- 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
Section 5.1.1.1 has shown that the core meaning of the negative article geen can easily be described by means of Figure 1 from Section 1.1.2, sub IIA, repeated below; its semantic contribution is normally to indicate that the intersection A ∩ B is empty. For instance, an example such as Er zwemmen geen ganzen in de vijver'There are no geese swimming in the pond' expresses that the intersection of the set of geese and the set of entities swimming in the pond is empty.
The discussion in the following subsections will show, however, that a simple description like this does not do full justice to the intricacies involved in the semantics of geen. Subsection I investigates the scope of the negation expressed by geen, followed in Subsection II by a discussion of geen in (non-)specific and generic noun phrases. Subsection III concludes by showing that in many cases geen may exhibit special semantic properties that may be totally unrelated to its core meaning.
This subsection discusses the scope of the negation inherently expressed by geen. Subsection A considers the most common situation in which geen expresses sentential negation, that is, takes scope over the complete clause in which it occurs. Subsection B discusses cases of constituent negation, in which case geen simply has scope over the noun phrase containing geen. Negation can also have scope over a subpart of the noun phrase containing geen, as will be shown in Subsection C. Subsection D will show that, unlike sentential niet, geen cannot take some other constituent of the clause in its scope.
The core semantics of geen is that of negation, but although geen forms a syntactic constituent with the noun it precedes, the scope of negation is not necessarily confined to the noun phrase; in the majority of cases, the negation in geen takes sentential scope. This is particularly clear from the fact illustrated in (205) that geen can license negative polarity items like ooit'ever' and ook maar X'any X', which can only be used in the presence of a structurally superior negative element; note that this holds regardless of whether the geen phrase is an argument, as in (205a), or an adjunct, as in (205b). That it is really the presence of geen that licenses these negative polarity items is clear from the fact that geen does not alternate with een in (205), though this would be possible in the absence of the negative polarity items.
a. | Ik | zou | geen/*een auto | ooit | aan | ook maar iemand | cadeau | geven. | |
I | would | no/a car | ever | to | anyone | present | give | ||
'No car would I ever give to anyone as a present.' |
b. | Ik | zou | geen/*een moment | ook maar ergens | met hem | willen praten. | |
I | would | no/a moment | anywhere | with him | want talk | ||
'At no time would I want to talk to him at any place.' |
The examples in (206) and (207) also support the conclusion that geen can take sentential scope. First, observe from the contrast in (206a&b) that the sentential negative adverb niet cannot occur in clause-initial position; example (206b') shows that this is even excluded if niet is pied-piped by a topicalized participial verb phrase.
a. | Ik | heb | die brief | niet | geschreven. | |
I | have | that letter | not | written | ||
'I didnʼt write that letter.' |
b. | * | Niet heb ik die brief geschreven. |
b'. | * | [VP Niet geschreven] heb ik die brief. |
Crucial for our argument is that the ungrammaticality of (206b') shows that phrases containing sentential negation cannot be topicalized (whereas this is possible in the case of constituent negation), as this allows us to conclude from the ungrammaticality of (207b) that the noun phrase geen brief expresses sentential negation. This argument is somewhat weakened, however, by the fact that the stronger form of negation geen enkele'not a single' is not subject to this restriction; we will discuss this in Subsection III.
a. | Ik | heb | geen brief | geschreven. | |
I | have | no letter | written | ||
'I didnʼt write a letter.' |
b. | * | [NP Geen brief] heb ik geschreven. |
The fact that the negation takes scope outside the noun phrase may also account for the fact that noun phrases preceded by geen is normally part of a plural noun phrase, which therefore also triggers plural agreement on the verb. This makes sense semantically given that the sentence in (208b) is simply the negation of the sentence in (208a) with a bare plural noun phrase triggering plural agreement: ¬(er lopen kinderen op straat).
a. | Er | lopen | kinderen | op straat. | |
there | walk | children | in the street | ||
'There are children walking in the street.' |
b. | Er lopen geen | kinderen | op straat. | |
there walk no children | in | the.street | ||
'There are no children walking in the street.' |
Note in passing that the examples in (209) show that geen can also occur in singular noun phrases, but in that case it is not just used as sentence negation. Examples (209b) is either used as the explicit denial of some earlier given proposition that a child is walking in street (“No, your wrong, there is no child walking in the street”), or it receives the somewhat special meaning “not a single”; see, respectively, Section 5.1.1.1 and Subsection III for more discussion.
