/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch1
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    5.3.2.The syntactic function of the adpositional phrase
    quickinfo

    The following subsections successively discusses R-extraction from adpositional phrases functioning as complements, as complementives, and as adverbial phrases.

    readmore
    [+]  I.  PP-complements

    Adpositional phrases that act as a complement generally allow the formation of a pronominal PP. Whether R-extraction (the split pattern) is also allowed depends on the category of the head selecting the PP: complements of verbs and adjectives normally do allow the split pattern, whereas complements of nouns generally do not. R-extraction is categorically excluded in the rare cases in which the selecting head is a preposition itself.

    [+]  A.  Complements of verbs

    Prepositional complements of verbs are always headed by a functional preposition, that is, a preposition that has relatively little semantic content and is selected by the verb; see Table 29 in Section 1.3.3, sub IIB for a representative set of examples. All prepositional complements of verbs allow R-extraction. We illustrate this in (89) for some of the examples in Table 29.

    89
    a. Jan lijdt al jaren aan slapeloosheid.
      Jan suffers  already years  from insomnia
    a'. Jan lijdt er al jaren aan.
      Jan suffers  there  already years  from
    b. Die schoenen passen heel goed bij die jurk.
      those shoes  fit  very well  with that dress
    b'. Die schoenen passen er heel goed bij.
      those shoes  fit  there  very well  with
    c. Jan verlangt erg naar vakantie.
      Jan longs  very  for holiday
    c'. Jan verlangt er erg naar.
      Jan longs  there  very for
    d. Jan klaagt voortdurend over de kou.
      Jan complains  continuously  about the cold
    d'. Jan klaagt er voortdurend over.
      Jan complains  there  continuously  about
    e. Jan zwicht natuurlijk voor dat aanbod.
      Jan knuckles  of course  under that offer
    e'. Jan zwicht er natuurlijk voor.
      Jan knuckles  there  of course  under
    [+]  B.  Complements of adjectives

    The set of functional prepositions heading prepositional complements of adjectives seems slightly smaller than the set of functional prepositions heading prepositional complements of verbs; cf. Table 29 in Section 1.3.3, sub IIB. All prepositional complements of adjectives allow R-extraction. In (90), we illustrate this for some of the examples in Table 29.

    90
    a. Jan is erg bedreven in voetballen.
      Jan is very skilled  in soccer
    a'. Jan is er erg bedreven in.
      Jan is there  very skilled  in
    b. Jan is erg nieuwsgierig naar je vorderingen.
      Jan is very curious  to your progress
    b'. Jan is er erg nieuwsgierig naar.
      Jan is there  very curious  to
    c. Jan is erg verontwaardigd over dat aanbod.
      Jan is very indignant  about that offer
    c'. Jan is er erg verontwaardigd over.
      Jan is there  very indignant  about
    [+]  C.  Complements of nouns

    The set of functional prepositions heading prepositional complements of nouns also seems slightly smaller than the set of functional prepositions heading prepositional complements of verbs (cf. Table 29 in Section 1.3.3, sub IIB. Although the adpositional complements do allow the formation of a pronominal PP, the possibilities for R-extraction (the split pattern) are limited: movement of er preferably targets some position within the noun phrase; movement to a position external to the noun phrase normally gives rise to a marked result. We illustrate this In (91) for some of the examples in Table 29.

    91
    a. Jan uitte zijn behoefte aan genegenheid.
      Jan expressed  his need  of affection
    a'. Jan uitte <??er> zijn behoefte <er> aan.
      Jan expressed   there  his need  of
    b. Jan verloor zijn geloof in de mensheid.
      Jan lost  his belief  in mankind
    b'. Jan verloor <??er> zijn geloof <er> in.
      Jan lost   there  his belief  in
    c. De minister verbood de jacht op ganzen.
      the minister prohibited  the hunt on geese
    c'. De minister verbood <??er> de jacht <er> op.
      the minister prohibited   there  the hunt  on

          The only cases in which R-extraction seems to be fully acceptable involve indefinite/demonstrative noun phrases taking an adpositional complement headed by the prepositions over and van. Some examples are given in (92).

    92
    a. Ik heb een/dat/het boek over ruimtevaart gelezen.
      I have  a/that/the book  on space.travel  read
    a'. Ik heb een/dat/het boek erover gelezen.
      I have  a/that/the book  there on  read
    a''. Ik heb er een/dat/*?het boek over gelezen.
    b. Ik heb een/die/de foto van de berg gezien.
      I have a/that/the picture  of the mountain  seen
    b'. Ik heb een/die/de foto er van gezien.
      I have a/that/the picture  there  of  seen
    b''. Ik heb er een/die/??de foto van gezien.

    Further, there are poorly understood restrictions governing the possibility of R-extraction in examples such as (92). For example, when the main verbs are replaced by a verb like verbranden'to burn', the split pattern gives rise to a degraded result. It is therefore not obvious whether the split pronominal PPs in (92) indeed function as complements of the nouns, or whether they are functioning as, e.g., restrictive adverbial phrases. For an extensive discussion of this issue we refer the reader to Section N2.2.1 and subsequent discussions.

    [+]  D.  Complements of adpositions

    Section 2.2 has shown that only a few prepositions take adpositional complements. The list is exhausted by van'from', tot'until' and voor'for' in (93). The single-primed examples in (93) show that the adpositional complements of these prepositions may be replaced by pronominal PPs. The doubly-primed examples show, however, that these pronominal PPs cannot readily be split; leftward movement of the R-word is impossible, irrespective of whether the landing site is internal or external to the PP.

    93
    a. van vlak achter de kast
      from  just  behind the cupboard
    b. tot vlak voor de deur
      until  just  in.front.of the door
    a'. van vlak <er> achter
      from  just  there  behind
    b'. tot vlak <er> voor
      until  just  there  in.front.of
    a''. <*er> van <*er> vlak achter
    b''. <*er> tot <??er> vlak voor
    c. voor direct na de maaltijd
      for  immediately  after the meal
    c'. voor direct <er> na
      for  immediately  there  after
    c''. <*er> voor <??er> direct na
    [+]  II.  Complementives

    The (a)-examples in (94) illustrate that locational predicative PPs readily allow R-extraction. Since the (b)-examples show that directional predicative PPs categorically reject R-pronominalization, they, of course, do not allow R-extraction either; see Section 5.2.1, sub I, for discussion and more examples.

    94
    a. Jan zet de bloemen in de vaas.
      Jan puts  the flowers  into the vase
    a'. Jan zet er de bloemen in.
      Jan puts  there  the flowers  into
    b. Marie is naar de bibliotheek gewandeld.
      Marie is  to the library  walked
      'Marie has walked to the library.'
    b'. * Marie is er naar gewandeld.
      Marie is there  to  walked

    The question as to whether predicatively used postpositional phrases can undergo R-pronominalization and R-extraction has already been discussed in Section 5.2.2, where it is shown that the answer depends on certain assumptions that are not relevant here. We therefore refer the reader again to this section for discussion.
          Predicatively used circumpositional phrases do allow R-pronominalization and R-extraction, regardless of whether they are locational or directional. One example of each type is given in (95); see Section 5.2.3 for more examples and discussion.

    95
    a. De ladder staat al tegen de muur aan.
      the ladder  stands  already  against the wall  aan
      'The ladder is already standing against the wall.'
    a'. De ladder staat er al tegen aan.
      the ladder  stands  there  already  against  aan
    b. Marie is gisteren naar de bibliotheek toe gewandeld.
      Marie is  yesterday  to the library  toe  walked
      'Marie has walked to the library yesterday.'
    b'. Marie is er gisteren naar toe gewandeld.
      Marie is there  yesterday  to  toe  walked
    [+]  III.  Adverbial adpositional phrases

    Although R-pronominalization is occasionally possible with adverbially used adpositional phrases, they do not allow R-extraction. Before we can illustrate this, it should be noted that prepositional phrases introducing specific semantic roles, such as instrumental met-PPs or passive door-phrases, which are often also counted as adverbial phrases, do allow R-extraction. We will not discuss PPs of this sort here, but refer the reader to Sections 5.2.1, sub IIIA, and 5.3.1 for more discussion.

    [+]  A.  Adverbially vs. predicatively used locational phrases

    If an adverbially used locational phrase is pronominalized, it is generally replaced by a locational pro-form like daar'there', as in (96b). R-pronominalization and R-extraction, on the other hand, normally lead to ungrammaticality, although it should be noted that speakers tend to have varying judgments in the case of relative constructions: de zolder waar Jan vaak (%op) speelt.

    96
    a. Jan speelt vaak op zolder.
      Jan plays  often  in the attic
      'Jan is playing in the attic often.'
    b. Jan speelt daar vaak.
      Jan plays  there  often
      'Jan is playing there often.'
    c. * Jan speelt <er> vaak <er> op.
      Jan plays  there  often  on

    The examples in (97) show that although predicatively used adpositional phrases can sometimes also be replaced by the pro-form daar, R-pronominalization is generally possible as well.

    97
    a. Het boek ligt op de keukentafel.
      the book  lies  on the kitchen table
    a'. Het boek ligt daar (op).
      the book  lies  there   on
    b. Jan legt het boek op de keukentafel.
      Jan puts  the book  on the kitchen table
    b'. Jan legt het boek daar (op).
      Jan puts  the book  there   on

    In some cases, R-pronominalization is even the only available option for predicatively used PPs. Consider the examples in (98). As we have already argued several times, (98a) is ambiguous between an activity reading, in which case the PP is interpreted as an adverbial phrase, and a change of location reading, in which case the PP is interpreted as a predicative phrase. The examples in (98b&c) show that the choice between the pro-form daar and the pronominal PP daar in disambiguates the sentence; in (98b) the verb can only be interpreted as an activity verb, and in (98c) it can only be interpreted as a change of location verb.

    98
    a. Jan springt in de sloot.
      Jan jumps  in/into the ditch
    b. Jan springt daar.
    unacceptable with a change of location reading
      Jan jumps  there
    c. Jan springt daar in.
    only acceptable with a change of location reading
      Jan jumps  there into

    This finding is confirmed by the examples in (99). In the perfect tense, the activity verb springen takes the auxiliary hebben, and (99a') shows that the perfect-tense construction with hebben is only compatible with the pro-form daar. The change of location verb, on the other hand, takes the auxiliary zijn, and (99b') shows that the perfect-tense construction with zijn is only compatible with the pronominal PP daar in.

    99
    a. Jan heeft in de sloot gesprongen.
      Jan has  in the ditch  jumped
    a'. Jan heeft daar (*in) gesprongen.
      Jan has  there    in  jumped
    b. Jan is in de sloot gesprongen.
      Jan is  into the ditch  jumped
    b'. Jan is daar *(in) gesprongen.
      Jan is  there   into  jumped
    [+]  B.  Temporal prepositions

    Section 5.2.1, sub II, has shown that only the temporal prepositions voor'before' and na'after' allow the formation of a pronominal PP, which is illustrated again by means of the contrast between (100b&c) and (100d). This does not imply, however, that R-extraction is also allowed with these prepositions. The examples in (100b'&c') show that it is not; the R-pronoun must be adjacent to (the modifier of) the preposition, and the split pattern leads to ungrammaticality.

    100
    a. Hij heeft het boek (vlak) voor/na/tijdens de vakantie gelezen.
      he  has  the book  just before/after/during  the holiday  read
      'He has read the book (just) before/after/during the holiday.'
    b. Hij heeft het boek er(vlak)voor gelezen.
    b'. * Hij heeft er het boek (vlak)voor gelezen.
    c. Hij heeft het boek erna gelezen.
    c'. * Hij heeft er het boek na gelezen.
    d. * Hij heeft het boek ertijdens gelezen.
    d'. * Hij heeft er het boek tijdens gelezen.

    The impossibility of R-extraction is probably due to the fact that temporal PPs normally have an adverbial function, and thus falls under the general prohibition on extraction from adverbial phrases.

    [+]  C.  Other cases

    Section 5.2.1, sub IIIC, has shown that adverbial PPs headed by non-spatial/temporal prepositions do not allow R-pronominalization. For obvious reasons they therefore they do not allow R-extraction either.

    References:
      About this article
      Author(s): Hans Broekhuis
      Category: Dutch Syntax
      Keywords: Adpositional Pro-formAdpositionsAdverbial phraseComplementPrepositional ComplementPrepositional Complement of adjectivePrepositional Complement of adpositionPrepositional Complement of nounPrepositional Complement of verbPro-formRestrictive Adverbial phraseSpatial Adpositional Pro-formnaovertotvanvoor
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Hans Broekhuis December 2015
      report errorprintcite
      Jump to:
      X