- Dutch1
- 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 N van eenN constructions of the type in (195). The examples in (195a) and (195b) show that there are two semantic subtypes of this construction; cf. Den Dikken (2006: ch.5). Example (195a) involves some form of metaphoric comparison: the size of the referent of the noun phrase is compared to a tree, that is, he is huge. The most prominent reading of (195), on the other hand, is one in which a property is attributed to the referent of the noun phrase in his/her capacity as a doctor: although the referent may be brilliant in most respects, (s)he is certainly not brilliant as a doctor. In many cases, however, it is not easy to distinguish between the two subtypes. For example, example (195c) is a case of evaluative metaphoric comparison; the referent of the phrase is not only compared with a dike but this comparison is (in this case conventionally) used to simultaneously express that the referent has certain (unspecified) properties that are highly desirable for a managing director.
a. | Hij | is een | boom | van | een kerel. | |
he | is a | tree | of | a fellow | ||
'a fellow like a tree' |
b. | Hij | is een | onbenul | van | een dokter. | |
he | is an | idiot | of | a doctor | ||
'Heʼs an idiot as a doctor.' |
c. | Hij | is een | dijk | van | een directeur. | |
he | is a | dike | of | a director |
The semantic relation between the nouns in the binominal N van een N construction in (196a) is therefore quite different in nature from the relation between the nouns in a construction such as (196b), where the PP van een piraat'of a pirate' is a PP-modifier of the noun schat'treasure': in the first we are discussing a cat, whereas in the latter we are discussing a treasure.
a. | Marie heeft | een schat | van | een kat. | |
Marie has | a treasure | of | a cat | ||
'Marie has a very sweet cat.' |
b. | Jan bewonderde | een schat van een piraat. | |
Jan admired | a treasure of a pirate | ||
'Jan admires a treasure of a pirate.' |
The two constructions also differ syntactically. The indefinite articles in the binominal construction in (196a), for example, cannot be replaced by the definite article de'the' (at least not with preservation of the intended metaphoric meaning of the example), whereas this is perfectly possible in the modification construction in (196b). This is illustrated in (197).
a. | # | Marie heeft de schat van een kat. |
a'. | # | Marie heeft een schat van de kat. |
a''. | # | Marie heeft de schat van de kat. |
b. | Jan bewonderde de schat van een piraat. |
b'. | Jan bewonderde een schat van de piraat. |
b''. | Jan bewonderde de schat van de piraat. |
Another difference between the two constructions in (196) is that the binominal N van een N construction in (196a) cannot be split, whereas the PP-modifier in construction (196b) can be separated from the noun schat'treasure' by means of PP-over-V or topicalization. This is shown in (198).
a. | # | dat Marie een schat heeft van een kat. |
a'. | # | Van een kat heeft Marie een schat. |
b. | dat Jan een schat bewonderde van een piraat. |
b'. | Van een piraat bewonderde Jan een schat. |
Now that we have seen that the binominal construction in (196a) differs from the modified noun phrase in (196b), we will investigate the former in more detail. Keep in mind that the judgments given on the examples in the following subsections only reflect the metaphoric use of the construction; occasionally, the given strings are acceptable under the modification interpretation, that is, with a van-PP modifying the first noun,but this will not be indicated.
- I. The relation between the two nouns (number agreement between the two nouns)
- II. The semantic head of the construction
- III. The syntactic head of the construction (number agreement with the finite verb)
- IV. Articles and other determiners preceding N1 (gender agreement)
- V. Modification of the nouns
- VI. The article een preceding N2
- VII. The preposition van
- VIII. Syntactic distribution
The most conspicuous property of the N van een N construction is that, as a general rule, the two nouns agree in number: if N1 is singular, N2 must be singular as well; if N1 is plural, N2 must also be plural. This is illustrated in (199).
a. | een | schat | van | een | kat | ... sg ... sg ... | |
a | treasure | of | a | cat |
b. | schatten | van | katten | ... pl ... pl ... | |
treasures | of | cats |
c. | * | een | schat | van | katten | ... sg ... pl ... |
a | treasure | of | cats |
d. | * | schatten | van | een | kat | ... pl ... sg ... |
treasures | of | a | cat |
As is shown in (200), theN van een N construction resembles in this respect the copular construction, in which number agreement between the subject and the predicative noun phrase is generally obligatory as well; see Section 8.2, sub IV, for some exceptions. This supports the idea that the two nouns in the N van een N construction are in a predicative relation.
a. | Die kat | is een schat. | ... sg ... sg ... | |
that cat | is a treasure |
b. | Die katten | zijn | schatten. | ... pl ... pl ... | |
those cats | are | treasures |
c. | ?? | Die katten | zijn | een schat. | ... pl ... sg ... |
those cats | are | a treasure |
d. | * | Die kat | is schatten. | ... sg ... pl ... |
that cat | is treasures |
Occasionally, however, a predicative singular noun can be predicated of a plural subject, as in (201a); this is especially the case if the predicate is a mass noun, as in (201b). It has been claimed in Bennis et al. (1998) that, for at least some people, the corresponding N van een N constructions in the primed examples are also acceptable (to various degrees). If the primed examples are really grammatical (we were not able to find any examples of this sort on the internet), this stresses the similarity of the N van een N and the copular construction, and hence supports the idea that N1 and N2 are in a predicative relation in the N van een N construction.
a. | Die feiten | zijn | een ramp. | |
those facts | are | a disaster |
b. | Die voetbalvandalen | zijn tuig. | |
those hooligans | are scum |
a'. | % | die ramp | van | een feiten |
that disaster | of | a facts |
b'. | % | dat tuig | van | een | voetbalsupporters |
that scum | of | a | hooligans |
It has also been claimed that examples such as (202b), in which N2 is a mass noun, are at least marginally possible for some speakers (we found one example on the internet). However, the corresponding copular construction is absolutely ungrammatical. It should be noted, however, that in English, singular mass nouns that trigger plural agreement on the finite verb (like the police in The police are coming) can occur as the subject in a copular construction with a plural nominal predicate: The police are idiots. If a mass noun triggers singular agreement on the finite verb, on the other hand, this is impossible: %The government is/are idiots. The unacceptability of Dutch examples such as (202a) may therefore be due to the fact that all Dutch mass nouns trigger singular agreement on the finite verb.
a. | * | De regering | is/zijn | idioten. |
the government | is/are | idiots |
b. | % | die idioten | van | een regering |
those idiots | of | a government |
A hotly debated issue with respect to the N van een N construction is whether N1 or N2 is the semantic head of the construction. The fact that in constructions such as (203a), the N van een N construction can be replaced a noun phrase headed either by N1 or by N2 has given rise to the idea that the construction is ambiguous and that either of the two nouns can function as the semantic head of the construction.
a. | Jan en Ruud | zijn | twee schatten van katten. | |
Jan and Ruud | are | two treasures of cats |
b. | Jan en Ruud zijn twee schatten. |
c. | Jan en Ruud zijn twee katten. |
This conclusion seems to be mistaken, however, since the acceptability of (203b) is just due to the fact that the noun phrase twee schatten is used as a (metaphoric) predicate, just as in the N van een N construction. If the binominal phrase is used as an argument, as in (204), the direct object twee schatten in (204b) cannot be construed metaphorically, but must refer to entities that are part of the regular denotation set of the noun schat'treasure'; as a result (204b) refer to a different state of affairs than (204c). The fact that (204c) can be used to refer to the same state of affairs as (204a), on the other hand, shows unambiguously that it is N2 that acts as the semantic head of the N van een N construction.
a. | Zij | heeft/kocht | twee schatten van katten. | |
she | has/bought | two treasures of cats |
b. | # | Zij heeft/kocht twee schatten. |
c. | Zij heeft/kocht twee katten. |
Since the two nouns in the N van een N construction generally agree in number, it is hard to say which of the two nouns triggers agreement on the finite verb. In order to determine that, we have to take recourse to the more exceptional and perhaps disputable cases in (201b) and (202b). Our own judgments suggest that non-linguistic factors may be the determining factor when we are dealing with a singular N1: in (205a) singular agreement seems to be preferred, whereas in (205a') it is plural agreement that is preferred. In examples such as (205b), in which N1 is plural, we always seem to have plural agreement. The data in (205) show that the fact that N2 is the semantic head of the construction does not necessarily imply that it is also the syntactic head of the construction; cf. the discussion in 4.1.1.2, where we reached a similar conclusion for the quantificational binominal construction.
a. | Die ramp van een feiten | %komt/*komen | zeer ongelegen. | |
that disaster of a facts | is/are | very inconvenient |
a'. | Die ramp van een feiten | %staan/*?staat | in iedere grammatica. | |
that disaster of a facts | are/is | in every grammar |
b. | Die idioten van een regering | ?zijn/*is | nu | helemaal gek | geworden. | |
those idiots of a government | are/is | now | completely mad | become |
Another way of determining the syntactic head of the construction is by considering what determiner the N van een N construction takes. If the definite determiner agrees in gender with N1 we conclude that N1 is the syntactic head of the construction, and if it agrees with N2 we conclude that N2 is the syntactic head. Unfortunately, we cannot show this on the basis of the definite articles de and het, since we have already seen in (197a) that definite articles cannot be used in the N van een N construction. Gender agreement can, however, also be illustrated by means of demonstrative pronouns: the demonstrative die'that/those' is non-neuter and/or plural, whereas the demonstrative dat'that' is singular neuter.
a. | die[-neuter] | schat[-neuter] | van | een kat[-neuter] | |
that | treasure | of | a cat |
b. | dat[+neuter] | vod[+neuter] | van | een schrift[+neuter] | |
the | rag | of | an exercise book |
c. | % | die[-neuter] | schat[-neuter] | van | een kind[+neuter] |
the | treasure | of | a child |
c'. | % | dat[+neuter] | schat[-neuter] | van een kind[+neuter] |
d. | % | dat[+neuter] | vod[+neuter] | van | een roman[-neuter] |
the | rag | of | a book |
d'. | * | die[-neuter] | vod[+neuter] | van een roman[-neuter] |
a. | die | schatten | van | katten | |
those | treasures | of | cats |
b. | die | vodden | van | schriften | |
those | rags | of | exercise books |
c. | die | vodden | van | romans | |
those | rags | of | novels |
The examples in (206a&b) and (207) show that the demonstratives can readily be used if the two nouns select the same demonstrative, that is, if they both select die or dat. According to some speakers the mixed singular examples are excluded. Other speakers do accept at least some of these examples. In the case of (206c&c'), judgments appear to differ among these speakers: some prefer the primeless example, in which the demonstrative agrees with N1 but not with N2, whereas others prefer the primed example, in which the demonstrative agrees with N2. The judgments on the 9d)-examples in (206), on the other hand, seem clearer: the primed example is generally rejected, whereas the primeless example is accepted by at least some speakers. Similar judgments have been collected with the possessive pronouns onze[-neuter,+sg]'our' and ons[+neuter,+sg]'our' in (208). We refer the reader to Everaert (1992) for a detailed discussion.
a. | % | Onze[-neuter] | draak[-neuter] | van | een toneelstuk[+neuter] | is | uitgevoerd. |
our | dragon | of | a play | has.been | performed |
a. | % | Ons[+neuter] draak[-neuter] van een toneelstuk[+neuter] is uitgevoerd. |
b. | % | ons[+neuter] | doetje[+neuter] | van | een filiaalchef[-neuter] |
our | softy | of | a branch.manager |
b'. | * | onze[-neuter] | doetje[+neuter] van een filiaalchef[-neuter] |
Table 4 summarizes the above findings. Examples in which the determiner agrees in gender with the two nouns are always possible. If the two nouns differ in gender, agreement of the determiner and N1 is obligatory for at least one group of speakers. For another group of speakers, the gender of N1 affects the agreement pattern: if N1 is -neuter, agreement between the determiner and N2 is preferred, but if N1 is +neuter, agreement of the determiner and N2 is also blocked for them. It goes without saying that those cases in which agreement is entirely absent give rise to the most degraded results, which is not reflected by the judgments in the table.
N1 | N2 | agreement with | judgment | |||
group I | group II | group III | ||||
DET[-neuter] | -neuter | -neuter | N1 and N2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
-neuter | +neuter | N1 | * | ? | * | |
+neuter | -neuter | N2 | * | * | * | |
+neuter | +neuter | no agreement | * | * | * | |
DET[+neuter] | +neuter | +neuter | N1 and N2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
+neuter | -neuter | N1 | * | ? | * | |
-neuter | +neuter | N2 | * | * | ? | |
-neuter | -neuter | no agreement | * | * | * |
To conclude this discussion of agreement, we want to point out that the set of determiners preceding the N van een N construction is rather limited. The demonstratives die/dat in (206) and (207) above, for example, do not really have a deictic function, but rather seem to express a kind of affective meaning, as can also be found in, for example, die Jan toch!, which is said of Jan when he is doing/saying something special and the speaker wants to express his approval or (mild) disapproval of what Jan is doing/saying. As is shown by (209a), using demonstratives in their deictic function generally leads to a bad result, just like the use of the definite article does. Only in very special contexts are “true” demonstratives possible. An interrogative example such as (209b), for instance, seems possible provided that the speaker is, for instance, hugging the cat in question thus showing that he himself is fond of it, but not when he is just pointing at it. In other words, (209b) is only possible if used as a kind of rhetorical question.
a. | ?? | Jan bekeek | die schatten van katten | (en | Marie | bekeek | deze). |
Jan looked.at | those treasures of cats | and | Marie | looked.at | those |
b. | En | wat | vind | je | van | deze schat van een kat? | |
and | what | consider | you | of | this treasure of a cat | ||
'And, what do you think of this wonderful cat?' |
The fact that the N van een N construction conveys a strong personal evaluation of the referent of the construction may also account for the fact that first person possessive pronouns are more commonly used in the construction than the second or third person ones. If acceptable, the use of second and third person possessive pronouns generally conveys an ironic message; the speaker of (210b), for example, confronts the hearer with a fact that is not compatible with the description of the cats as being “schatten”.
a. | Mijn/*?jouw/*?haar schatten van katten | zijn | ziek. | |
my/your/her treasures of cats | are | ill |
b. | Mijn/jouw/haar schatten van katten | hebben | het vlees | weer eens | gestolen. | |
my/your/her treasures of cats | have | the meat | again | stolen | ||
'Those nice cats of yours stole the meat from the pan again.' |
Due to restrictions like these, the set of determiners preceding the N van een N construction is largely restricted to the cases discussed above and the indefinite articles een/∅ and derivatives of them like zoʼn'such a', geen'no' and wat een'what a'. Some examples involving these indefinite determiners are given in (211).
a. | Ruud is een | schat | van | een kat. | |
Ruud is a | treasure | of | a cat |
a'. | Jan en Ruud | zijn ∅ | schatten van katten. | |
Jan and Ruud | are | treasures of cats |
b. | Jan is zoʼn | schat | van | een kat. | |
Jan is such a | treasure | of | a cat |
c. | Is Ruud geen | schat | van | een kat? | |
Is Ruud no | treasure | of | a cat | ||
'Isnʼt Ruud a wonderful cat?' |
d. | Wat | een | schat | van | een kat! | |
what | a | treasure | of | a cat | ||
'What a wonderful cat!' |
Modification of the nouns in the construction is subject to various restrictions. Inserting an attributive adjective immediately before N2, for example, is impossible; the only exception are classifying adjectives in collocations like Cyperse kat'tabby' in (212c).
a. | * | een | schat | van | een | vriendelijke | kat |
a | treasure | of | a | kind | cat |
b. | ?? | een | schat | van | een | oude | kat |
a | treasure | of | an | old | cat |
c. | een | schat | van | een | Cyperse kat | |
a | treasure | of | a | tabby |
Using an attributive adjective modifying N1 is possible, but generally these modifiers are amplifying or affective in nature and do not attribute a property to N1, which is of course not surprising given that N1 is not referential in nature.
a. | een | grote | schat | van | een | kat | |
a | big | treasure | of | a | cat | ||
'a very nice cat' |
b. | een | lelijk | serpent | van | een | hond | |
an | ugly | serpent | of | a | dog | ||
'a very nasty dog' |
According to some, an attributive adjective preceding N1 can also be used to modify N2, which would be compatible with the fact that it is N2 that acts as the semantic head of the construction. Some examples, taken from Den Dikken (1995b), are given in (214).
a. | % | een | roodharig[+neuter] | slagschip[+neuter] | van | een | vrouw[-neuter] |
a | red.haired | battleship | of | a | woman | ||
'a fierce red-haired woman' |
a'. | * | een roodharige[-neuter] slagschip[+neuter] van een vrouw[-neuter] |
b. | % | een | roodharige[-neuter] | ijsberg[-neuter] | van | een | wijf[+neuter] |
a | red.haired | iceberg | of | a | bitch | ||
'a frigid red-haired bitch' |
b'. | % | een roodharig[+neuter] ijsberg[-neuter] van een wijf[+neuter] |
Insofar as the examples in (214) are acceptable, it is clear that roodharig must be modifying N2. Note that the data in (214) are in accordance with the findings with respect to gender agreement in Table 4: the (a)-examples show that if N1 is neuter and N2 is non-neuter, the adjective must agree with N1, whereas the (b)-examples show that if N1 is non-neuter and N2 is neuter, speakers seem to vary with respect to the noun that triggers agreement — for some speakers it is N1, as in (214b), whereas for others it is N2, as in (214b'). So again, we have to conclude that the feature +neuter N1 blocks gender agreement with N2 for all speakers.
Although attributively used adjectives may precede N1, postnominal modifiers cannot immediately follow it, as is shown in (215a). Probably, the impossibility of modifying N1 is again due to the fact that N1 is not referential in nature. Example (215b) shows that postmodifiers following N2 are possible, but in these cases we cannot immediately decide whether the PP modifies N2 or the complete N van een N construction.
a. | een | boom | (*daar/*in de tuin) | van | een kerel | |
a | tree | there/in the garden | of | a fellow | ||
'a big/strong fellow' |
b. | een | boom | van | een | kerel | uit Groningen | |
a | tree | of | a | fellow | from Groningen |
In order to find out whether the modifier in (215b) modifies N2 or the complete N van een N construction, we may take into account relative clauses such as those given in (216). The fact that the relative pronoun must agree in gender with N2 suggests that it is this noun that is modified, and not the complete N van een N construction.
a. | een schat[-neuter] | van | een | kind[+neuter] | dat[+neuter]/*die[-neuter] | ziek | is | |
a treasure | of | a | child | that | ill | is | ||
'a charming child that is ill' |
b. | een | kreng[+neuter] | van | een | vrouw[-neuter] | die[+neuter]/*dat[+neuter] | weggelopen | is | |
a | carcass | of | a | wife | that | run.away | is | ||
'a bitch of wife that has run away' |
The indefinite article preceding N2 cannot be replaced by other kinds of determiners. The indefinite article seems sensitive to the number of N2: if N2 is singular the indefinite article is een'a', and if it is plural the article has the null form.
a. | Marie heeft | een schat | van | een/*∅ | kat. | |
Marie has | a treasure | of | a | cat |
b. | Marie heeft | twee schatten | van | ∅/%een | katten. | |
Marie has | two treasures | of | ∅/a | cats |
The “%” preceding een in (217b) is due to the fact that whereas Bennis et al. (1998) claim that examples such as schatten van een katten are possible, other speakers consider the result highly marked at best. Still, the Npl van een Npl construction is fully acceptable for all speakers in exclamative contexts like (218a), in which case both nouns are preceded by the indefinite article een. As shown in (218b), such a combination of een and a plural noun is not restricted to N van een N constructions of this kind, but are typical of this kind of exclamative constructions.
a. | Een schatten | van | een katten | dat | hij | heeft! | |
a treasures | of | a cats | that | he | has |
b. | Een boeken | dat | hij | heeft! | |
a books | that | he | has |
This suggests that the indefinite article and N2 can simply be analyzed as a noun phrase. There is, however, a problem with this conclusion; een is also possible with N2s that normally cannot be preceded by an indefinite article. The most conspicuous case involves proper nouns: normally, a proper noun like Marie is not preceded by an indefinite article (*een Marie), yet in (219) it is obligatorily present.
a. | die | schat | van | *(een) | Marie | |
that | treasure | of | a | Marie |
b. | dat | serpent | van | *(een) | Marie | |