a. | Er | loopt | een kind | op straat. | |
there | walks | a child | in the street | ||
'There is a child walking in the street.' |
b. | Er | loopt | geen kind | op straat. | |
there | walks | no child in | the.street | ||
Proposition denial: 'No, It isnʼt true that a child is walking in the street' | |||||
“Not a single” reading: 'There isnʼt a single child walking in the street.' |
In contrastive contexts, geen may be used as a constituent negator. If the noun phrase is singular, geen usually alternates with niet een, as is illustrated in (210a), but if the noun phrase is plural the use of geen is the only option, as shown by the (b)-examples in (210).
a. | Er | is geen/niet een brief | gekomen | maar | een pakje. | |
there | is no/not a letter | come | but | a parcel | ||
'There came not a letter but a parcel.' |
b. | Er | zijn | geen brieven | gekomen | maar | een pakje. | |
there | are | no letters | come | but | a parcel |
b'. | * | Er | zijn | niet | Ø/een | brieven | gekomen | maar | een pakje. |
there | are | not | Ø/a | letters | come | but | a parcel |
Topicalization of a geen phrase expressing constituent negation, as in (211a), is at least marginally possible, and seems to lead to a better result than topicalization of the negative adverb niet and its associate noun phrase.
a. | ? | Geen brief | heb | ik | geschreven | maar | een memo. |
no letter | have | I | written | but | a memo | ||
'I wrote not a letter but a memo.' |
b. | ?? | Niet een brief | heb | ik | geschreven | maar | een memo. |
not a letter | have | I | written | but | a memo |
Using geen in contrastive contexts is excluded if the noun phrase functions as the complement of a PP. In fact, Haeseryn et al. (1997: 1657) noticed that geen-phrases occur as the complement of PPs in idiomatic constructions only; see Section 5.1.5.3 for more discussion.
a. | Dat | moet | je | niet | met een kwast | verven, | maar | met een roller. | |
that | must | you | not | with a brush | paint | but | with a roller | ||
'You shouldnʼt paint that with a brush, but with a roller.' |
b. | * | Dat | moet | je | met geen kwast | verven, | maar | met een roller. |
that | must | you | with no brush | paint | but | with a roller |
The fact that geen and niet een alternate in sentences such as (210a) sharply contrasts with the lack of a similar alternation in examples like those given in(213). These examples show that, in contrast to geen, negative quantifiers/adverbs like niemand, niets, nergens and nooit cannot be used in contrastive contexts.
a. | Er | is niet iemand/*niemand | gekomen | maar | iedereen. | |
there | is not somebody/nobody | come | but | everyone | ||
'Not somebody came but everybody.' |
b. | Er | is niet iets/*niets | misgegaan | maar | alles. | |
there | is not something/nothing | wrong.gone | but | everything | ||
'Not something but everything has gone wrong.' |
c. | Er | is niet ergens/*nergens | corruptie | gepleegd | maar | overal. | |
there | is not somewhere/nowhere | corruption | committed | but | everywhere | ||
'Not somewhere but everywhere there was corruption committed.' |
d. | Er | is niet ooit/*nooit | corruptie | gepleegd | maar | altijd. | |
there | is not once/never | corruption | committed | but | always | ||
'Not once but always there has been corruption.' |
We want to emphasize that, outside of contrastive contexts such as (210), replacing geen with niet een is impossible in most cases. Thus, in a neutral sentence such as (214), it would be odd to use niet een instead of geen. This strongly suggests that geen cannot systematically be treated as a contraction of niet and the indefinite article een, as this would lead to the wrong expectation that the infelicity of (214) with niet een would be preserved if niet and een are fused into geen.
Er | is geen/#niet een brief | gekomen. | ||
there | is no/not a letter | come | ||
'There didnʼt come any letter.' |
The two previous subsections have shown that geen takes scope either outside the noun phrase, expressing sentential negation, or over the noun phrase that contains it, expressing constituent negation. This does not exhaust the possibilities; geen may also take scope over an attributive modifier within the noun phrase rather than over the noun phrase as a whole. We find an example of this type in (215a), which alternates with the semantically more transparent (215b). While (215b) is unambiguous and has only a reading where niet negates the adjective geringe, (215a) is ambiguous between that reading and a reading in which geen negates the entire noun phrase. The latter reading comes to the fore in the unambiguous paraphrase in (215c), in which niet precedes the indefinite article.
a. | Dat | is | geen geringe prestatie. | |
that | is | no insignificant accomplishment |
b. | Dat | is | een | niet geringe | prestatie. | |
that | is | a | not insignificant | accomplishment |
c. | Dat | is | niet een geringe prestatie. | |
that | is | not an insignificant accomplishment |
Note that, if one wanted to treat geen as the contraction of niet and the indefinite article een, one would have to assume that the order of niet and een is immaterial; both een niet in (215b) and niet een in (215c) should be able to “fuse” into geen.
