- 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 subsection discusses the use of existential quantifiers like sommige'some' and enkele'some' as modifiers of a noun phrase. These quantifiers are existential in the sense that examples such as (115) express that the set denoted by the VP op straat lopen'to walk in the street' is not empty.
a. | Sommige jongens | lopen | op straat. | |
some boys | walk | in the.street | ||
'Some boys walk in the street.' |
b. | Er | lopen | enkele jongens | op straat. | |
there | walk | some boys | in the.street | ||
'Some boys walk in the street.' |
Although the two translations given in (115) are the same, there is a clear difference between the two examples. The noun phrase in (115a) refers to a subset of the boys in domain D. In terms of Figure 1, this means that it expresses that the intersection of the set of boys (set A) and the set of entities that are walking in the street (set B) is non-empty: A ∩ B ≠ ∅. Example (115b), on the other hand, does not presuppose a set of boys in domain D: it rather functions as a presentational sentence that introduces some new entities into domain D.
Note that it is often claimed that the existential quantifiers sommige and enkele express not only that the relevant set is non-empty, but also that the cardinality is both higher than 1 and rather low. It is not clear a priori whether this is all actually part of the lexical meaning of the quantifier. If we were correct in our earlier assumption in Section 5.1.1.1 that the plural marking on the noun expresses that |A ∩ B| ≥ 1, the implication in (115) that |A ∩ B| > 1 may indeed be due to the presence of the quantifier. However, the fact that the cardinality is construed as rather low may be the result of a conversational implicature: since the speaker can use a high degree quantifier to express that the cardinality is high, the absence of such a high degree quantifier suggests that the cardinality is only moderate (Griceʼs Maxim of Quantity). For the moment, we leave this issue as it is, and assume that the existential quantifiers simply express that the relevant set is non-empty and that they may or may not impose further restrictions on the cardinality of the set.
The quantifiers enkele and sommige (on their non-D-linked reading) are, respectively, weak and strong quantifiers. As we have seen in Section 6.2.1, one of the properties of strong quantifiers like sommige is that they cannot occur in existential constructions containing the expletive er'there', whereas weak quantifiers like enkele can; cf. example (115). Another property seems to be that, unlike at least some weak quantifiers, strong quantifiers cannot occur in nominal measure phrases. Some examples are given in (116). Note, however, that the distinction between weak and strong quantifiers is not absolute: as we will see the quantifier enkele can also be used as a strong quantifier, in which case it does not introduce new entities into domain D, but simply quantifies some set of entities within domain D.
a. | Dat boek | kost | enkele/*sommige | tientjes. | |
that book | costs | some | tenners |
b. | De schat | ligt | enkele/*sommige meters | onder de grond. | |
the treasure | lies | some meters | under the ground |
As is shown in (117), universal quantifiers cannot be used in constructions containing expletive er either, nor in nominal measure phrases, so they must be considered strong quantifiers as well. In other words, universal quantifiers like alle'all' or elk'each' form a natural class with existential quantifiers like sommige. Enkele, on the other hand, forms a natural class with the cardinal numerals, which can occur in these constructions.
a. | * | Er | lopen | alle jongens | op straat. |
there | walk | all boys | in the.street |
a'. | Er | lopen | vijf jongens | op straat. | |
there | walk | five boys | in the.street |
b. | * | Dat boek | kost | alle tientjes. |
that book | costs | all tenners |
b'. | Dat boek | kost | drie tientjes. | |
that book | costs | three tenners |
The examples in (115) express that the cardinality of the set of boys walking in the street is larger than 1. In this respect, the quantified noun phrases sommige jongens and enkele jongens seem to behave as plural counterparts of the noun phrases in (118a&b) introduced by the indefinite article een'a' (note, however, that because een must be stressed in (118a), we cannot exclude the possibility that we are actually dealing with the numeral één'one' in this example). Therefore, it would be justified to also treat the indefinite article in this subsection. However, since we have discussed this element in Section 5.1 on articles, we will refrain from doing so. The same thing holds for the negative article in (118c), which can readily be considered a negative existential quantifier (¬∃x).
a. | Eén jongen | loopt | op straat. | |
a/one boy | walks | in the.street |
b. | Er | loopt | een jongen | op straat. | |
there | walks | a boy | in the.street |
c. | Er | loopt | geen jongen | op straat. | |
there | walks | no boy | in the.street |
The remainder of this subsection discusses various types of existential quantifiers in more detail. In the course of the discussion we will observe that the distinction between existential and degree quantifiers is not always clear-cut.
