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    3.3.3.Nominative/PP alternations
    quickinfo

    This section discusses alternations between PPs with various functions and the subject of the clause, subsection I starts with cases in which the PP functions as a complementive, and show that the options are limited compared to similar cases discussed in Subsection 3.3.2, in which the predicative PP alternates with an accusative phrase, subsection II continues with alternations that involve locational PPs that seem to function as the logical subject of the verb, and Subsection III concludes with alternations that involve adverbial PPs.

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    [+]  I.  Alternations with predicative PPs

    Section 3.3.2 has discussed the alternation between the examples in (494a&b) and suggested that the prefix be- performs a similar function as the adjective vol'full' in (494c); be- and vol both function as a complementive, and the only difference is that the prefix must incorporate into the verb in order to satisfy the requirement that it be supported by some other morpheme.

    494
    a. Jan plakt de posters op de muur.
      Jan pastes  the posters  on the wall
    b. Jan be-plakt de muur (met de posters).
      Jan be-pastes  the wall  with the posters
    c. Jan plakt de muur vol (met posters).
      Jan pastes  the wall  full with posters

    In (494a) the located object is realized as an accusative object, but the examples in (495) show that the located object can also be realized as the subject of the clause with positional verbs like zitten'to sit', liggen'to lie', staan'to stand' and hangen'to hang'. Since these verbs are unaccusative, we may assume that the subject of the clause functions as the logical subject of the complementive PP, and therefore originates in the same position as the accusative noun phrase in (494a).

    495
    a. Er zitten fouten in de tekst.
      there  sit  errors  in the text
      'There are errors in the text.'
    b. Er liggen kleren op de bank.
      there  lie  clothes  on the couch
      'Clothes are lying on the couch.'
    c. Er staan veel supporters op de tribune.
      there  stand  many fans  on the stand
      'Many fans are on the stand.'
    d. Er hangen slingers in de kamer.
      there  hang  festoons  in the room

    This, in turn, leads to the expectation that the examples in (495) will exhibit similar alternations as example (494a). Given that the positional verbs are unaccusative, this means that we expect that the nominal part of the complementive PP can be realized as a nominative noun phrase with the concomitant effect that the subject of the clause (that is, the subject of this complementive PP) surfaces as the nominal part of a met-PP. The examples in (496) shows that this expectation is not borne out.

    496
    a. * De tekst zit met fouten.
      the text  sits  with errors
    b. * De bank ligt met kleren.
      the couch  lies  with clothes
    c. * De tribune staat met veel supporters.
      the stand  stands  with many fans
    d. * De kamer hangt met slingers.
      the room  hangs  with festoons

    However, the expected alternation with the adjectival complementive vol does occur, as shown by (497). The adjective vol adds the meaning aspect that the reference object (location) is affected by the located object; cf. Section 3.3.2, sub IIA1. The extent of the effect can be specified by adding an attributive modifier like heel to the locational noun phrase or a degree modifier like helemaal to the adjective vol.

    497
    a. De (hele) tekst zit vol met fouten.
      the whole text  sits  full  with errors
      'The text is full of errors.'
    b. De (hele) bank ligt vol met kleren.
      the whole couch  lies  full  with clothes
      'The couch is full of clothes.'
    c. De tribune staat (helemaal) vol met supporters.
      the stand  stands  completely  full  with fans
      'The stand is full of fans.'
    d. De kamer hangt (helemaal) vol met slingers.
      the room  hangs completely  full  with festoons
      'The room is full of festoons.'

    For completeness' sake, note that the examples in (497) in turn alternate with the examples in (498). This shows that the location denoting subjects in (497) can (at least marginally) be replaced by an expletive related to a locative PP. Alternations of this type are the topic of Subsection II.

    498
    a. ? Het zit vol met fouten in de tekst.
      it  sits  full with errors  in the text
    b. ?? Het ligt vol met kleren op de bank.
      it  lies  full with clothes  on the couch
    c. ? Het staat vol met supporters op de tribune.
      it  stands  full  with fans  on the stand
    d. ?? Het hangt vol met slingers in de kamer.
      it  hangs  full  with festoons in the room
    [+]  II.  Locative alternation (type II)

    This subsection discusses the alternation illustrated in (499) and (500), in which the nominal part of a non-predicative locational PP in one clause surfaces as the subject of another clause. The point of departure of our discussion will be the hypothesis that the subject pronoun het in the primeless examples is an anticipatory pronoun and that the locational PP functions as the logical subject of the construction; cf. Bennis & Wehrmann (1987).

    499
    Locative alternation (type II)
    a. Het is erg warm/gezellig in de kamer.
      it  is  very warm/cozy  in the room
    a'. De kamer is erg warm/gezellig.
      the room  is very warm/cozy
    b. Het stinkt in de kamer.
      it stinks  in the room
    b'. De kamer stinkt.
      the room  stinks

    The subsections below will not extensively discuss the copular examples in (499) given that these are discussed in more detail in Section A6.6, but focus more specifically on the constituent parts of the two alternants in (500), which have a number of peculiar semantic and syntactic properties on top of those found in (499).

    500
    a. Het krioelt in de tuin van de mieren.
      it  crawls  in the garden  of the ants
      'The garden is swarming with ants.'
    b. De tuin krioelt van de mieren.
      the garden  swarms  of the ants
      'The garden is swarming with ants.'
    [+]  A.  The non-referential pronoun het'it'

    An important property of the constructions in (499a&b) and (500a) is that they are impersonal in the sense that the subject pronoun het is non-referential in nature. That this is the case is clear from the fact that this pronoun cannot be replaced by any referential element (with preservation of the intended meaning); this is illustrated in (501) for the demonstrative pronouns dit'this' and dat'that'

    501
    a. Dit/Dat is erg *warm/#gezellig in de kamer.
      this/that  is very    warm/cozy  in the room
    b. * Dit/Dat stinkt in de kamer.
      this/that stinks  in the room
    c. * Dit/Dat krioelt in de tuin van de mieren.
      this/that  crawls  in the garden  of the ants

    The fact that the subject pronoun het is non-referential may be problematic for the copular constructions in (499a) given that the adjectival complementives warm'warm' and gezellig'cozy' should be predicated of some entity. This problem can perhaps be solved for the adjective warm by saying that it resembles weather verbs like vriezen'to freeze' in that it takes a quasi-referential subject, but this seems less likely for adjectives like gezellig'cozy'. It has therefore been proposed that the pronoun het actually functions as an anticipatory pronoun that is coindexed with the locational PP, which acts as the logical subject of the adjective. When we extend the proposal to impersonal constructions like (499b) and (500), we arrive at the representations in (502).

    502
    a. Heti is [SCti erg warm/gezellig] [in de kamer]i.
      it  is  very warm/cozy  in the room
    b. Heti stinkt [in de kamer]i.
      it  stinks  in the room
    c. Heti krioelt [in de tuin]i van de mieren.
      it  crawls  in the garden  of the ants

    These representations not only solve the question of what the adjective/verbs in (499a&b) and (500a) are predicated of, but perhaps also make intuitive sense in light of the fact that the nominal parts of the locational PPs surface as the subject of the alternate constructions in the primed examples in (499) and in (500b). However, we should not to jump to conclusions given that the two alternants are not semantically equivalent, which is clear from the examples in (503) taken from Janssen (1976:69): whereas (503a) unequivocally refers to the space within the car, (503a') can also be use to refer to the car itself (its engine may need fine-tuning, for example); similarly, whereas the PP in (503b) may refer to some meeting organized by the family Janssen, the subject in (503b') must refer to the people themselves.

    503
    a. Het stinkt in de auto.
      it  stinks  in the car
    a'. De auto stinkt.
      the car  stinks
    b. Het was leuk bij de Janssens.
      it  was  fun  with the Janssens
    b'. De Janssens waren leuk.
      the Janssens  were  fun
    [+]  B.  The locational PP functions as the logical subject of the clause

    The claim in (502) that the locational PPs function as logical subjects of the clauses not only provides an answer to the question pertaining the semantic properties discussed in the previous subsection, but is in fact supported by their syntactic behavior. Let us start by eliminating two potential alternative analyses. That the locational PP in (500a) is not a complementive is clear from the fact illustrated in (504a) that it can be placed after the clause-final verb as well as from the fact illustrated in (504b) that it can readily be separated from the clause-final verbs by other phrases in the middle field of the clause.

    504
    a. dat het <in de tuin> krioelt van de mieren <in de tuin>.
      that  it  in the garden  crawls  of the ants
    b. dat het <in de tuin> vaak <in de tuin> krioelt van de mieren.
      that  it  in the garden  often  crawls  of the ants

    The examples in (505) show further that the locational PP differs from unsuspected PP-complementives in that it does not allow R-pronominalization; pronominalization is possible only by means of locational pro-forms like hier'here' and daar'there'.

    505
    a. * dat het er vaak in krioelt van de mieren.
      that  it  there  often  in  crawls  of the ants
    b. dat het hier/daar vaak krioelt van de mieren.
      that  it  here/there  often  crawls  of the ants

    A possible conclusion would be that the locational PP functions as an adverbial phrase. However, this seems at odds with the fact that it cannot be omitted; example (506a) is only acceptable if the neuter pronoun is referential, that is, if it functions as the pronominalized counterpart of an example such as (506b).

    506
    a. # Het krioelt van de mieren.
      it  crawls  of the ants
    b. Dat deel van de tuin krioelt van de mieren.
      that part of the garden  crawls  of the ants

    The conjecture in (502) that the locational PP functions semantically as the logical subject of the clause is compatible with these facts. A potential problem for this conjecture is that the (a)-examples in (507) show that the PP cannot be placed in the regular subject position of the clause; it can only be placed in clause-initial position if it is topicalized, in which case the non-referential pronoun het must appear in the subject position right-adjacent to the finite verb in second position. This is compatible with the proposed analysis, however, if we assume that the regular subject position can only be occupied by a noun phrase and that this is precisely the reason why the anticipatory pronoun is used in this construction.

    507
    a. * In de tuin krioelt van de mieren.
      in the garden  crawls  of the ants
    b. In de tuin krioelt het van de mieren.
      in the garden  crawls  it  of the ants

    In fact, this also explains why het is not needed in the alternants of (507) in (508); since the reference objects are syntactically realized as noun phrases in these constructions, they can of course be placed in regular subject position, and insertion of the anticipatory pronoun het is therefore unnecessary (hence blocked).

    508
    a. De tuin krioelt van de mieren.
      the garden  crawls  of the ants
    b. * De tuin krioelt het van de mieren.
      the garden  crawls  it of the ants
    [+]  C.  The van-PP

    The syntactic status of the van-PP is not immediately clear. A first observation is that this PP seems to prefer a position after the verb in clause-final position, which excludes an analysis according to which the PP functions as a complementive.

    509
    a. dat het in de tuin <?van de mieren> krioelt <van de mieren>.
      that  it  in the garden      of the ants  crawls
    b. dat de tuin <?van de mieren> krioelt <van de mieren>.
      that  the garden      of the ants  crawls

    The examples in (510) show that R-pronominalization of the van-PP is possible; this favors an analysis according to which the PP functions as a complement of the verb; it is not conclusive, however, given that certain adverbial phrases also allow R-pronominalization.

    510
    a. dat het er in de tuin van krioelt.
      that  it  there  in the garden  of  crawls
      'that it is crawling with them in the garden.'
    b. dat de tuin er vaak van krioelt.
      that  the garden  there  often  of  crawls
      'that the garden is often crawling with them.'

    Another argument in favor of assuming that the van-PP is a PP-complement and not an adverbial phrase is that omission of this PP gives rise to a severely degraded result: this is expected of PP-complements but not of adverbial phrases.

    511
    a. * dat het in de tuin krioelt.
      that  it  in the garden  crawls
    b. * dat de tuin krioelt.
      that  the garden  crawls

    Note in passing that the examples in (511) are semantically incoherent; the verb is taken in its literal sense as a verb denoting undirected motion, whereas the (logical) subject does not seem to be able to satisfy the selection restrictions imposed by this verb. The addition of the van-PP apparently lifts the selection restriction imposed by the verb on its subject.

    [+]  D.  The meaning of the constructions

    The fact that the (logical) subject need not satisfy the selection restriction that a verb like krioelen'to crawl' imposes on its agentive argument may suggest that the meaning of the constructions in (500) is non-compositional. One way of avoiding this conclusion is to assume that the predicative relationships in the clause are expressed in a non-canonical way. We will consider one option here, which we will show to be untenable in the light of a wider set of data.
          First consider the examples in (512), which show that the verb krioelen requires its agentive subject to be plural or to be headed by a noun denoting a collection of entities; use of a singular noun phrase like de mier'the ant' gives rise to an unacceptable result.

    512
    a. De mieren krioelen in de tuin.
      the ants  crawl  in the garden
      'The ants are teeming in the garden.'
    b. Het ongedierte/*De mier krioelt in de tuin.
      the vermin/the ant  crawls  in the garden
      'The vermin are teeming in the garden.'

    The examples in (513) show that the verb krioelen imposes restrictions on the nominal part of the van-PP similar to those on the subject in (512); the nominal part of the PP must be plural or refer to a collection.

    513
    a. Het krioelt in de tuin van de mieren/het ongedierte/*mier.
      it  crawls  in the garden  of  the ants/the vermin/ant
    b. De tuin krioelt van de mieren/het ongedierte/*mier.
      the garden  crawls  of  the ants/the vermin/ant

    This may suggest that the van-PP semantically functions as the logical subject of the verb. If so, this means that we are dealing with a rather complex set of predication relations, which are schematized in the figures in (514). The two constructions are identical in that the verb is predicated of the nominal part of the van-PP. The complex verbal phrase krioelen van de mieren functions as a predicate which is subsequently predicated of the reference object, de tuin'the garden', directly if the latter is realized as the subject of the clause or via the anticipatory pronoun het if it is realized as a locational PP.

    514
    a.
    b.

    There are several potential problems with analyses of this sort. The first one is that predication relationship I between a verb and its internal argument is normally not syntactically encoded by means of the preposition van'of'. This does not a priori mean that an analysis along this line would be untenable given that it has been argued in Section N4.2.1 that this preposition can establish such a relationship in metaphorical N-van-een-N constructions like een schat van een kat'a treasure of a cat', in which the noun schat is predicated of the second noun; cf. die kat is een schat'that cat is a treasure'. A second, semantic, problem is that establishing predication relationship I should give rise to a proposition; since propositions are saturated predicates they normally cannot be predicated of some other argument, and this means that we have to make additional stipulations to make predication relationship II possible. The third and probably most problematic aspect of the analyses in (514) is that it is predicted that in constructions of this type the verb is always predicated of the nominal part of the van-PP. The examples in (515) show, however, that this need not be the case.

    515
    a. Het barst/stikt/sterft *(van de toeristen) in de stad.
      it  barst/stikt/sterft     of the tourists  in the town
      'It is swarming with tourists in town.'
    b. De stad barst/stikt/sterft *(van de toeristen).
      the town  barst/stikt/sterft     of the tourists
      'The town is swarming with tourists.'

    The verbs barsten'to burst', stikken'to suffocate' and sterven'to die' are clearly not predicated of the noun phrase de toeristen. Instead, the original meaning of the verb has bleached and the construction as a whole simply assumes a quantitative meaning aspect; there is an extremely high number of tourists in town. It can further be noted that the syntactic properties of the verbs barsten, stikken and sterven in the constructions in (515) also differ considerably from their properties in their more regular uses. This is shown in (516) and (517) for the verb stikken. Example (516) shows that this verb, being a telic unaccusative verb, cannot be combined with durative adverbial phrases like een uur lang'for an hour' and forms the perfect tense by means of the auxiliary zijn'to be'.

    516
    a. De jongen stikte binnen een minuut/*een uur lang.
      the boy  suffocated  within a minute/one hour long
    b. De jongen is/*heeft gestikt.
      the boy  is/has  suffocated

    The constructions in (517), on the other hand, exhibit properties of atelic predicates: they can be combined with durative adverbial phrases like de hele zomer'all summer' and they form their perfect tense with the auxiliary hebben'to have'.

    517
    a. Het heeft/*is in Amsterdam de hele zomer gestikt van de toeristen.
      it  has/is  in Amsterdam  the whole summer  gestikt  of the tourists
      'It has swarmed with tourists in Amsterdam all summer.'
    b. Amsterdam heeft/*is de hele zomer gestikt van de toeristen.
      Amsterdam has/is  the whole summer  gestikt  of the tourists
      'Amsterdam has swarmed with tourists in Amsterdam all summer.'

    To sum up the discussion so far, we can conclude that the meaning of the constructions under discussion cannot be determined in a compositional way. The verbs in this construction further have the property that their meaning has bleached; they do not denote the same state of affairs as they do in their more regular uses, a semantic change that is also reflected in their syntactic behavior.
          An essential meaning aspect of the two constructions under discussion seems to be that there is a high concentration of entities at a certain location. It has further been claimed that the two alternants differ with respect to the spreading of these entities. Constructions with a nominative subject, like (500b) and (515b), receive a holistic interpretation: example (515b), for instance, expresses that wherever you go in town, there will be many tourists. Impersonal constructions, like (500a) and (515a), on the other hand, have been claimed to be consistent with a partial interpretation: example (515b) may be true if there are high concentrations of tourists in certain restricted areas of town.

    [+]  E.  Productivity

    The nominative/PP alternation under discussion seems to be highly productive, and many verb types can enter the construction. Example (499) has already shown that the alternation may occur in copular constructions. The examples in (497) and (498) in Subsection I have further shown that positional verbs with the complementive adjective vol'full' also enter in this alternation; one example is repeated here as (518).

    518
    a. De tekst zit vol met fouten.
      the text  sits  full  with errors
    b. Het zit vol met fouten in de tekst.
      it  sits  full with errors  in the text
      'The text has errors everywhere.'

    The examples in (519) provide a number of other potential cases with an adjectival complementive, although these are somewhat harder to judge given that they have a more or less idiomatic flavor. The examples in (519) are similar to the ones in (500) with the verb krioelen and (515) with the verbs barsten'to burst', stikken'to suffocate' and sterven'to die' in that they contain an obligatory van-PP and likewise express that there is a high concentration of entities denoted by the nominal part of the van-PP at the location denoted by the reference object die krant'that newspaper'/de stad'the city'.

    519
    a. ? Het staat bol van de fouten in die krant.
      it  stands  full  of the errors  in that newspaper
    a'. Die krant staat bol van de fouten.
      that newspaper  stands  full  of the errors
      'That newspaper bulges with errors.'
    b. Het zag zwart van de toeristen in de stad.
      it  saw  black  of the tourists  in the city
    b'. De stadnom zag zwart van de toeristen.
      the city  saw  black  of the tourists
      'The city was swarming with tourists.'

    Another set that allows the alternation consists of verbs denoting light and sound emission. Observe that the van-PP in (520a') is optional, but this may be due to the fact that schitteren'to glitter' can also be used as a monadic verb: De diamant schitterde'The diamond sparkled'. These constructions again express that there is a high concentration of entities denoted by the nominal part of the van-PP at the location denoted by the reference object de lucht'the sky'/de tuin'the garden'.

    520
    a. Het schitterde van de sterren in de lucht.
      it  glittered  of the stars  in the sky
    a'. De lucht schitterde (van de sterren).
      the sky  glittered  of the stars
      'The sky was glittering with stars.'
    b. Het gonst van de bijen in de tuin.
      it buzzes  of the bees  in the garden
    b'. De tuin gonst van de bijen.
      the garden  buzzes  of the bees
      'The garden is alive with bees.'

    The examples in (521) provide a number of examples of bodily sensation/function, which seem to especially favor the construction in which the reference object is realized as the subject of the clause.

    521
    a. Het kriebelde op mijn rug van de vlooien.
      it  tickled  on my back  of the fleas
    a'. Mijn rug kriebelde van de vlooien.
      my back  tickled  of the fleas
    b. ? Het duizelde door zijn hoofd van de nieuwe ideeën.
      it  reeled  through his head  of the new ideas
    b'. Zijn hoofd duizelde van de nieuwe ideeën.
      his head  reeled  of the new ideas
    c. ?? Het droop langs zijn gezicht van het zweet.
      it  dripped  along his face  of the sweat
    c'. Zijn gezicht droop van het zweet.
      his face  dripped  of the sweat
    [+]  III.  Alternations with adverbial PPs

    The discussion of subject-PP alternations discussed in the previous subsections probably only scratches the surface of a much broader range of facts. PPs that alternate with nominative phrases may not only be predicative or function as the logical subject of the clause but may also function as adverbial phrases of various types. The subjects of the adjunct middle constructions in the primed examples in (522) all have a function similar to that of the adverbial phrases in the regular primeless examples; see Section 3.2.2.3 for extensive discussion. Interestingly, the doubly-primed examples show that adjunct middles also have impersonal counterparts.

    522
    a. Els snijdt altijd met dat mes.
    instrument
      Els cuts  always  with that knife
    a'. Dat mes snijdt lekker/prettig.
      that knife  cuts  nicely/pleasantly
      'It is nice/pleasant to cut with that knife.'
    a''. Het snijdt lekker/prettig met dat mes.
      it  cuts  nicely/pleasantly  with that knife
      'It is nice/pleasant to cut with that knife.'
    b. Peter rijdt graag op deze stille wegen.
    location
      Peter drives  readily  on these quiet roads
      'Peter likes to drive on these quiet roads.'
    b'. Deze stille wegen rijden lekker/prettig.
      these quiet roads  drive  nicely/pleasantly
      'It is nice/pleasant to drive on these quiet roads.'
    b''. Het rijdt lekker prettig op deze stille wegen.
      it drives nicely/pleasantly on these quiet roads
      'It is nice/pleasant to drive on these quiet roads.'
    c. Jan werkt het liefst op rustige middagen.
    time
      Jan works  preferably  on quiet afternoons
      'Jan prefers to work on quiet afternoons.'
    c'. Rustige middagen werken het prettigst.
      quiet afternoons  work  the most pleasant
      'It is the most pleasant to work on quiet afternoons.'
    c''. Het werkt het prettigst op rustige middagen.
      it works  most.pleasantly  on quiet afternoons
      'It is the most pleasant to work on quiet afternoons.'

    But it is not only in adjunct middle constructions that we find that adverbial PPs alternate with subjects. Section 2.5.1.3 has shown for instance that object experiencer psych-verbs allow expression of the cause either by means of a met-PP or by means of a nominative noun phrase; this is illustrated again in the examples in (523).

    523
    a. De clownCauser amuseerde de kinderenExp met zijn grapjesCause.
      the clown  amused  the children  with his jokes
    a'. Zijn grapjesCause amuseerden de kinderenExp.
      his jokes  amused  the children
    b. JanCauser overtuigde de rechterExp met dat nieuwe bewijsCause.
      Jan  convinced  the judge  with that new evidence
    b'. Dat nieuwe bewijsCause overtuigde de rechterExp.
      that new evidence   convinced  the judge

    The examples in (524) show that adverbial met-PPs exhibit the alternation more generally. We will not attempt to characterize the semantic function of the adverbial phrases and their corresponding subjects, but refer the reader to Levin (1993:ch.3), who does try to do this for similar English examples.

    524
    a. Jan bevestigde de hypothese met een nieuw experiment.
      Jan confirmed  the hypothesis  with a new experiment
    a'. Het nieuwe experiment bevestigde de hypothese.
      the new experiment  confirmed  the hypothesis
    b. Het leger bluste de bosbrand met een helikopter.
      the army  extinguished  the forest.fire  with a helicopter
    b'. De helikopter bluste de bosbrand.
      the helicopter extinguished  the forest.fire
    c. Jan vult het tochtgat met kranten.
      Jan fills the blow.hole  with newspapers
    c'. De kranten vullen het tochtgat.
      the  newspapers  fill  the blow.hole
    d. Marie versierde de kamer met de nieuwe slingers.
      Marie decorated the room  with the new festoons
    d'. De nieuwe slingers versierden de kamer.
      the new festoons  decorated  the room
    e. Jan bedekte de inktvlek met zijn hand.
      Jan covered  the inkblot  with his hand
    e'. Zijn hand bedekte de inktvlek.
      his hand  covered  the inkblot

    Levin (1993:ch.3) provides a number of other cases with adverbial phrases headed by prepositions other than met that are possible in English but give rise to unacceptable or at least very unnatural results in Dutch. We confine ourselves here to just giving a number of typical examples. The alternation exemplified in (525), in which the adverbial phrase/subject refers to natural forces, is often acceptable.

    525
    a. Jan droogde zijn haar in de wind/zon.
      Jan dried  his hair  in the wind/sun
    b. De wind/zon droogde zijn haar.
      the wind/sun  dried  his hair

    Alternations involving adverbial phrases denoting time, containers, prices, raw materials and sources comparable to the ones given by Levin, on the other hand, give rise to severely degraded results. However, we have to be careful not to jump to conclusions given that, to our knowledge, these kinds of alternations have not yet been investigated thoroughly for Dutch.

    526
    a. De wereld zag het begin van een nieuw tijdperk in het jaar 1492.
      the world  saw  the begin of a new era  in the year 1492
    a'. * Het jaar 1492 zag een nieuw tijdperk.
      the year 1492  saw  a new era
    b. Jan incorporeert de kritiek in de nieuwe versie van zijn proefschrift.
      Jan incorporates  the critique  in the new version of his thesis
    b'. * De nieuwe versie van zijn proefschrift incorporeert de kritiek.
      the new version of his thesis  incorporates  the critique
    c. Jan kocht een kaartje voor vijf euro.
      Jan bought  a ticket  for five euros
    c'. * Vijf euro koopt (je) een kaartje.
      five euros  buys  you  a ticket
    d. Hij bakt heerlijke pannenkoeken van dat biologische boekweitmeel.
      he  bakes  lovely pancakes  from that organic buckwheat.flour
    d'. * Dat biologische boekweitmeel bakt heerlijk pannenkoeken.
      that organic buckwheat.flour bakes  lovely pancakes
    e. De middeninkomens profiteren van de belastingverlaging.
      the middle.income.earners  profit  from the tax.reduction
    e'. * De belastingverlaging profiteert de middeninkomens.
      the tax.reduction  profits  the middle.income.earners
    References:
    • Bennis, Hans & Wehrmann, Pim1987Adverbial argumentsBeukema, Frits & Coopmans, Peter (eds.)Linguistics in the Netherlands 1987Dordrecht1-11
    • Janssen, Theo1976<i>Hebben</i>-konstrukties en indirekt-objektkonstructiesNijmegenUniversity of NijmegenThesis
    • Levin, Beth1993English verb classes and alternationsChicago/LondonUniversity of Chicago Press
    • Levin, Beth1993English verb classes and alternationsChicago/LondonUniversity of Chicago Press
    About this article
    Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Norbert Corver, Riet Vos
    Category: Dutch Syntax
    Keywords: Locative VerbNon-referential PronounPronounVerb Frame Alternation
    Version: 1.0, January 2016
    Version history:
    version editor(s) date remarks
    1.0 Hans Broekhuis, Norbert Corver, Riet Vos January 2016
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