Scopal ambiguity of a similar nature to that in (215a) is found in noun phrases of the type illustrated in (216a), whose ambiguity comes out in the paraphrases in (216b&c). Depending on the precise analysis of noun phrases of the type professor Van Riemsdijk (see 4.1.3 for a suggestion), either (216b) or (216c) instantiates a case in which geen takes scope over a subpart of the noun phrase it is contained by.
a. | Ik | ken | geen professor | Van Riemsdijk. | |
I | know | no professor | Van Riemsdijk |
b. | Ik | ken | [geen Van Riemsdijk] | die | professor is. | |
I | know | no Van Riemsdijk | that | professor is |
c. | Ik | ken | [geen professor] | die | Van Riemsdijk | heet. | |
I | know | no professor | that | Van Riemsdijk | is.called |
Although the previous subsection has shown that geen can be semantically associated with an element with which it does not form a constituent, such syntax/semantics mismatches are certainly not possible in just any context. In order to see this, first observe that the negative adverb niet in (217a) can be semantically construed with the adverbial phrase of manner goed'well', even though it does not form a constituent with it, which is clear from the fact that it must be stranded under topicalization. In (217b), by contrast, the negative article geen cannot be associated with the adverbial phrase; the sentence is marginally acceptable at best on a highly marked count noun reading of hitte.
a. | Ik | verdraag | hitte | niet (goed). | |
I | bear | heat | not well |
a'. | * | Niet goed verdraag ik hitte. |
a''. | Goed verdraag ik hitte niet. |
b. | * | Ik | verdraag | geen hitte | goed. |
I | bear | no heat | well |
We can conclude from this that although the scope of geen is not confined to that of its noun phrase but can be extended to the clause or limited to a subpart of the noun phrase, geen is still tied up with its noun phrase in the sense that it cannot be semantically associated with other constituents of the clause.
Noun phrases containing geen pattern syntactically with the indefinite noun phrase. This is clear, for example, from the fact illustrated in (218a) that subjects containing geen must occur with the expletiveer; apart from example (218a'), which is acceptable on the special “not a single” reading that will be discussed in Subsection IIIA, all primed examples are degraded. Note that this is not due to the restriction on topicalization discussed in Subsection IA, given that subjects need not be topics; cf. Section 8.1.2, sub II.
a. | Er | is vandaag | geen brief | verstuurd. | |
there | is today | no letter | sent | ||
'No letter was sent today.' |
a'. | # | Geen brief is vandaag verstuurd. |
b. | Er | spelen | vandaag | geen kinderen | op straat. | |
there | play | today | no children | in the.street | ||
'There are no children playing in the street.' |
b'. | * | Geen kinderen spelen vandaag op straat. |
c. | Er | stond | gisteren | geen melk | in de ijskast. | |
there | stands | yesterday | no milk | in the fridge | ||
'There was no milk in the fridge yesterday.' |
c'. | * | Geen melk stond gisteren in de ijskast. |
Another finidng in support of the indefiniteness of noun phrases containing geen is that they cannot be scrambled across certain adverbials: cf. Section 8.1.3, sub IC. This is illustrated by the unacceptability of scrambled counterparts of the primeless examples in (218), given in (219).
a. | *? | Er is geen brief vandaag verstuurd. |
b. | * | Er spelen geen kinderen vandaag op straat. |
c. | * | Er stond geen melk gisteren in de ijskast. |
It seems that noun phrases with geen behave like indefinites even in generic contexts. In order to see this, consider the generic constructions in (220). Example (220a) shows that the generic plural noun phrase must be scrambled to a position in front of the clausal adverbwaarschijnlijk'probably'; cf. Section 8.1.3, sub IC. The noun phrase with geen in (220b), by contrast, cannot be placed to the left of waarschijnlijk.