The most common existential quantifiers are enkele and sommige. The two differ in that the former can be weak whereas the latter is necessarily strong. That enkele can be a weak quantifier is clear from the examples in (119), in which enkele is used as the modifier of a subject. Under neutral intonation, the clause preferably takes the form of an expletive construction, as in (119a); example (119b) is normally pronounced with emphatic focus on the quantifier. The two examples differ in interpretation: in (119a) the subject introduces some new entities into domain D, whereas in (119b) the subject has a partitive reading, that is, domain D already includes a set of boys and the sentence expresses that some of these boys are walking in the street.
a. | Er | lopen | enkele jongens | op straat. | |
there | walk | some boys | in the.street | ||
'There are some boys walking in the street.' |
b. | Enkele/??Enkele | jongens | lopen | op straat. | |
some | boys | walk | in the.street | ||
'Some (of the) boys are walking in the street.' |
That the quantifier sommige is necessarily strong is clear from the fact that the expletive construction in (120b) is impossible. This quantifier therefore cannot be used to introduce new discourse entities, but normally quantifies over a pre-established set of boys in domain D.
a. | Sommige jongens | lopen | op straat. | |
some boys | walk | in the.street | ||
'Some boys walk in the street.' |
b. | * | Er | lopen | sommige jongens | op straat. |
there | walk | some boys | in the.street |
Another existential quantifier that is quite frequent is wat'some'. This quantifier is clearly weak, as shown by the fact that only the expletive construction is acceptable in (121); the (b)-example cannot be remedied by means of assigning emphatic accent to the quantifier.
a. | Er | lopen | wat jongens | op straat. | |
there | walk | some boys | in the.street | ||
'There are some boys walking in the street.' |
b. | * | Wat jongens lopen op straat. |
A conspicuous difference between wat, on the one hand, and enkele and sommige, on the other, is that the former can readily be used as a modifier of non-count nouns, whereas the latter normally cannot. This is shown in (122).
a. | Ik | heb | wat bier | gekocht. | |
I | have | some beer | bought |
b. | * | Ik heb enkele/sommige bier gekocht. |
The ability to act as a modifier of a non-count noun is also a property of degree modifiers such as veel'many/much' discussed in Section 6.2.4. It might therefore be the case that wat is not a simple existential quantifier, but that it is actually a degree quantifier. Such a point of view could be supported by pointing out that, unlike enkele and sommige, wat can be modified by intensifiers like nogal, vrij, tamelijk, heel, aardig. This is illustrated in (123), where the cardinality of the set denoted by boeken is indeed compared to some implicit norm.
a. | Jan heeft | nogal/heel/aardig | wat boeken. | |
Jan has | quite/very/quite | some books | ||
'Jan has quite a few books.' |
b. | * | Jan heeft nogal/heel/aardig enkele/sommige boeken. |
To conclude this discussion on wat, we want to mention in connection to the observation that wat can precede non-count nouns that Haeseryn et al. (1997: 370) note that, in contrastive contexts, sommige can sometimes also be combined with substance nouns like bier'beer' with a “kind” interpretation, as in (124a). Although we have indeed found a small number of such cases on the internet, we much prefer the use of the plural form bieren here, in which case we are clearly dealing with a count noun.
a. | % | Sommig bier | heeft | een bittere nasmaak. |
some beer | has | a bitter aftertaste |
b. | Sommige bieren | hebben | een bittere nasmaak. | |
some beers | have | a bitter aftertaste |
Besides the existential quantifiers discussed above, Dutch has many other formatives that can be used in a similar fashion. This subsection briefly discusses some of these formatives: we first start with a number of simple forms, and conclude with some forms that are phrase-like.
Example (125a) shows that the form enige can be found in formal language as a weak quantifier. Example (125b) shows that it differs from enkele in that it can also combine with non-count nouns. In this respect it resembles wat, from which it differs, however, in not allowing degree modification; cf. (125c).
a. | Er | liggen | enige/enkele boeken | op de tafel. | |
there | lie | some/some books | on the table |
b. | Enige/*enkele tijd geleden | was | ik | ziek. | |
some/some time ago | was | I | ill |
c. | nogal/heel/aardig | wat/*enige boeken | |
quite/very/quite | some/some books |
The examples in (126) showthat enige can also be used as an equivalent of English any, as in (126a), or as an attributive adjective corresponding to “only” or “cute”; cf. Haeseryn et al. (1997: 366ff.). Note that the ambiguity of (126c) can be solved by using the superlative form enigst in (126c'); although there is normative pressure to not use this form, it is often used with the meaning “only”; for more discussion, see onzetaal.nl/advies/enigste.php.
a. | Heb | je | wel | enig benul | van | wat | dat | kost? | |
have | you | prt. | any idea | of | what | that | costs | ||
'Do you have any idea of what that costs?' |
b. | Dat | is de enige oplossing. | |
that | is the only solution |
c. | Hij | is | een enig kind. | |
he | is | a cute/only child |
c'. | Hij | is | een enigst kind. | |
he | is | an only child |
The quantifiers verscheidene/meerdere'various', verschillende'several', and ettelijke'a number of' in (127) can be used either as weak or as strong quantifiers. These quantifiers are always followed by a plural noun and tend to be used if the cardinality of the relevant set is somewhat higher than 2. For this reason, it is not so clear whether these quantifiers must be considered existential quantifiers: they might as well be degree quantifiers.
a. | Er | liggen | verscheidene/verschillende/ettelijke/meerdere | boeken | op de tafel. | |
there | lie | various/several/a.number.of /several | books | on the table | ||
'Various/several/a number of books are lying on the table.' |
b. | Verscheidene/Verschillende/Ettelijke/Meerdere | boeken | waren | afgeprijsd. | |
various/several/a.number.of /several | books | were | prt.-priced | ||
'Various/Several/A number of/Several books were marked down.' |
The quantifier verschillende in (127) suggests that the entities in the relevant set of books are of different sorts. This is even clearer in the case of allerlei/allerhande'all kinds/sorts of' in (128), which can only be used if the relevant set contains different categories of books, e.g., novels, books of poetry, textbooks, etc.
Er | liggen | allerlei/allerhande boeken | op de tafel. | ||
there | lie | all sorts of books | on the table | ||
'All sorts of books are lying on the table.' |
Note, finally, that verschillende can also be used with the meaning “different”, in which case it clearly functions as an adjective, as shown by the fact that in this use it can be modified by a degree adverb and be used in predicative position.
a. | Dit | zijn | twee totaal verschillende opvattingen. | |
this | are | two completely different opinions |
b. | Deze twee opvattingen | zijn | totaal verschillend. | |
these two opinions | are | totally different |
The final simple form we will discuss here is menig(e)'many'. This form is typically used in writing, and can only be used with singular count nouns. Like the quantifiers discussed in the previous subsection, menig tends to be used when the cardinality of the relevant set is somewhat higher than 2, and it should for that reason perhaps be considered a degree quantifier. The uninflected form menig is used with het-nouns, and, optionally, with some +humande-nouns, especially with man'man', persoon'person', and nouns denoting professions. The inflected form menige is used in all other cases.
