- 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
Subsection I discusses a number of properties of the regular middle construction, such as the fact that the middle verb must be derived from a transitive verb. If the middle verb is related to a transitive verb that also has an unaccusative counterpart, the regular middle and unaccusative construction can easily be confused, and Subsection II will therefore develop a number of tests for distinguishing the two, subsection III concludes by comparing the regular middle constructions with a number of constructions that are semantically close to it.
- I. Properties of regular middles
- II. Regular middles and unaccusative constructions
- III. Other constructions that resemble the regular middle
This subsection discusses a number of properties of regular middle constructions, subsection A starts with a discussion of the verb types that can be used as input for regular middle formation, subsection B characterizes the meaning of the regular middle and shows that the verb phrase in this construction normally functions as an individual-level predicate, subsection C discusses the evaluative modifier that is typically found in this construction, and subsection D discusses a number of properties of the subject of the middle construction. It is often assumed that the subject must be an internal argument of the middle verb: subsection E argues on the basis of the acceptability of so-called resultative middles that this assumption is incorrect, subsection F concludes with a discussion of a special case in which the verb phrase in the regular middle normally functions not as an individual-level but as a stage-level predicate.
Verbs in regular middle constructions are related to transitive verbs. The examples in (152) show that regular middles are like regular passive constructions in that the direct object of the corresponding transitive verb surfaces as the subject. This is clear from the form of the pronoun in the (a)-examples and subject-verb agreement in the (b)-examples.
a. | De jongens | verven | die muur/hemacc. | transitive | |
the boys | paint | that wall/him | |||
'The boys are painting that wall/it.' |
a'. | Die muur/Hijnom | verft | gemakkelijk. | middle | |
that wall/he | paints | easily |
b. | Jan leest | die dissertaties. | transitive | |
Jan reads | those theses | |||
'Jan is reading those theses.' |
b'. | Die dissertaties | lezen | gemakkelijk. | middle | |
those theses | read | easily |
The examples in (153) show that the regular middles in (152) differ from passives in that they do not allow expression of the subject of the corresponding transitive verb by means of an agentive door-phrase. Nevertheless, the notion of agent still seems to be implied in the middle constructions given that the implied experiencer of the evaluative modifier is typically interpreted as the agent; we will return to this in subsection C.
a. | * | Die muur/Hijnom | verft | gemakkelijk | door de jongens. |
that wall/he | paints | easily | by the boys |
b. | * | Die dissertaties | lezen | gemakkelijk | door Jan. |
those theses | read | easily | by Jan |
Regular middle formation sometimes has subtle side effects. The examples in (154) show, for example, that the regular middle construction licenses the use of the particle weg'away', which seems to be used especially in contexts of (excessive) consumption; see also the discussion of example (197c) in subsection E. To our knowledge such side effects have not been investigated so far and we therefore leave them to future research.
a. | Jan leest | die thrillers | (*weg). | |
Jan reads | those thrillers | away | ||
'Jan is reading those thrillers.' |
b. | Die thrillers | lezen | lekker | (weg). | |
those thrillers | read | nicely | away | ||
'Those thrillers make easy reading (can be consumed in large quantities).' |
Intransitive (PO-)verbs like lachen'to laugh' and wachten (op)'to wait (for)' in the examples in (155) cannot undergo regular middle formation, which shows that the verb must have a nominal complement that can surface as the subject of the middle construction (although Section 3.2.2.4 will show that under specific strict conditions impersonal middles may nevertheless arise).
a. | Jan lacht. | intransitive verb | |
Jan laughs |
a'. | * | Het/Er | lacht | gemakkelijk. |
it/there | laughs | easily |
b. | Jan wacht | op de post. | intransitive PO-verb | |
Jan waits | for the post |
b'. | * | De post | wacht | gemakkelijk | (op). |
the post | waits | easily | for |
The examples in (156) show that monadic unaccusative verbs like vertrekken'to leave' and undative verbs like weten/kennen'to know' also resist regular middle formation. This shows that the verb must have an external argument in order to allow regular middle formation, and that it is not sufficient for a verb to have an internal theme argument; it must also be possible to realize this argument as a direct object–in fact, Subsection E will argue that it is not the term internal argument that is relevant for middle formation but the term direct object.
a. | Marie | vertrekt | vroeg. | |
Marie | leaves | early |
a'. | * | Het | vertrekt | gemakkelijk | vroeg. |
it | leaves | easily | early |
b. | Jan weet | het antwoord | op deze vraag. | |
Jan knows | the answer | to this question |
b'. | * | Het antwoord | op deze vraag | weet | gemakkelijk. |
the answer | to this question | knows | easily |
The above has established that regular middle formation requires the verb to be transitive. This leads to the expectation that ditransitive verbs also allow regular middle formation, but example (157b) shows that this expectation is not borne out: regular middle formation is excluded if the input verb takes a nominal indirect object. The primed (b)-example is added to show that regular middle constructions in which the indirect object is promoted to subject are excluded as well.
a. | Jan gaf | de kar | een zet. | |
Jan gave | the cart | a push |
b. | * | Zoʼn zet | geeft | de kar | gemakkelijk. | promotion of direct object |
such a push | gives | the cart | easily |
b'. | * | De kar | geeft | gemakkelijk | een zet. | promotion of indirect object |
the cart | gives | easily | a push |
The examples in (158) show that regular middle formation is blocked not only in double object constructions but also in constructions with a periphrastic indirect object; regular middle constructions such as (158b) are marginally acceptable at best with the aan-PP present.
a. | Marie | vertelt | altijd | lange verhalen | aan kinderen. | |
Marie | tells | always | long stories | to children |
b. | Lange verhalen | vertellen | niet gemakkelijk | (*?aan kinderen). | |
long stories | tell | not easily | to children | ||
'It isnʼt easy to tell long stories to children.' |
Indirect objects are never promoted to subject, not even in cases in which some speakers allow them to be promoted in passive constructions, like with the verb verzoeken when it takes an infinitival direct object clause, as in (159).
a. | Jan verzocht | de leveranciersi | [om PROi | de waren | snel | te leveren]. | |
Jan requested | the suppliers | comp | the goods | soon | to deliver | ||
'Jan asked the suppliers to deliver the goods soon.' |
b. | % | De leveranciersi | werden | verzocht | [om PROi | de waren | snel | te leveren]. |
the suppliers | were | requested | comp | the goods | soon | to deliver | ||
'The suppliers were asked to deliver the goods soon.' |
c. | * | De leveranciersi | verzoeken | gemakkelijk | [om PROi | de waren snel | te leveren]. |
the suppliers | requested | easily | comp | the goods soon | to deliver |
The meaning expressed by the regular middle is rather complex. The construction as a whole refers to some inherent property of the subject referent; example (160a), for instance, expresses that the wall has the property that it can be painted. The adverbially used adjective gemakkelijk'easily' functions as an evaluative modifier of this property ascribed to the subject of the clause: the implicit experiencer of the adjective functions as a universal quantifier that ranges over all relevant entities in the domain of discourse. All in all, this means that the meaning of example (160a) can be paraphrased as in (160b).
a. | Die muur | verft | gemakkelijk. | |
that wall | paints | easily |
b. | Die muur | kan | door iedereen | gemakkelijk | geverfd | worden. | |
that wall | can | by everybody | easily | painted | be | ||
'That wall can easily be painted by everybody.' |
Another example is given in (161a). The proper noun Vergilius refers to a body of literary work that has the inherent property that it is easy to translate (for those that have sufficient knowledge of Latin). The meaning of this example can therefore be paraphrased as in (161b).
a. | Vergilius | vertaalt | gemakkelijk. | |
Vergil | translates | easily |
b. | Vergilius | kan | door iedereen | gemakkelijk | vertaald | worden. | |
Vergil | can | by everybody | easily | translated | be | ||
'Vergil can easily be translated by everybody (who knows Latin).' |
In short, regular middle constructions are generic in nature; the verb phrase functions as an individual-level predicate in the sense that it does not refer to a specific state of affairs but describes an inherent property of the subject of the construction. This receives more support from the following facts.
Since the use of punctual time adverbs like gisteren'yesterday' in (162b) is incompatible with the generic interpretation of the clause, it normally yields a marginal result (see subsection F for a more detailed discussion). The use of an adverb like altijd'always' in (162c), on the other hand, is fully compatible with such a generic interpretation and consequently gives rise to a fully acceptable result. The examples in (163) show the same thing as those in (162).
a. | Jan verfde | gisteren | de muur. | |
Jan painted | yesterday | the wall |
b. | ?? | Die muur | verfde | gisteren | gemakkelijk. |
that wall | painted | yesterday | easily |
c. | Die muur | verft | altijd | gemakkelijk. | |
that wall | paints | always | easily |
a. | Jan vertaalt | Vergilius. | |
Jan translates | Vergil |
b. | ?? | Vergilius | vertaalde | gisteren | gemakkelijk. |
Vergil | translated | yesterday | easily |
c. | Vergilius | vertaalt | altijd | gemakkelijk. | |
Vergil | translates | always | easily |
The examples in (164) show that indefinite plural subjects in regular middle constructions are incompatible with insertion of expletiveer'there'. They therefore do not receive a non-specific but a generic interpretation.
a. | Deuren | verven | gemakkelijk. | |
doors | paint | easily |
b. | * | Er | verven | deuren | gemakkelijk. |
there | painted | doors | easily |
This is consistent with the assumption that predicates of regular middle constructions are individual-level predicates, given that the examples in (165) show that the same thing holds for adjectival individual-level predicates like voedzaam'nutritious'.
a. | Bonen | zijn | voedzaam. | |
beans | are | nutritious |
b. | * | Er | zijn | bonen | voedzaam. |
there | are | beans | nutritious |
Since regular middle constructions do not refer to specific events, they are not compatible with the progressive aan het + infinitive construction. Compare the ungrammatical progressive middle construction in (166b) with the equally ungrammatical English gerund *The wall is painting easily.
a. | Jan is de muur aan het | verven. | |
Jan is the wall aan het | paint | ||
'Jan is painting the wall.' |
b. | * | De muur | is gemakkelijk | aan het | verven. |
the wall | is easily | aan het | paint |
The contrast between the two examples in (167) shows that regular middles differ from their corresponding transitive constructions in that they cannot function as infinitival complements of a perception verb. This is due to the fact that the complement of the perception verb is dependent on the tense of the higher verb: it must refer to an event that applies simultaneously with the event referred to by the verb in the main clause and this is incompatible with the generic meaning of the regular middle construction.
a. | Ik | zag | Marie de muur | verven. | |
I | saw | Marie the wall | paint |
b. | * | Ik | zag | de muur | gemakkelijk | verven. |
I | saw | the wall | easily | paint |
The examples in (168) show that, in contrast to transitive verbs, regular middle verbs cannot occur in pseudo-cleft constructions. This is probably due to their non-eventive nature: the verb doen forces an activity reading on the middle verb, and thus an agentive reading on its subject die muur'that wall'.
a. | Wat | Jan deed | was | de muur | verven. | |
what | Jan did | was | the wall | paint | ||
'What Jan did was paint the wall.' |
b. | * | Wat | die muur | deed | was | gemakkelijk | verven. |
what | that wall | did | was | easily | paint |
The contrast between (168a) and (168b) is replicated in (169a) and (169b), in which the verb gebeuren likewise forces an eventive interpretation on the preceding sentence.
a. | Jan | verfde | de muur. | Dat | is | gisteren | gebeurd. | |
Jan | painted | the wall. | that | is | yesterday | happened | ||
'Jan painted the wall. That happened yesterday.' |
b. | Die muur | verfde | erg gemakkelijk. | *Dat | is | gisteren | gebeurd. | |
that wall | painted | very easily. | that | is | yesterday | happened |
Regular middle constructions generally contain an adverbial phrase like gemakkelijk'easily' or moeilijk'difficult' that functions as an evaluative modifier of the property expressed by the middle verb. In (170) we provide a small sample of adjectives that can occur as adverbial modifiers in regular middles.
Adjectives that can be used as evaluative modifiers of regular middle constructions: fantastisch'fantastic', gemakkelijk'easily', heerlijk'lovely', lastig'difficult', lekker'nicely', moeilijk'difficult', moeizaam'laborious', plezierig'pleasantly', prettig'pleasantly', probleemloos'without any problem'Adjectives that can be used as evaluative modifiers of regular middle constructions: fantastisch'fantastic', gemakkelijk'easily', heerlijk'lovely', lastig'difficult', lekker'nicely', moeilijk'difficult', moeizaam'laborious', plezierig'pleasantly', prettig'pleasantly', probleemloos'without any problem' |
The adjectives in (170) are all predicative and able to be predicated of an embedded clause, as is clear from the fact that they can all be used as the complementive in a copular construction. It seems that this option is a prerequisite for entry into the middle construction; the (b)-examples in (171) show that adverbial phrases like met gemak'with ease', which cannot be used in copular constructions, cannot be used in middles either.
a. | Die muur verft gemakkelijk. | |
that wall paints easily |
b. | Het | is gemakkelijk | [om PRO | die muur te verven]. | |
it | is easy | comp | that wall to paint | ||
'It is easy to paint that wall.' |
b'. | * | Die muur verft met gemak. |
that wall paints with ease |
b''. | * | Het | is met gemak | [om PRO | die muur te verven]. |
it | is with ease | comp | that wall to paint |
The evaluation expressed by the adjective can be positive, as in (172a), or negative, as in (172b).
a. | Die muur | verft | gemakkelijk/lekker/probleemloos. | |
that wall | paints | easily/nicely/without.any.problem |
b. | Die muur | verft | moeilijk/moeizaam. | |
that wall | paints | with difficulty/laboriously |
The default interpretation is that the evaluation given is that of the speaker, but the examples in (173) show that this can be overridden by adding a PP headed by volgens'according to'.
a. | Deze muur | verft | volgens Peter | gemakkelijk. | |
this wall | paints | according.to Peter | easily |
b. | Vergilius | vertaalt | volgens Peter | gemakkelijk. | |
Vergil | translates | according.to Peter | easily |
Adjectives like gemakkelijk belong to a set of adjectives that optionally take an experiencer voor-PP, which is taken as the norm for the assessment expressed by the adjective; cf. Deze som is gemakkelijk voor Jan'this calculation is easy for Jan'. However, this experiencer voor-phrase normally cannot be overtly expressed in middle constructions.
a. | Zoʼn muur | verft | gemakkelijk/moeilijk/plezierig | (*voor Jan). | |
such.a wall | paints | easily/with.difficulty/pleasantly | for Jan |
b. | Zoʼn boek | vertaalt | gemakkelijk/moeilijk/plezierig | (*voor Jan). | |
such.a book | translates | easily/with.difficulty/pleasantly | for Jan |
This may be related to the fact that the experiencer of the adjective is interpreted as coreferential with the implied agent of the transitive verb that served as the input for middle formation. As a result, the restriction expressed by the experiencer PP voor Jan in (174) may be incompatible with the generic interpretation of the middle construction as a whole: if a wall paints easily or if a book translates easily, this is claimed to hold for all possible agents, not only for Jan. This account of the unacceptability of the voor-phrases in (174) seems to be supported by the fact that the results improve considerably if we replace the complement of the voor-PPs by a generic noun phrase.
a. | Zoʼn muur | verft | gemakkelijk/moeilijk/plezierig | (voor ervaren schilders/?een ervaren schilder). | |
such.a wall | paints | easily/with.difficulty/pleasantly | for experienced painters/an experienced painter |
b. | Zoʼn boek | vertaalt | gemakkelijk/moeilijk/plezierig | (voor ervaren vertalers/?een ervaren vertaler). | |
such.a book | translates | easily/with.difficulty/pleasantly | for experienced translators/an experienced translator |
Note in passing that example (174a) also improves if the voor-PP is placed in a position preceding the adverb, as in (176a), if it is assigned contrastive accent, as in (176b), or if it is preceded by the focus particle zelfs'even', as in (176c). These examples no longer have a generic interpretation: it is only for Jan that the wall is said to be easy to paint. It is, however, not clear whether we are dealing with an experiencer voor-phrase in these examples given that voor-PPs can also be used as restrictive adverbial modifiers; cf. Section N2.2.1 for discussion.
a. | dat | <voor Jan> | zoʼn muur <voor Jan> | gemakkelijk <*voor Jan> | verft. | |
that | for Jan | such a wall | easily | paints |
b. | Deze muur | verft | voor Jan | gemakkelijk. | |
this wall | paints | for Jan | easily |
c. | Deze muur | verft | gemakkelijk, | zelfs voor amateurs. | |
this wall | paints | easily | even for amateurs |
That we are dealing with adverbial phrases is clear from the fact illustrated by (177) that the adverbs in the regular middle construction allow modification. If the degree modifier te'too' is used, the experiencer can be optionally expressed as a dative phrase; since the experiencer in (177c) is also taken as the agent of the input verb, the construction is not necessarily interpreted generically.
a. | Die muur | verft | erg gemakkelijk. | |
that wall | paints | very easily |
b. | Die muur | verft | niet | gemakkelijk | genoeg. | |
that wall | paints | not | easily | enough |
c. | Die muur | verft | (mij) | te gemakkelijk. | |
that wall | paints | me | too easily | ||
'That wall paints too easily for me.' |
The examples in (178) show that the adverb can also appear as an equative, a comparative or a superlative.
a. | Deze muur | verft | even gemakkelijk | als die deur. | |
this wall | paints | as easily | as that door |
b. | Die muur | verft | gemakkelijker | dan die deur. | |
that wall | paints | more easily | than that door |
c. | Zoʼn gladde muur | verft | het gemakkelijkst. | |
such a smooth wall | paints | the easiest |
There is a smaller subset of regular middles that need not contain a modifier of the type in (170). First, there is a small set of adjectives that can be used in regular middles despite the fact that they normally do not select an experiencer voor-PP, including snel'quickly', traag'slowly', licht'without difficulty' and zwaar'with difficulty'. Like the adjectives in (170), they express some inherent property of the subject from the perspective of the speaker or some other entity in the domain of discourse.
a. | Deze muur | verft | snel/traag. | |
this wall | paints | quickly/slowly | ||
'Painting of this wall proceeds quickly/slowly.' |
b. | Deze muur | verft | licht/zwaar. | |
this wall | paints | without/with difficulty | ||
'Painting of this wall takes little/much effort.' |
Second, regular middles may contain the negative adverb niet'not'. In such cases it is expressed that the subject of the sentence lacks the property denoted by the verb phrase. In example (180b) negation is expressed by means of the idiomatic phrase voor geen meter'hardly at all'.
a. | Deze muur | verft | niet. | |
this wall | paints | not |
b. | Die muur | verft | voor geen meter. | |
that wall | paints | hardly |
The evaluative modifier can also be absent if the evaluation is expressed by some other means. In (181a), the contrastive accent on the verb expresses that the subject exhibits the property denoted by the verb to a high degree. In (181b), the evaluation is expressed by means of comparison; the thesis is claimed to be very exciting and highly readable. The comparison is sometimes idiomatic in nature; an example is given in (181c), in which the phrase als een trein'like a train' expresses that the thesis has the property that it can be read very fast.
a. | Deze muur | VERFT! | Pfff! | |
this wall | paints | phew |
b. | Die dissertatie | leest | als een detective. | |
that thesis | reads | like a detective.story |
c. | Die dissertatie | leest | als een trein. | |
that thesis | reads | like a train |
Subsection A has shown that the input verb for regular middle formation must be transitive: intransitive, unaccusative, undative and ditransitive verbs are all excluded. This subsection shows that there are also a number of restrictions of a more semantic nature.
The verb herkauwen'to ruminate' in (182) denotes an activity that cannot be performed by humans; such verbs cannot readily be used as the input for regular middle formation and seem to be possible in anthropomorphic contexts only.
a. | De koe | herkauwt | het gras. | |
the cow | ruminates | the grass |
b. | # | Dit gras | herkauwt | lekker. |
this grass | ruminates | nicely |
A possible exception may be found in examples such as (183b) with "agentive" instruments, which could in principle be derived from either of the two (a)-examples, but the fact that it may contain an instrumental met-PP suggests that (183a) is the actual source.
a. | Wij | vertalen | teksten | naar het Engels | met een computerprogramma. | |
we | translate | texts | into the English | with a computer.program | ||
'We translate texts into English with the help of a computer program.' |
a'. | Dit computerprogramma vertaalt teksten | naar het Engels. | |
this computer.program translates texts | into the English | ||
'This computer program translates texts into English.' |
b. | Deze teksten | vertalen | sneller | in het Engels | (met dit programma). | |
these texts | translate | quicker | into the English | with this program | ||
'These texts translate faster into English with this program.' |
It has been suggested that regular middles require that the derived subject be affected by the event denoted by the verb. In an intuitive sense, a wall is affected by the act of painting it, so that the middle construction De muur schildert gemakkelijk'the wall paints easily' is possible. A language, on the other hand, is not affected by someone learning it, which is held responsible for the fact that the middle construction in (184b) is marginal at best.
a. | Jan leert | Frans. | |
Jan learns | French |
b. | ?? | Frans | leert | gemakkelijk. |
French | learns | easily | ||
'French learns easily.' |
The postulation of such an affectedness constraint also correctly accounts for the fact that perception verbs like horen'to hear' in (185a) and verbs of saying like zeggen'to say' in (185b) do not allow regular middle formation either.
a. | Els | hoort | rare | geluiden. | |
Els | hears | strange | noises |
a'. | * | Rare geluiden | horen | gemakkelijk. |
weird noises | hear | easily |
b. | Marie | zegt | vaak | zulke dingen. | |
Marie | says | often | such things |
b'. | * | Zulke dingen | zeggen | lekker. |
such things | say | nicely |
It is not clear, however, how the primed examples in (186) can escape the affectedness constraint: a book, for example, is no more affected by being read than a language is affected by being learned or a sound by being heard.
a. | Els leest | dit boek. | |
Els reads | this book |
a'. | Dit boek | leest | gemakkelijk. | |
this book | reads | easily |
b. | Jan zingt | dit lied. | |
Jan sings | this song |
b'. | Dit lied | zingt | lekker. | |
this song | sings | nicely |
It might be the case that it is not affectedness that is involved, but that the restriction is instead related to the fact discussed in Subsection B that the middle construction as a whole expresses an inherent property of the referent of its subject. Since all books have a certain degree of readability and all songs have a degree of singability, this would account for the acceptability of the primed examples in (186). This proposal would also account for the difference in acceptability between the two (b)-examples in (187), which would be left unexplained by an affectedness restriction: whereas it is an inherent property of clothes that they can or cannot be washed easily, this is not a property normally attributed to babies.
a. | Jan wast | die kleren/babyʼs. | |
Jan washes | those clothes/babies |
b. | Die kleren | wassen | gemakkelijk. | |
those clothes | wash | easily |
b'. | $ | Babyʼs van acht maanden | wassen | gemakkelijk. |
babies of eight months | wash | easily |
It is possible, however, to favor an inherent property reading by providing sufficient context. In a discussion on babies one may state that babies of three months old are so tender that they are extremely difficult to wash. In reply, an example such as (187b') could very readily be used: cf. Babyʼs van acht maanden daarentegen wassen gemakkelijk'Babies of eight months, on the other hand, wash easily'. Example (187b') is therefore not ungrammatical but just infelicitous out of context.
The subject of the regular middle construction is presented as a passive entity; if the subject is +human, the referent is represented as an entity without control over the event or even without freedom of volition. This accounts for the fact that examples such as (188) have a condescending flavor. That person names cannot easily be used as subject in the middle construction might be related to this fact.
a. | Dat soort jongens/?Jan | versiert | gemakkelijk. | |
that sort boys/Jan | picks.up | easily | ||
'It is easy to pick up that sort of boy.' |
b. | Dat soort patiënten/?Jan | opereert | gemakkelijk. | |
that sort patients/Jan | operates | easily | ||
'That sort of patient operates easily.' |
The subjects of the regular middle constructions discussed in the preceding subsections all correspond to the theme argument of the corresponding transitive verb. From this, we might hypothesize that the subject of the regular middle construction must be the internal theme argument of the verb, which, in turn, would predict that the middle construction gives rise to an ungrammatical result if the object in the corresponding transitive construction is selected by some other element in the clause. This subsection shows that, despite appearances, this prediction is not correct. First consider the examples in (189) and (190), which seem to support the suggested hypothesis. The English examples in (189) show that the subject of the regular middle construction cannot correspond to an accusative noun phrase that functions as the subject of an infinitival clause.
a. | I believe John to be a fool. |
b. | * | John believes to be a fool easily. |
Comparable examples cannot be given for Dutch since it does not allow the construction in (189a). This is different from the primeless examples in (190), in which the direct object is generally considered the external argument of the complementive (that is, the predicative noun phrase/AP); the primed examples show that English and Dutch behave alike in not allowing regular middle counterparts of such constructions.
a. | I consider John a fool/kind. |
a'. | * | John considers a fool/kind easily. |
b. | Ik vind | Jan een idioot/aardig. | |
I consider | Jan an idiot/nice |
b'. | * | Jan vindt | gemakkelijk | een idioot/aardig. |
Jan considers | easily | an idiot/nice |
The examples in (191) further show that the same thing holds for AcI-constructions in which the accusative object functions as the subject of the embedded infinitive; note that such constructions do not enter passivization either.
a. | Jan hoort | vliegtuigen | overvliegen. | |
Jan hears | airplanes | over-fly | ||
'Jan is hearing airplanes fly over.' |
b. | * | Vliegtuigen | horen | gemakkelijk | overvliegen. |
airplanes | hear | easily | over-fly |
The examples in (189) to (191) thus support the hypothesis that the subject of a middle verb must be an internal argument of the corresponding transitive verb, but there is also a problem for this hypothesis: some resultative constructions do have middle counterparts, as is shown by the examples in (192).
a. | John hammers the metal flat. |
a'. | The metal hammers flat easily. |
b. | Jan slaat | het metaal | plat. | |
Jan hits | the metal | flat |
b'. | Het metaal | slaat | gemakkelijk | plat. | |
the metal | hits | easily | flat |
In order to save the hypothesis it has been claimed that the accusative noun phrase the metal/het metaal enters not only into a predicative relation with the adjective flat/plat but also with the verb to hammer/slaan, that is, the accusative noun phrase is not only the subject of the adjective but also an internal argument of the verb; see Levin & Rappaport Hovav (1995: Section 2.2.1) and references cited there. Empirical support for this assumption is that English (192a) is also acceptable without the adjective; cf. John hammers the metal. A problem is, however, that the supposed thematic relation between the verb and the accusative noun phrase is not present in all resultative constructions that have regular middle counterparts; dropping the complementive plat'flat' in the Dutch example in (192b) in fact gives rise to a degraded result at best and is entirely impossible in examples such as (193a). This shows that the object is not assigned a thematic role by the verbs in these examples, and thus refutes the claim that the object must be an internal argument of the transitive verb for middle formation to be possible.
a. | Jan loopt | het gras | *(plat). | |
Jan walks | the grass | flat |
b. | Het gras | loopt | gemakkelijk | plat. | |
the grass | walks | easily | flat |
Similarly, the fact that particles in particle verb constructions are often obligatorily present has been used to argue that accusative noun phrases in such constructions are arguments of the particles and not of the verbs. But, again, middle constructions do readily arise with these particle verbs; see the primed examples in (194).
a. | Jan vult de formulieren | *(in). | |
Jan fills the forms | in |
a'. | Die formulieren | vullen | gemakkelijk | in. | |
these forms | fill | easily | in |
b. | Jan zet | de tent | *(op). | |
Jan puts | the tent | up | ||
'Jan is putting up the tent.' |
b'. | Deze tent | zet | gemakkelijk | op. | |
this tent | puts | easily | up |
For completeness' sake, the examples in (195) show that like simple unaccusative constructions, resultative unaccusative constructions do not allow regular middle formation. This shows again that middle formation requires that the input verb has an external argument.
a. | Jan rijdt | met een sportauto | naar Groningen. | |
Jan drives | with a sports.car | to Groningen | ||
'Jan drives to Groningen in a sports car.' |
b. | * | Het | rijdt | met een sportauto | gemakkelijk | naar Groningen. |
it | drives | with a sports.car | easily | to Groningen |
The fact that the object that is promoted to subject in the regular middle construction need not be assigned a thematic role by the verb but can be introduced by some other predicative element strongly suggests that middle formation is not a lexical, but a syntactic process. This not does, of course, imply that there are no semantic restrictions on middle formation. On the contrary, the contrast between the examples in (189) and (190), on the one hand, and (192), on the other, can be made to follow from the previously established restriction that the input verb must denote an activity, and the contrast between the examples in (194) and those in (196) below shows that the middle verb must refer to some inherent property of the derived subject; see the discussions in Subsections A and D.
a. | Jan | lacht | die domoren | *(uit). | |
Jan | laughs | those idiots | prt. | ||
'Jan is laughing at those idiots.' |
b. | * | Die domoren | lachen | gemakkelijk | uit. |
those idiots | laugh | easily | prt. |
To conclude, it should be noted that there are certainly more restrictions on middle formation than those mentioned above: although opeten'to eat up' denotes an activity and we could readily imagine that gemakkelijk opeten would refer to some inherent property of rice, the middle formation in (197b) is nevertheless excluded. Perhaps this is due to the fact that middle verbs denoting some form of consumption are often used with the particle weg; see example (197c) and the discussion of example (154) in Subsection A.
a. | Els | eet | de rijst | (op). | |
Els | eats | the rice | prt. | ||
'Els finishes the rice.' |
b. | * | Rijst | eet | meestal | gemakkelijk | op. |
rice | eats | generally | easily | prt. |
c. | Rijst | eet | meestal | gemakkelijk | ?(weg). | |
rice | eats | generally | easily | prt. |
But there is certainly more going on given that middle formation is also excluded in resultative constructions such as (198), in which the PP onder the tafel is predicated of the noun phrase die studenten'those students'.
a. | Jan dronk | [die studenten | onder de tafel]. | |
Jan drank | those students | under the table | ||
'Jan drank those students under the table.' |
b. | *? | Die studenten | drinken | (niet) | gemakkelijk | onder de tafel. |
those students | drink | not | easily | under the table |
Since we do not have any further insights to offer, we leave the formulation of the precise conditions under which resultative construction can or cannot undergo middle formation to future research.
Subsection B has shown that regular middle constructions normally receive a generic interpretation, as is clear from the fact that punctual time adverbs like gisteren'yesterday' cannot be used, in contrast to time adverbs referring to a longer span of time; cf. (162b&c), repeated here as (199).
a. | ?? | Die muur | verfde | gisteren | gemakkelijk. |
that wall | painted | yesterday | easily |
b. | Die muur | verft | altijd | gemakkelijk. | |
that wall | paints | always | easily |
It should be noted, however, that (199a) improves considerably if the adverbial phrase gemakkelijk is modified by an intensifier like erg'very', as in (200a), or if it is given in a form other than the positive degree, as in (200b). In such examples, the verb phrase no longer denotes an individual-level but a stage-level property of the subject; the examples explicitly compare the degree of "paintability" at different moments in time. Adverbs like nog'still' or al'already' may also improve the result by explicitly stating that the relevant property has changed.
a. | Die muur | verfde | gisteren | erg gemakkelijk. | |
that wall | painted | yesterday | very easily |
b. | Die muur | verfde | gisteren | gemakkelijker | dan vandaag. | |
that wall | painted | yesterday | more easily | than today |
c. | Die muur | verfde | gisteren | nog | gemakkelijk. | |
that wall | painted | yesterday | still | easily |
Whereas it is readily imaginable that the degree of paintability of a certain object depends on additional circumstances and can thus be construed as a stage-level property, this is less likely when it comes to the degree of "translatability" of a specific body of literary work. The fact that the marginal example ??Vergilius vertaalde gisteren gemakkelijk in (163b) does not improve by degree modification or comparative formation does not really come as a surprise; examples such as (201) are unacceptable when Vergilius is construed as referring to the whole body of work (which is the default reading if these examples are uttered out of the blue). However, these examples seem to become fully acceptable if the context makes it possible to construe Vergil's work as divided into a series of texts that differ in degree of translatability and if Vergilius refers to only one of these texts.
a. | Vergilius | vertaalde | gisteren | erg gemakkelijk. | |
Vergil | translated | yesterday | very easily |
b. | Vergilius | vertaalde | gisteren | gemakkelijker | dan vandaag. | |
Vergil | translated | yesterday | more easily | than today |
The discussion in this subsection strongly suggests that the generic interpretation of the verb phrase in regular middles can be overridden when the adverbial evaluative modifier provides sufficient evidence that a stage-level interpretation is intended.
The regular middle constructions discussed in Subsection I are normally relatively easy to identify, but this becomes much harder if the transitive verb that functions as the input of regular middle formation also has an unaccusative counterpart; cf. Section 3.2.3 for a discussion of such alternations. Consider the examples in (202) and (203): the (a)-examples involve transitive, the (b)-examples unaccusative, and the (c)-examples middle verbs.
a. | Jan sluit | de deur | transitive | |
Jan closes | the door |
b. | De deur | sluit | automatisch. | unaccusative | |
the door | closes | automatically |
c. | De deur | sluit | gemakkelijk/moeilijk/prettig/... | middle | |
the door | closes | easily/with.difficulty/pleasantly/... |
a. | Jan brak | de glazen | transitive | |
Jan broke | the glasses |
b. | Die glazen | breken | vanzelf. | unaccusative | |
those glasses | break | spontaneously |
c. | Die glazen | breken | gemakkelijk. | middle | |
those glasses | break | easily |
The main difference in surface form between the (b)- and (c)-examples is that the latter contain adverbial phrases that function as evaluative modifiers of the properties denoted by the verb phrases. At first sight, this seems sufficient given that unambiguously unaccusative constructions normally do not seem to allow that type of adverbial modification, as shown by the examples in (204).
a. | * | De jongen | arriveert | gemakkelijk/moeilijk/prettig/... |
the boy | arrives | easily/with.difficulty/pleasantly/... |
b. | * | De fles | valt | gemakkelijk/moeilijk/prettig/... |
the bottle | falls | easily/with.difficulty/pleasantly/... |
The problem is, however, that adjectives like gemakkelijk sometimes also occur in unaccusative constructions such as (205). In cases like these, the interpretation of the adverbial phrase is sufficient to show that we are not dealing with a regular middle construction: it is clearly not interpreted as an evaluative modifier of some inherent property of the subject of the construction due to the fact that the verb phrase simply refers to some specific state of affairs.
De jongen | arriveert | gemakkelijk | op tijd. | ||
the boy | arrives | easily | in time | ||
'It is easy for the boy to arrive in time.' |
In other cases, however, the interpretation of the adverb is not sufficient: the unaccusative sentences in (206), for example, seem to refer to some characteristic property of the subject of the clause and the meaning of the adverbial phrase comes much closer to that of an evaluative modifier.
a. | Deze fles | valt | gemakkelijk | om. | |
this bottle | falls | easily | over | ||
'This bottle is inclined to tip over.' |
b. | Die soep | kookt | gemakkelijk | over. | |
that soup | boils | easily | over | ||
'That kind of soup tends to boil over.' |
c. | Die aardappels | branden | gemakkelijk | aan. | |
those potatoes | burn | easily | prt. | ||
'That type of potatoes burn easily.' |
d. | Die granaten | ontploffen | gemakkelijk. | |
those grenades | explode | easily | ||
'That type of grenades explode easily.' |
For this reason we will try to develop a number of tests that may help to tell the unaccusative and middle constructions in (202) and (203) apart. Although judgments are sometimes subtle, the following subsections will show that the two constructions do differ in several respects. We conclude with a concrete case study where the tests to be developed can be fruitfully put to use.
Unaccusative constructions can readily occur in the perfect tense. Although there are also unaccusative verbs selecting the perfect auxiliary hebben, the fact that the (b)-examples in (202) and (203) select zijn is sufficient for showing that they are unaccusative. Note in passing that the acceptable versions of the examples in (207) can be ambiguous; without the adverbs automatisch'automatically' and vanzelf'spontaneously' they allow not only an unaccusative, but also a passive interpretation. This is, of course, due to the fact that verbs like sluiten'to close' and breken'to break' can also be used as transitive verbs.
a. | De deur is/*heeft | automatisch | gesloten. | |
the door is/has | automatically | closed | ||
'The door has closed automatically.' |
b. | De glazen | zijn/*hebben | vanzelf | gebroken. | |
the glasses | are/have | naturally | broken | ||
'The glasses have broken by themselves.' |
Regular middle constructions do not readily occur in the perfect tense. This is probably due to their generic reading given that we find the same thing in generic examples such as (208a). Generic sentences in the perfect tense improve, however, if we add an adverbial phrase like altijd al'all along', as in (208b).
a. | ?? | Leeuwen | zijn | zoogdieren | geweest. |
lions | are | mammals | been | ||
'Lions have been mammals.' |
b. | Leeuwen | zijn | altijd al | zoogdieren | geweest. | |
lions | have | all along | mammals | been | ||
'Lions have been mammals all along.' |
The examples in (209a&b) show that perfect-tense forms of regular middle constructions also improve by the addition of this adverbial phrase. For our present purpose it is relevant to note that the auxiliary verb in these examples is hebben. Example (209c) shows that the selection of hebben is not forced by the generic meaning of the middle construction, given that the generic unaccusative construction in (206a) still selects zijn.
a. | Die deur | heeft/*is | altijd al | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | gesloten. | middle | |
that door | has/is | all along | easily/with.difficulty | closed |
b. | Die glazen | ?hebben/*zijn | altijd al | gemakkelijk | gebroken. | middle | |
those glasses | have/are | all along | easily | broken |
c. | Deze fles | ?is/*heeft | altijd al | gemakkelijk | omgevallen. | unaccusative | |
this bottle | is/has | all along | easily | fallen.over | |||
'This bottle has always been inclined to tip over.' |
The examples in this subsection thus show that selection of the perfect auxiliary can be used as a test for distinguishing unaccusative and middle verbs.
Past participles of the unaccusative verb can often readily be used predicatively in the copular construction; cf. Section A9.3. This is never possible, however, with past participles that correspond to the verb in the regular middle construction. This is shown by the contrast between the primeless and primed examples in (210).
a. | De deur | bleek | (?automatisch) | gesloten. | unaccusative | |
the door | turned.out | automatically | closed |
a'. | * | De deur | bleek | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | gesloten. | middle |
the door | turned.out | easily/with.difficulty | closed |
b. | De glazen | bleken | (?vanzelf) | gebroken. | unaccusative | |
the glasses | turned.out | spontaneously | broken |
b'. | * | De glazen | bleken | gemakkelijk | gebroken. | middle |
the glasses | turned.out | easily | broken |
Similarly, past participles of unaccusative verbs can readily be used attributively (cf. Section A9.2), whereas this is excluded in the case of middle verbs. This is shown by the contrast between the primed and primeless examples in (211).
a. | de | automatisch | gesloten | deur | unaccusative | |
the | automatically | closed | door |
a'. | * | de | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | gesloten | deur | middle |
the | easily/with.difficulty | closed | door |
b. | de | vanzelf | gebroken | glazen | unaccusative | |
the | spontaneously | broken | glasses |
b'. | * | de | gemakkelijk | gebroken | glazen | middle |
the | easily | broken | glasses |
The primeless examples in (212) show, however, that, unlike the case in English, present participles of both unaccusative and middle verbs can both be used attributively.
a. | de | automatisch | sluitende | deur | unaccusative | |
the | automatically | closing | door |
a'. | de gemakkelijk/moeilijk | sluitende | deur | middle | |
the easily/with.difficulty | closing | door |
b. | de | vanzelf | brekende | glazen | unaccusative | |
the | spontaneously | breaking | glasses |
b'. | de | gemakkelijk | brekende | glazen | middle | |
the | easily | breaking | glasses |
For completeness' sake, the examples in (213) show that, as usual, present participles of middle verbs cannot be used predicatively.
a. | * | De deur bleek | automatisch | sluitend. | unaccusative |
the door turned.out | automatically | closing |
a'. | * | De deur bleek | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | sluitend. | middle |
the door turned.out | easily/with.difficulty | closing |
b. | * | De glazen | bleken | vanzelf | brekend. | unaccusative |
the glasses | turned.out | spontaneously | breaking |
b'. | * | De glazen | bleken | gemakkelijk | brekend. | middle |
the glasses | turned.out | easily | breaking |
The examples in this subsection thus show that the ability of past (but not present) participles to occur in predicative and/or attributive position can be used as a test for distinguishing unaccusative and middle verbs.
Unaccusative and regular middle constructions differ in that the former normally refer to a specific state of affairs whereas the latter are normally generic in the sense that the verb phrase denotes some inherent (thus time-independent) property of the referent of the subject of the construction. As a consequence, unaccusative and regular middle constructions systematically differ with respect to the properties of middles discussed in Subsection IB. First, the examples in (214) show that unaccusative and regular middle constructions differ in that only the former can be readily combined with punctual adverbial phrases; the use of such time adverbs in regular middle constructions clashes with the fact that the verb phrase must refer to some inherent property of the subject of the construction.
a. | De deur | sloot | daarnet | automatisch. | unaccusative | |
the door | closed | a.minute.ago | automatically |
a'. | ? | De deur | sloot | daarnet | gemakkelijk/moeilijk. | middle |
the door | closed | a.minute.ago | easily/with.difficulty |
b. | De glazen | braken | daarnet | vanzelf. | unaccusative | |
the glasses | broke | a.minute.ago | spontaneously |
b'. | ?? | De glazen | braken | daarnet | gemakkelijk. | middle |
the glasses | broke | a.minute.ago | easily |
Second, unaccusative and regular middle constructions differ in that only the former can be used in the progressive aan het + infinitive construction; the latter are categorically excluded in this construction.
a. | De deur | is (?automatisch) | aan het | sluiten. | unaccusative | |
the door is | automatically | aan het | close | |||
'The door is closing automatically.' |
a'. | * | De deur | is gemakkelijk/moeilijk aan het sluiten. | middle |
b. | De glazen | zijn | (?vanzelf) | aan het | breken. | unaccusative | |
the glasses | are | spontaneously | aan het | break |
b'. | * | De glazen zijn gemakkelijk aan het breken. | middle |
Third, unaccusative and regular middle constructions differ in that only the former can occur as the complement of a perception verb, subsection IB, accounted for that by assuming that the tense of the infinitival clause must be linked to the tense of the main verb and that this clashes with the generic interpretation of the middle construction.
a. | Ik | hoorde | de deur | automatisch | sluiten. | unaccusative | |
I | heard | the door | automatically | close |
a'. | * | Ik | hoorde | de deur | gemakkelijk/moeilijk/prettig | sluiten. | middle |
I | heard | the door | easily/with.difficulty/pleasantly | close |
b. | Ik | zag | de glazen | vanzelf | breken. | unaccusative | |
I | saw | the glasses | spontaneously | break |
b'. | *? | Ik | zag | die glazen | gemakkelijk | breken. | middle |
I | saw | those glasses | easily | break |
Observe that the AcI-construction with the verb vinden'to consider' in (217) is fully acceptable. This seems in line with the fact that the verb vinden can take propositional complements headed by individual-level predicates like intelligent: Ik vind Marie intelligent'I consider Marie intelligent'; vinden thus differs from the perception verbs in that it is compatible with the generic, individual-level meaning of the middle verbs; see Subsection IB, for discussion.
Ik | vind | die glazen | wel | heel gemakkelijk | breken. | middle | ||
I | consider | those glasses | prt | very easily | break | |||
'My opinion is that those glasses break very easily.' |
The obligatory adverbial phrase in the regular middle construction is construed as an evaluative modifier of the inherent property denoted by the verb phrase. This modifier thus implicitly introduces an experiencer. Subsection IC noted that this implied experiencer is interpreted by default as the agent of the transitive verb that served as the input for middle formation. This accounts for the fact that regular middle verbs cannot be used with adverbial phrases like automatisch'automatically' and vanzelf'spontaneously', given that these suggest the absence of such an agent.
a. | De deur | sloot | automatisch. | unaccusative | |
the door | closed | automatically |
a'. | De deur | sloot | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | (*automatisch). | middle | |
the door | closed | easily/with.difficulty | automatically |
b. | De glazen | braken | vanzelf. | unaccusative | |
the glasses | broke | by.themselves |
b'. | Die glazen | braken | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | (?vanzelf). | middle | |
those glasses | broke | easily/with.difficulty | spontaneously |
The previous subsections have shown that unaccusative and middle verbs systematically differ in various respects. First, whereas unaccusative verbs may take either zijn or hebben in the perfect tense, middle verbs invariably take hebben. Second, whereas past participles of unaccusative verbs can readily be used as predicates or attributive modifiers, this is not possible with past participles of middle verbs. Third, whereas unaccusatives may refer to an actual event, middles have a generic interpretation; as a result the former but not the latter can be modified by punctual time adverbs, occur in the progressive aan het + infinitive construction, or occur as the infinitival complement of a perception verb. Finally, since the implicit experiencer in the middle construction is construed as the agent of the corresponding transitive verb of the middle, modification of the middle verb by adverbs like automatisch'automatically' or vanzelf'spontaneously' gives rise to a degraded result.
unaccusative | middle | |
auxiliary selection | zijn/hebben | hebben |
predicative/predicative use of past participles | + | — |
event denotation | + | — |
vanzelf/automatisch | + | — |
We conclude our discussion on the differences between unaccusative and middle constructions by means of the discussion of a potentially unclear case. Compare the two examples in (219). The examples are similar in that they both require the adverb to be present, but we will see that they exhibit different behavior with respect to the tests in Table 2.
a. | Dit type auto | verkoopt | *(goed). | |
this type car | sells | well | ||
'This type of car sells well.' |
b. | Dit type auto | verkoopt | *(gemakkelijk). | |
this type car | sells | easily | ||
'This type of car sells easily.' |
The first test does not distinguish the two constructions; they both take the auxiliary hebben in the perfect tense, which is compatible with both unaccusative and middle verbs. However, the fact that (220a) is also fully acceptable without the adverbial modifier altijd al'all along' may already raise some eyebrows, but is an issue independent of auxiliary selection.
a. | Dit type auto | heeft | (altijd al) | goed | verkocht. | |
this type car | has | all along | well | sold | ||
'This type of car has sold well (all along).' |
b. | Dit type auto | heeft | ??(altijd al) | gemakkelijk | verkocht. | |
this type car | has | all along | easily | sold | ||
'This type of car has sold easily all along.' |
The examples in (221) show that the two examples differ with respect to the predicative and attributive use of the past participle. This suggests that (219a) but not (219b) exhibits properties of unaccusative verbs.
a. | Dit type auto | bleek | goed | verkocht. | unaccusative | |
this type car | turned.out | well | sold |
a'. | * | Dit type auto | bleek | gemakkelijk | verkocht. | middle |
this type car | turned.out | easily | sold |
b. | een | goed | verkocht | type auto | unaccusative | |
a | well | sold | type car |
b'. | * | een | gemakkelijk | verkocht | type auto | middle |
an | easily | sold | type car |
The primeless examples in (222) strongly suggest that example (219a) refers to an actual event: although the construction does not seem very felicitous in the progressive aan het + infinitive construction, it can be used with a punctual time adverb like vanmorgen'this morning' and it can be used as the infinitival complement of the perception verb zien.
a. | Dit type auto | verkocht | vanmorgen | goed. | |
this type car | sold | this.morning | well |
a'. | ? | Dit type auto | verkocht | vanmorgen | gemakkelijk. |
this type car | sold | this.morning | easily |
b. | Ik | zag | dit type auto | goed | verkopen. | |
I | saw | this type car | well | sell |
b'. | *? | Ik | zag | dit type auto | gemakkelijk | verkopen. |
I | saw | this type car | easily | sell |
c. | ? | Dit type auto | is | goed | aan het | verkopen. |
this type car | is | good | aan het | sell |
c'. | * | Dit type auto | is | gemakkelijk | aan het | verkopen. |
this type car | is | easily | aan het | sell |
The examples in (223), finally, show that the adverb vanzelf'spontaneously' can readily be added to example (219a), but not to example (219b).
a. | Dit type auto | verkocht | vanzelf | goed. | |
this type car | sold | spontaneously | well |
b. | * | Dit type auto | verkocht | vanzelf | gemakkelijk. |
this type car | sold | spontaneously | easily |
On the basis of the discussion above we can safely conclude that example (219b) is a genuine case of the regular middle construction. The discussion also suggests that, despite the fact that the adverb goed'well' is obligatorily present, verkopen acts as an unaccusative verb in (219a), a conclusion that was reached on different grounds for the English verb to sell in Keyser and Roeper (1984:394). Perhaps it would be useful to conclude this subsection by noting that verbs like verkopen and verhuren'to rent out' contrast with other transaction verbs like kopen'to buy', huren'to rent' and lenen'to borrow'; the latter can enter neither the unaccusative construction in (224a) nor the regular middle construction in (224b). It might be useful to investigate whether the contrast is related to the fact that the former involve an (implied) recipient/goal, whereas the latter involve an (implied) source.
a. | * | Dit type auto | koopt/huurt/leent | goed. |
this type car | buys/rents/borrows | well |
b. | * | Dit type auto | koopt/huurt/leent | gemakkelijk. |
this type car | buys/rents/borrows | easily |
This subsection concludes the discussion of the regular middle construction by comparing it with two other constructions that can readily be confused with it: easy-to-please and modal infinitive constructions.
The regular middle construction exhibits some similarities with the easy-to-please construction in (225b), which is extensively discussed in Section A6.5, sub IVA.
The middle construction in (225a) and the easy-to-please construction in (225b) are both more or less semantically equivalent to the copular example in (225c).
a. | Deze muur | verft | gemakkelijk/plezierig. | |
this wall | paints | easily/pleasantly |
b. | Deze muur | is gemakkelijk/plezierig | om | te verven. | |
this wall | is easy/pleasant | comp | to paint | ||
'This wall is easy/pleasant to paint.' |
c. | Het | is gemakkelijk/plezierig | om | deze muur | te verven. | |
it | is easy/pleasant | comp | this wall | to paint | ||
'It is easy/pleasant to paint this wall.' |
There are two conspicuous syntactic similarities between the middle and the easy-to-please construction. First, in both cases the subject is interpreted as the logical object of the verb verven'to paint'. Second, both constructions contain an evaluative modifier with an implicit experiencer PP. In fact, all of the examples in (225) become unacceptable under the intended readings if the adjective is dropped (the surface string that would result in (225b) is possible but only if the infinitival clause is interpreted as an adverbial purpose clause).
The main semantic difference between the middle in (225a) and the easy-to-please construction in (225b) is that the latter can readily be construed non-generically, just like the copular construction in (225c). This is clear, for instance, from the fact that the experiencer voor-PP can readily be added in the last two constructions, as shown by (226).
a. | * | Deze muur | verft | voor mij | gemakkelijk/plezierig. |
this wall | paints | for me | easily/pleasantly |
b. | Deze muur | is voor mij | gemakkelijk/plezierig | om | te verven. | |
this wall | is for me | easy/pleasant | comp | to paint |
c. | Het | is voor mij | gemakkelijk/plezierig | om | deze muur | te verven. | |
it | is for me | easy/pleasant | comp | this wall | to paint |
Easy-to-please constructions differ from middle constructions in that they are less restrictive with respect to the verb types that can enter them. The examples in (227) show, for instance, that stative verbs like weten'to know' yield a completely acceptable result.
a. | * | Het antwoord op deze vraag | weet | gemakkelijk/prettig. |
the answer to this question | knows | easily/pleasantly |
b. | Het antwoord op deze vraag | is gemakkelijk/plezierig | om | te weten. | |
the answer on this question | is easy/pleasant | comp | to know |
c. | Het is gemakkelijk/plezierig | om | het antwoord | op deze vraag | te weten. | |
it is easy/pleasant | comp | the answer | on this question | to know | ||
'It is convenient/pleasant to know the answer to this question.' |
Although the relation between the middle and the easy-to-please construction has not yet been studied in any detail, it seems that all middle constructions do have an easy-to-please counterpart (but not vice versa, as shown by (227)); note that Section 3.2.2.3 will draw the same conclusion for adjunct middle constructions. Perhaps the correlation between the two constructions is even closer than the judgments in (227) suggest given that there is a slight meaning difference between the adjectives in (225b) and (227b); gemakkelijk means "easy" in the former, whereas it means something like "convenient" in the latter. This may suggest that middle constructions in fact alternate with easy-to-please constructions when gemakkelijk means "easy".
There is also a certain similarity between middles and the modal infinitive constructions discussed in Section A6.5, sub IVB. For instance, the examples in (228) show that, like middle verbs, modal infinitives must denote an activity.
a. | Die muur | is gemakkelijk | te verven. | |
that wall | is easy | to paint | ||
'That wall can be painted easily.' |
b. | * | Het antwoord | is gemakkelijk | te weten. |
the answer | is easy | to know |
The unacceptability of the modal infinitives in (229) shows, however, that the set of adverbially used adjectives that can enter modal infinitive constructions is considerably smaller than the set of adverbially used adjectives that can enter the regular middle construction; cf. the list of adverbs in (170).
a. | * | Die muur | is plezierig | te verven. | modal infinitive |
that wall | is pleasantly | to paint |
a'. | Die muur | verft | plezierig. | middle | |
that wall | paints | pleasantly |
b. | * | Dit boek | is lekker | te lezen. | modal infinitive |
this book | is nicely | to read |
b'. | Dit boek | leest | lekker. | middle | |
this book | reads | nicely |
- 1984On the middle and ergative constructions in EnglishLinguistic Inquiry15381-416
- 1995Unaccusativity at the syntax-lexical semantics interfaceCambridge, MA/LondonMIT Press