a. | Hij | begrijpt | < formules> | waarschijnlijk <*formules> | niet. | |
he | understands | formulae | probably | not | ||
'He probably doesnʼt understand formulae.' |
b. | Hij | begrijpt | <*geen formules> | waarschijnlijk <geen formules>. | |
he | understands | no formulae | probably | ||
'He probably doesnʼt understand formulae.' |
To conclude this subsection, note that negative sentences with generic bare noun phrases sometimes feature intriguing semantic differences between the variants involving niet and their counterparts with geen. Example (221a), for example, allows two subtly different lexical meanings of accepteren'to accept'; the speaker either does not wish to receive any charity, or he is opposed to the existence of charity as a phenomenon. This latter reading is conspicuously more prominent in (221b).
a. | Ik | accepteer | geen liefdadigheid. | |
I | accept | no charity |
b. | Ik | accepteer | liefdadigheid | niet. | |
I | accept | charity | not |
The previous subsections have discussed the core semantics of the negative article geen. This subsection addresses a number of more or less specialized meaning contributions of geen. We will start our discussion with the “not a single” reading, which stays close to the core semantics of negative quantification, but we will see that there are contexts in which the semantic contribution made by geen can diverge substantially from the core meaning; negative quantification is sometimes even entirely absent in some of geenʼs uses.
The negative article geen sometimes expresses a meaning that is stronger than simple negation and which we will refer to as the “not a single” reading. This reading requires that geen be followed by some stressed element, and can sometimes be enhanced by the addition of certain elements.
The “not a single” reading is particularly common for noun phrases in subject position, as in (222a); in non-expletive constructions, all subjects containing geen are of this type. Objects containing geen can receive this interpretation as well, and, for topicalized objects, this reading is in fact the only one available; cf. the discussion of (207).
a. | Geen schip | is 100% waterdicht. | |
no ship | is 100% watertight | ||
'Not a single ship is 100 per cent watertight.' |
b. | ? | Geen schip | levert | men | 100% waterdicht | af. |
no ship | delivers | one | 100% watertight | prt. | ||
'Not a single ship is 100 per cent watertight at the point of delivery.' |
Prosodically, the “not a single” reading of geen phrases is directly recognizable by the fact that there is main stress on the element immediately following geen. This is often the head noun, but if an attributive adjective is present, it is the adjective that receives greatest prominence.
a. | [geen schip] is 100% waterdicht |
b. | [geen nieuw schip] is 100% waterdicht |
Despite the fact that geen is part of the noun phrase, it can take scope outside the noun phrase, which is clear from the fact that geen can license negative polarity items like ooit; cf. Subsection IA. This is illustrated in (224a) for a subject and in (224b) for a topicalized object.
a. | Geen computerprogramma | is ooit | volledig | storingsvrij. | |
no computer.program | is ever | completely | error.free |
b. | ? | Geen computerprogramma | heeft | dit bedrijf | ooit | storingsvrij | afgeleverd. |
no computer.program | has | this company | ever | error.free | delivered |
The “not a single” reading of geen phrases is particularly common for subjects of comparative constructions.
a. | Geen schip | vaart | sneller | naar Engeland | dan | het onze. | |
no ship | sails | faster | to England | than | ours |
b. | Geen limonade | smaakt | lekkerder | dan | deze. | |
no lemonade | tastes | nicer | than | this.one |
A distinction within this class of constructions should be made, however, between comparatives like the ones in (225), where particular makes or brands of the same product type are compared, and those like (226), where two different types of product are compared. In contrast to the primeless examples, the primed examples in (226) sound distinctly odd.
a. | Een schip | vaart | sneller | dan een luchtballon. | |
a ship | sails | faster | than a hot.air.balloon |
a'. | ?? | Geen schip | vaart | sneller | dan een luchtballon. |
no ship | sails | faster | than a hot.air.balloon |
b. | Limonade | smaakt | lekkerder | dan | versgeperst | sinaasappelsap. | |
lemonade | tastes | nicer | than | freshly.squeezed | orange.juice |
b'. | ?? | Geen limonade | smaakt | lekkerder | dan | versgeperst | sinaasappelsap. |
no lemonade | tastes | nicer | than | freshly.squeezed | orange.juice |
The messages that the primed examples in (226) intend to express can be expressed if we add the modifier enkel(e), as in (227a&b). In accordance with the generalization that main stress must be assigned to the element following geen, main prosodic prominence is assigned to the modifier: geen enkel(e) N.