a. | menig | boek | +neuter | |
many | book |
b. | menig(-e) | arts | -neuter, person name | |
many | physician |
c. | menig*(-e) | roman | -neuter | |
many | novel |
According to our judgments on the examples in (131), the quantifier menig is strong; it is preferably D-linked, as in (131a), and thus normally quantifies over a presupposed set in domain D. Examples such as (131b) sound marked, although it should be noted that the example improves considerably if the sentence contains an adverbial phrase like al'already': Er werd al menig staker ontslagen'there were already many strikers fired'. Given that similar examples can be readily found on the internet (a search on the string [er werd menig] resulted in nearly 100 hits), we conclude that, at least for some speakers, menig may also be weak.
a. | Menig staker | werd | ontslagen. | |
many striker | was | fired | ||
'Many a striker was fired.' |
b. | ? | Er | werd | menig staker | ontslagen. |
there | was | many striker | fired |
Noun phrases modified by the strong quantifier menig can readily be used in “generic” statements, that is, in contexts in which menig quantifies over all relevant entities in the speakerʼs conception of reality. This is illustrated in (132).
Menig werknemer | is ontevreden | over zijn salaris. | ||
many employee | is dissatisfied | with his salary | ||
'Many employees are not satisfied with their salary.' |
Besides the simplex forms above, there are several phrasal or phrase-like constructions that seem to act as existential modifiers. Some examples are given in (133). Examples such as (133a) are extensively discussed in Section 4.1.1, to which we refer for more information. The phrase-like forms deze of gene and één of andere can be paraphrased as “some”: the former seems to behave like a strong quantifier, whereas the latter is preferably used as a weak quantifier.
a. | een paar | schoenen | |
a couple [of] | shoes |
b. | Deze of gene | specialist moet | toch | kunnen helpen. | |
this or yonder | specialist must | prt | be.able help | ||
'But some specialist must be able to help.' |
b'. | * | Er | moet | deze of gene | specialist | toch | kunnen helpen. |
there | must | this or yonder | specialist | prt | be.able help |
c. | Er | loopt | één of andere hond | voor ons huis. | |
there | walks | one or another dog | in.front.of our house | ||
'There is some dog walking in front of our house.' |
c'. | *? | Eén of andere hond | loopt | voor ons huis. |
one or another dog | walks | in.front.of our house |
Despite its quantificational meaning, deze of gene in (133b) can probably best be considered a complex determiner: if it is a determiner comparable to simple deze, its strong nature would follow immediately. The examples in (134a&b) show that a similar approach is clearly not feasible for één of ander, given that this modifier can be preceded by a definite article. Note that despite being formally definite the noun phrases de een of andere gek and het een of andere boek behave like weak noun phrases, just like their formally indefinite counterparts in the primed examples; they all may enter the expletive construction. The data in (134b&b') suggest that we are dealing with a complex adjectival phrase in these examples: just like adjectival ander'different', the phrase een of andere exhibits gender agreement with the noun.
a. | Er | staat | de een of andere gek | te zingen. | definite, -neuter | |
there | stands | the one or other madman | to sing | |||
'There is some madman singing.' |
a'. | Er | staat | een of andere gek | te zingen. | indefinite, -neuter | |
there | stands | one or other madman | to sing | |||
'There is some madman knocking on the door.' |
b. | Er | werd | het een of andere boek | gepresenteerd. | definite, +neuter | |
there | was | the one or other book | presented | |||
'Some book was presented.' |
b'. | Er | werd | een of ander boek | gepresenteerd. | indefinite, +neuter | |
there | was | one or other book | presented | |||
'Some book was presented.' |
Finally, we should mention cases such as de nodige bezwaren'a good many objections'. Here we are clearly dealing with a borderline case. The noun phrase is formally a definite noun phrase, and nodige seems to act as a regular attributive adjective. However, the noun phrase does not refer to some entities in domain D, and again it can be used in the expletive construction. Note that the translation in (135) is somewhat misleading in that it suggests that a fairly large number of objections were raised, but this is not necessarily so; what seems to be implied is that the number of objections was sufficiently large to be relevant.
Er | werden | de nodige bezwaren | geopperd. | ||
there | were | the need objections | given | ||
'There were raised a good many objections.' |
This subsection concludes the discussion of the existential quantifiers used as modifiers with two special uses of the quantifiers sommige and enkele.
The quantifier sommige is sometimes used in “generic” contexts, that is, to quantify over all relevant entities in the speakerʼs conception of reality: an example such as (136a), for example, expresses that there is a subcategory of junkies that will never overcome their addiction. Such a “generic” use is not possible with enkele: in example (136b), the quantifier enkele must quantify over a contextually defined set of junkies.
a. | Sommige junkies | komen | nooit | van hun verslaving | af. | |
some junkies | come | never | from their addiction | prt. | ||
'Some junkies will never overcome their addiction.' |
b. | Enkele junkies | komen | nooit | van hun verslaving | af. | |
some junkies | come | never | from their addiction | prt. | ||
'Some of the junkies will never overcome their addiction.' |
In such “generic” cases, sommige may also trigger a “kind” interpretation on the noun it modifies. For example, sommige medicijnen'some medicines' in (137a) may refer to, e.g., the types of medicines that fall into the class of barbiturates. Enkele in (137b) again does not have this effect: it can only quantify over a contextually defined set of medicines.
a. | Sommige medicijnen | kunnen | de rijvaardigheid | beïnvloeden. | |
some medicines | may | the driving.ability | influence | ||
'Some medicines may influence the ability to drive.' |
b. | Enkele medicijnen | kunnen | de rijvaardigheid | beïnvloeden. | |
some medicines | may | the driving.ability | influence | ||
'Some of these medicines may influence the ability to drive.' |
Enkele can also be used as an attributive modifier. This use of enkele is characterized by the fact that enkele is followed by a singular noun. In (138a&b), the meaning of enkele is still quantificational in nature: despite the fact that the modified noun is singular, the noun phrase may actually refer to a non-singleton set with a low cardinality. In (138c), on the other hand, the presence of the numeral één'one' triggers a reading of enkele that can be properly rendered by means of English single. In (138d), enkele has the meaning “one-way”: the phrase een enkele reis is especially used to refer to a one-way ticket.
a. | Die enkele bezoekersg | die | hier | komt, | is het noemen | niet | waard. | |
that enkele visitor | that | here | comes | is the mention | not | worth | ||
'Those few visitors who come here arenʼt worth mentioning.' |
b. | Ik | ben | hier | slechts | een enkele keersg | geweest. | |
I | am | here | only | an enkele time | been | ||
'Iʼve been here only a couple of times.' |
c. | Ik | ben | hier | slechts | één enkele keersg | geweest. | |
I | am | here | only | a single time | been | ||
'Iʼve been here only once.' |
d. | een | enkele | reis | naar Amsterdam | |
a | one.way | trip | to Amsterdam | ||
'a one-way ticket to Amsterdam' |
If an existential quantifier is used as an argument, it is generally realized as the +human quantified personal pronoun iemand'someone' or the -human quantified personal pronoun iets/wat'something'. Some examples are given in (139). These quantifiers are normally used as weak quantifiers, which is clear from the fact that, as subjects, they are preferably used in expletive constructions. Examples like (139a'&b'), without the expletive er, are acceptable, but they generally require a special intonation pattern; these examples would be quite natural if the quantifier were assigned contrastive or emphatic focus. Example (139b') with wat is, however, still excluded. We refer the reader to Section 5.2 for more discussion of these pronouns.
a. | Er | heeft | iemand | gebeld. | |
there | has | someone | called | ||
'Someone has called.' |
a'. | ? | Iemand heeft gebeld. |
b. | Er | is | iets/wat | gevallen. | |
there | is | something | fallen | ||
'Something has fallen.' |
b'. | ??Iets/*Wat is gevallen. |
Many of the modifiers discussed in Subsection I can also be used as independent arguments. This will be illustrated in the following subsections.
The examples in (140) show that if the context provides sufficient information, it is possible to use sommige(n) as a pronominal quantifier instead of the full quantified noun phrases sommige studenten/boeken'some students/books'. Recall that if the quantifier ends in a schwa, Dutch orthography requires a (mute) suffix -n on the quantifier if the elided noun is +human; if the elided noun is -human this -n is not used.
a. | Sommige studenten/Sommigen | gingen | naar | de vergaderzaal. | |
some students/some | went | to | the meeting.hall |
b. | Sommige boeken/sommige | zijn | uitverkocht. | |
some books/some | are | sold.out |
The independently used quantifier sommige(n) is a strong quantifier. It is not so clear whether weak quantifiers like enkele'some' can also be used as independent arguments. Consider the examples in (141). The fact that we are dealing with expletive constructions guarantees that the quantifiers in these examples are weak. The second occurrence of er in the primed examples is so-called quantitative er, which is associated with an interpretative gap in the noun phrase, which therefore has the form [QN enkele [NP e ]]. The fact, illustrated in the doubly-primed examples, that quantitative er cannot readily be left out suggests that, like the cardinal numerals, the weak quantifier can only act as the modifier of a noun phrase, which happens to be phonetically empty here, not as an independent argument.
a. | Er | gingen | enkele studenten | naar de vergaderzaal. | weak quantifier | |
there | went | some students | to the meeting.hall | |||
'There were some students going to the meeting hall.' |
a'. | Er | gingen | er | [enkele [e]] | naar de vergaderzaal. | |
there | went | er | some | to the meeting.hall |
a''. | ?? | Er | gingen | enkelen | naar de vergaderzaal. |
there | went | some | to the meeting.hall |
b. | Er | werden | enkele boeken | verkocht. | weak quantifier | |
there | were | some books | sold | |||
'Some books were sold.' |
b'. | Er | werden | er | [enkele [e]] | verkocht. | |
there | were | er | some | sold |
b''. | *? | Er | werden | enkele | verkocht. |
there | were | some | sold |
If enkele is used as a strong quantifier, similar complications do not arise; the primed examples in (142) are fully acceptable, just like those in (140) with the strong quantifier sommige.
a. | Enkele studenten | gingen | naar de vergaderzaal. | strong quantifier | |
some students | went | to the meeting.hall |
a'. | Enkelen | gingen | naar de vergaderzaal. | |
some | went | to the meeting.hall |
b. | Enkele boeken | waren | beschadigd. | strong quantifier | |
some books | were | damaged |
b'. | Enkele | waren | beschadigd. | |
some | were | damaged |
The examples in (143) show that it is also possible to have er after the finite verb (in which case the spelling of enkelen in (142a') changes to enkele); this occurrence of er then simultaneously performs the function of expletive and quantitative er, and the quantifier is construed as a weak quantifier modifying an empty noun phrase.
a. | [Enkele [e]] | gingen | er | naar de vergaderzaal. | weak quantifier | |
some | went | er | to the meeting.hall |
b. | [Enkele [e]] | waren | er | beschadigd. | weak quantifier | |
some | were | er | damaged |
The evidence given in (141) in support of the claim that weak quantifiers cannot be used as independent arguments is not conclusive, given that dropping quantitative er does not give rise to fully ungrammatical results. Somewhat stronger support for this claim is provided by the existential quantifier wat, which cannot be used as a strong quantifier. As is shown in (144), dropping quantitative er in the primed examples gives rise to completely ungrammatical results.
a. | Er | gingen | wat studenten | naar de vergaderzaal. | |
there | went | some student | to the meeting.hall | ||
'There were some students going to the meeting hall.' |
a'. | Er | gingen | er | [wat [e]] | naar de vergaderzaal. | |
there | went | er | some | to the meeting.hall |
a''. | * | Er | gingen | wat | naar de vergaderzaal. |
there | went | some | to the meeting.hall |
b. | Er | werden | wat boeken | verkocht. | |
there | were | some books | sold | ||
'Some books were sold.' |
b'. | Er | werden | er | [wat [e]] | verkocht. | |
there | were | er | some | sold |
b''. | * | Er | werden | wat | verkocht. |
there | were | some | sold |
Note that (144b'') without quantitative er is acceptable if the verb is singular, as is shown in (145a). But in this case we are not dealing with the use of the modifier wat as an independent argument, but with the colloquial form of the -human quantified personal pronoun iets'something'. In this use wat can be modified by the degree modifiers heel'very' and nogal'quite', in which case it receives the interpretation “a lot”. Other modifiers that can be used are flink'quite' and behoorlijk'quite'.
a. | Er | werd | wat/iets | verkocht. | |
there | was | something | sold | ||
'Something was sold.' |
b. | Er | werd | daar | heel/nogal | wat | verkocht. | |
there | was | there | very/quite | something | sold | ||
'A lot was sold there.' |
With the other simple quantifiers discussed in Subsection I, we generally also find a contrast between weak and strong quantifiers. The weak quantifiers in (146), for instance, can only occur if quantitative er is present.
a. | Er | liggen | verscheidene/verschillende/ettelijke | boeken | op de tafel. | |
there | lie | various/several/a.number.of | books | on the table | ||
'Various/several/a number of books are lying on the table.' |
b. | Er | liggen | ??(er) | verscheidene/verschillende/ettelijke [e] | op de tafel. | |
there | lie | er | various/several/a.number.of | on the table |
The forms allerlei and allerhande in (147), however, can be used as independent arguments in formal language. The independent use of these forms requires singular agreement on the finite verb: in (147b), quantitative er is present and the verb exhibits plural agreement; in (147b'), quantitative er is absent and the verb exhibits singular agreement. Independent allerlei and allerhande therefore pattern with wat in (145) rather than with sommige in (140).
a. | Er liggen | allerlei/allerhande boeken | op de tafel. | |
there lie | ll.sorts.of books | on the table | ||
'All sorts of books are lying on the table.' |
b. | Er liggen/*ligt | er | [allerlei/allerhande [e]] | op de tafel. | modifier of [NP e ] | |
there lie/lies | er | all.sorts.of (things) | on the table |
b'. | Er ligt/*?liggen | allerlei/allerhande | op de tafel. | independent argument | |
there lies/lie | all.sorts.of (things) | on the table |
Example (148) shows that the formal strong quantifier menig cannot be used as an independent argument, which may be related to the fact that, when the referent is +human, the special form menigeen is used; a corresponding -human form does not exist, though.
a. | Menig staker | werd | ontslagen. | |
many striker | was | fired | ||
'Many strikers were fired.' |
b. | Menigeen/*Menig | werd | ontslagen. | |
many | was | fired |
The examples in (149a&b) show that the phrase-like quantifiers deze of gene and een of ander can also be used independently. The latter is special, however, since it can be preceded by a definite determiner and must therefore be analyzed as the head of an NP. The construction as a whole is also special, since the article het does not make the noun phrase definite, which is clear from the fact that it occurs in an expletive construction. In this connection it can be noted that het een of ander seems to be in a paradigm with het een en ander in (149b'), the head of which cannot be used as a modifier. The latter differs from the former in that (despite its triggering singular agreement on the verb) it is semantically plural in the sense that it refers to a non-singleton set of entities. Finally, example (149c) shows that het nodige can also be used independently.
a. | Deze of gene | heeft | geklaagd. | |
this or that | has | complained | ||
'Somebody (or other) has complained.' |
b. | Er | is gisteren | het een of ander | gebeurd. | |
there | is yesterday | the one or other | happened | ||
'Something has happened yesterday.' |
b'. | Er | is gisteren | het een en ander | gebeurd. | |
there | is yesterday | the one and other | happened | ||
'Several things have happened yesterday.' |
c. | Er | is gisteren | het nodige | gebeurd. | |
there | is yesterday | the needed | happened | ||
'A good many things have happened yesterday.' |
- 1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
- 1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff