similar drawing | have | I | also | of Rembrandt | seen |
It seems that we may tentatively conclude on the basis of the preceding discussion that there is no reason for assuming that sentences with the verbs zien'to see' or vervalsen'to forge' are structurally different from those with the verb beschadigen'to damage'. Whereas there is clear syntactic and semantic evidence for assuming that verbs like maken and kopen clearly may occur in two different syntactic frames, such evidence is lacking in the case of verbs like zien and vervalsen. The fact that the latter verbs allow topicalization of the PP therefore suggests that topicalization is not restricted to independent van-PPs, but can also apply to complements of picture nouns. The test of PP-extraction may therefore still be a valid means of distinguishing between complements and adjuncts within the noun phrase.
As in the case of picture nouns, observations on PP-extraction from noun phrases headed by story nouns are complicated by the fact that the acceptability of the resulting structures depends on the choice of the verb. Constructions with story nouns used in combination with verbs of communication like schrijven'to write' or lezen'to read' will be shown to be both structurally and interpretationally ambiguous; the over-PP in (537a), for example, can be interpreted as being the complement of the story noun or as functioning as an independent constituent of the clause.
a. | Jan | heeft | een boek | over WO II | geschreven. | |
Jan | has | a book | about WW II | written | ||
'Jan has written a book about World War II.' |
b. | Jan heeft [NP een boek [PP over WO II]Theme] geschreven. |
b'. | Jan heeft [NP een boek] [PP over WO II]Theme geschreven. |
The same thing can be said of transfer verbs like kopen'to buy' in (524a), in which the van-PP can be interpreted either as the agent of the noun or as the source argument of the verb. The preferred reading of (538a) depends on the knowledge of the speaker: those who know that Jan Arends is a writer will probably opt for the reading in (538b) whereas those who do not will opt for the reading in (538b'). We will not discuss this any further here since this would simply repeat the discussion on picture nouns in Subsection I.
a. | Ik | heb | een boek | van Jan ArendsAgent/Source | gekocht. | |
I | have | a book | of Jan Arends | bought | ||
'Iʼve bought a book by/from Jan Arends.' |
b. | Ik heb [NP een boek [PP van Jan Arends]Agent/Theme] gekocht. |
b'. | Ik heb [NP een boek] [PP van Jan Arends]Source gekocht. |
Affective verbs like verbranden'to burn' normally require construal of the van/over-PP as an argument of the story noun. This means that an example such as (539a) can only be interpreted with the structure in (539b); the structure in (539b') is unacceptable.
a. | Jan | heeft | een boek | over WO II | verbrand. | |
Jan | has | a book | about WW II | burnt | ||
'Jan has burnt a book about World War II.' |
b. | Jan heeft [NP een boek [PP over WO II]Theme] verbrand. |
b'. | * | Jan heeft [NP een boek] [PP over WO II] verbrand. |