a. | Geen enkel schip | vaart | sneller | dan een luchtballon. | |
no single ship | sails | faster | than a hot.air.balloon |
b. | Geen enkele limonade | smaakt | lekkerder | dan versgeperst sinaasappelsap. | |
no single lemonade | tastes | nicer | than freshly.squeezed orange.juice |
The modifier enkele can also be used if reference is made to specific entities, as in (228). In this use, enkele alternates with the numeral één, which will be discussed in the following subsection.
a. | Hij heeft | geen enkele/één fout | gemaakt. | |
he has | no single/one mistake | made | ||
'He didnʼt make a single mistake.' |
b. | Ik heb | geen enkel/één boek | verkocht. | |
I have | no single/one book | sold | ||
'I havenʼt sold a single book.' |
The “not a single” reading can also be emphasized by adding the element één, as in the primeless examples in (229). These examples alternate with the constructions with the negative adverb niet in the primed examples, which clearly involve the numeral één. Note that in both constructions, negation is construed with the numeral and that emphasis is put on the fact that the number of mistakes made/books sold is zero; as a result, main accent must also be assigned to the numeral in the primed examples.
a. | Hij | heeft | geen | één fout | gemaakt. | |
he | has | no | one mistake | made | ||
'He didnʼt make a single mistake.' |
a'. | Hij | heeft | niet | één fout | gemaakt. | |
he | has | not | one mistake | made |
b. | Ik | heb | geen | één boek | verkocht. | |
I | have | no | one book | sold | ||
'I havenʼt sold a single book.' |
b'. | Ik | heb | niet | één boek | verkocht. | |
I | have | not | one book | sold |
The “not a single” interpretation of geen is the one normally found in the numerous idiomatic constructions featuring geen phrases. The idiomatic noun phrases in (230) have the prosody characteristic of the “not a single” cases discussed above: main accent is assigned to the element following geen. The primed examples show that the idiomatic examples also pattern with the non-idiomatic ones in allowing topicalization.
a. | Hij | heeft | er | geen | jota/moer | van | begrepen. | |
he | has | there | no | iota/nut | of | understood | ||
'He didnʼt understand a word of it.' |
a'. | Geen jota/moer heeft hij ervan begrepen. |
b. | Hij | heeft | geen | vinger/hand/poot | uitgestoken. | |
he | has | no | finger/hand/leg | stuck.out | ||
'He didnʼt lift a finger.' |
b'. | Geen vinger/hand/poot heeft hij uitgestoken. |
Addition of enkel(e) is impossible in these idiomatic examples; however, geen can often be intensified by the addition of schwa-inflected ene'one', as in (231a). By way of contrast, in non-idiomatic examples such as (231b), geen ene cannot be used; only the uninflected form één or the modifier enkel(e) can be used.
a. | Hij | heeft | er | geen | ene/*enkele/*één | jota/moer | van | begrepen. | |
he | has | there | no | one/single/one | iota/nut | of | understood |
b. | Hij | heeft | geen | enkele/één/*ene | vraag | begrepen. | |
he | has | no | single/one/one | question | understood | ||
'He didnʼt understand a single question.' |
A number of constructions featuring geen exhibit so-called negative concord, that is, the multiple occurrence of negative elements with a single negative interpretation as their combined effect; unlike in cases of double negation, there is no canceling out of negation. These constructions occur in the spoken language only, and some of these may not belong to the standard variety.
One case that probably belongs to standard spoken Dutch is illustrated in (232a). Here, geen itself is the negator, being modified by the negative pronoun niks (the colloquial variant of niets, which seems impossible here). Adding niks to geen has the effect of intensifying the negation, comparable to that achieved by English at all in the prose translation. The more “standard” way of realizing this intensification is with the aid of helemaal in (232b); cf. Section 7.2.
a. | Dat | was | niks/*?niets | geen leuke tijd. | |
that | was | nothing/nothing | no nice time | ||
'That wasnʼt a particularly nice time at all.' |
b. | Dat | was helemaal | geen leuke tijd. | |
that | was altogether | no nice time |
Not all instances of helemaal intensifying geen can be replaced with niks, however, as will be clear from the pair in (233). It seems that positive evaluative semantics is essential; either there is a positively evaluative attributive adjective present, like leuke in (232), or the head noun itself has an inherent or contextually invokable positively evaluative interpretation; cf. pretje'fun' versus probleem'problem' in (233).
a. | Dat was | helemaal/niks | geen pretje. | |
that was | altogether/nothing | no fundim |
b. | Dat was | helemaal/*niks | geen probleem. | |
that was | altogether/nothing | no problem |
A highly popular case of negative concord in the non-standard spoken language is given in example (234a). In current normative grammars and style books, the appreciation of this construction varies. Some claim that the two negations always cancel each other out in Standard Dutch and therefore disapprove and/or discourage the use of (233a) on the negative concord reading, and strongly favor the use of the unambiguous construction in (227b). Others, on the other hand, consider the use of negative concord as a normal way of emphasizing negation; for relevant citations, see taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/584.
a. | Ik | gebruik | nooit | geen zout. | |
I | use | never | no salt | ||
Double negation reading: 'I never use no salt.' | |||||
Negative concord reading: 'I never use any salt.' |
b. | Ik | gebruik | nooit | zout. | |
I | use | never | salt | ||
'I never use (any) salt.' |
The two readings of (234a) are associated with different intonation patterns. The double negation reading is obtained by assigning stress peaks to both nooit and (especially) geen, as in (235a). In the case of negative concord, on the other hand, there is no significant accent on geen, and nooit only receives heavy accent if it is used contrastively, as in (235b).
a. | Double negation reading: Ik gebruik nooit geen zout. |
b. | Negative concord reading: Ik gebruik nooit/nooit geen zout. |
Other illustrations of the negative concord construction are given in (236a), which are all adapted from actually occurring examples on the internet. Examples (236b-d) show that negative concord is possible for negative elements other than geen as well, although it seems nooit geen is by far the most widespread case of negative concord.
a. | Ik | heb | nooit | geen zin | in seks. | |
I | have | never | no liking | in sex | ||
'I never feel like having sex.' |
b. | Ik | ga nooit | niet | meer | in de achtbaan. | |
I | go never | not | anymore | in the roller.coaster | ||
'Iʼll never go in the roller coaster anymore.' |
c. | Hij | heeft | nooit | niks | om PRO | me gegeven. | |
he | has | never | nothing | comp | me cared | ||
'He never cared about me.' |
d. | Chatten is leuk, | maar | er | is | bijna | nooit | niemand. | |
chatting is nice | but | there | is | nearly | never | no.one | ||
'Chatting is nice, but there is virtually never someone there.' |
A third context in which geen occurs in a negative concord environment is the non-standard exclamative construction in (237a), in which geen shows up twice; once as the negative quantifier of the noun phrase in object position, and once as a subpart of the formally negative element geeneens'not even'. The second occurrence probably involves a spurious use of geen: it alternates with the form in (237b), where the noun phrase is non-negative so that negation must be expressed by geeneens. In Standard Dutch (237a) would come out as (237c), in which negation is expressed with the aid of niet eens'not even' (lit.: not once). The numbers to the right of examples (237a&b) indicate the number of hits that resulted from a Google search (12/1/2015) on the sequences in square brackets. The number to the right of (237c) indicates the number of hits for the string [heb niet eens een]; we included the verb hebben in this search because leaving it out resulted in too much noise in the search result. The general picture resulting from our search will be evident, however.
a. | ... en | ik | heb | (nog) | [geeneens | geen] auto! | non-standard: 31 |
b. | ... en | ik | heb | (nog) | [geeneens | een] auto! | non-standard: 225 |
c. | ... en | ik | heb | (nog) | [niet eens | een] auto! | standard: 303 | |
... and | I | have | still | not even | a car | |||
'... and I donʼt even have a car at all (yet)!' |
The use of geen can invoke evaluative semantics on noun phrases that are not otherwise evaluative in nature. This is what happens in (238a&b), where the negation of leven'life' by geen results in an interpretation according to which an emphatically negative evaluation is attributed to life, alternatively expressible with the aid of combinations of an adjective and a noun (either compound or phrasal), as in the primed examples.
a. | Dat | is | toch | geen leven! | |
that | is | prt | no life |
a'. | een | rotleven | compound | |
a | rotten.life |
b. | Zo | heb | je | toch | geen leven! | |
so | have | you | prt | no life |
b'. | een | vreselijk | leven | phrasal | |
a | terrible | life |
Geen phrases of this sort only occur in predicative position or in the complement of hebben'to have'. This can be illustrated by the examples in (239): whereas (239a&b) do have an evaluative interpretation, this is not the case in (239c).
a. | Ik | vind | dit | geen weer! | |
I | consider | this | no weather | ||
'I consider this horrible weather' |
b. | We | hebben | weer eens | geen weer! | |
we | have | again once | no weather | ||
'Weʼre having horrible weather once more.' |
c. | # | Ze | voorspellen | geen weer! |
they | forecast | no weather |
A couple more idiomatic examples can be found in (240). Example (240b) differs from the earlier examples in that it involves a positive evaluation: geen combines with a substance noun in which the whole noun phrase functions as an idiomatic expression meaning “not a small thing, quite something”. Cases like these come pretty close to litotes, that is, cases in which negation is used to emphatically express the opposite of what is expressed by the negated element; cf. Dat is niet niks'That is quite something'.
a. | Dat | is geen gezicht/porum! | |
that | is no sight | ||
'That looks ugly, terrible.' |
b. | Dat | is geen | kattenpis. | |
that | is no | cat.pee | ||
'That is not a small thing, quite something.' |
Measure phrases of time and distance, like tien minuten'ten minutes' in (241a) and tien kilometer'ten kilometers' in (241b), can be combined with geen to yield an interpretation which can be paraphrased as “less than X”. The adverbial element nog is typically present alongside geen in such cases, though it seems that it is not strictly necessary in all cases; while in (241a) leaving nog out would be awkward, in (241b) it does not seem entirely impossible.
a. | Na nog geen tien minuten | brak | de hel | los. | |
after yet no ten minutes | broke | the hell | loose | ||
'After less than ten minutes, hell broke loose.' |
b. | Die boerderij | ligt | nog geen tien kilometer | van het stadscentrum. | |
that farmhouse | lies | yet no ten kilometers | from the town center | ||
'That farmhouse is less than ten kilometers away from the town center.' |
An interpretatively somewhat different case of the same type is given in (242) from the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal (item geen). Here the combination of geen and the numeral duizend has an interpretation which can be paraphrased as “not even a thousand”.
Simson | deed | voor geen duizend Filistijnen | onder. | ||
Simson | did | for no thousand Philistines | under | ||
'Samson was not inferior even to a thousand Philistines.' |
In many of the examples given above, it seems that the core meaning of geen as a negative quantifier is lost. A particular striking illustration of this fact is provided by examples of the type in (243), where accent does not fall on geen.
a. | Zijn | dat | geen courgettes? | |
are | that | no zucchinis | ||
'Those are zucchinis, arenʼt they?' |
b. | Is | dat | geen leuk idee? | |
is | that | no nice idea | ||
'That is a nice idea, isnʼt it?' |
That these are not negative questions is evident from the fact that the speaker uttering a question of the type in (243a) anticipates a positive answer. This is explicitly acknowledged in the answer in (244a) by the addition of the adverb inderdaad'indeed'. A negative answer is of course possible but not anticipated by the speaker, which is clear from the fact that including the adverb inderdaad in the reply in (244b) is pragmatically awkward.
a. | Ja, | dat | zijn | inderdaad | courgettes. | |
yes | that | are | indeed | zucchinis |
b. | Nee, | dat | zijn | (#inderdaad) | geen courgettes. | |
no | that | are | indeed | no zucchinis |
Note, however, that the answer in (244b) with inderdaad is only out of place as a reply to (243a) if this question is assigned the prosodic contour typical of questions of this type, with main accent on courgettes followed by an acutely rising intonation; there is also a truly negative interpretation for (243a) available, in which geen receives heavy accent, for which (244b) with inderdaad does count as a pragmatically felicitous reply.
On the intended, non-negative interpretation of the examples in (243), geen seems dispensable; the examples in (245) can be used in the same contexts as non-negative (243), and are equally acceptable/felicitous. The main difference seems to be that it is less obvious that the speaker anticipates a positive answer to his question.
a. | Zijn | dat | courgettes? | |
are | that | zucchinis |
b. | Is | dat | een leuk idee? | |
is | that | a nice idea |
We conclude this subsection by pointing out that the negative adverb niet exhibits the same behavior as geen in that it can show up in non-negative questions. The negative adverb niet can be added to (245) to the immediate right of dat, with preservation of meaning: Zijn dat niet courgettes? or Is dat niet een leuk idee?
- 1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff