- 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
Cornips (1994/1996) has shown that the three middle constructions discussed in the previous sections may appear in certain varieties of Dutch with the simplex reflexive zich. This is illustrated in Cornips' examples in (278). Later research suggests that these reflexive middle constructions are typically found in Limburg; see Barbiers et al. (2005: Section 4.3.7.1). The construction is also common in German; cf. Steinbach (2002).
a. | Het boek | verkoopt | zich | goed. | regular middle? | |
the book | sells | refl | well |
b. | Disse stool | zit | zich | lekker. | adjunct middle | |
this chair | sits | refl | nicely |
c. | Het | slaapt | zich | goed | in dit bed. | impersonal middle | |
it | sleeps | refl | well | in this bed |
Note that we ignore here the discussion in Section 3.2.2.2, sub IIE, which suggests that examples such as (278a) are in fact not regular middles, but unaccusative constructions; the main issue is that reflexive middle constructions of the type in (278) are categorically excluded in Standard Dutch, as shown by (279).
a. | Het boek | verkoopt | (*zich) | gemakkelijk. | regular middle | |
the book | sells | refl | well |
b. | Deze stoel | zit | (*zich) | lekker. | adjunct middle | |
this chair | sits | refl | nicely |
c. | Het | slaapt | (*zich) | lekker in dit bed. | impersonal middle | |
it | sleeps | refl | nicely in this bed |
The examples in (280) show, however, that Standard Dutch has a syntactically complex reflexive middle construction. This construction is sometimes referred to as the laten- or AcI-middle construction because it is based on the permissive verb laten'to let', which is normally able to assign accusative case to the subject of its infinitival complement (accusativus-cum-infinitivo); cf. Section 5.2.3.4. The object of the verb embedded under laten'to let' surfaces as the subject of the construction, while a simplex reflexive coreferential with it seems to take its original place. The infinitival clause normally contains an evaluative modifier of the gemakkelijk type with an implied experiencer.
a. | Jan wast | de trui. | |
Jan washes | the sweater |
a'. | De trui | laat | zich | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | wassen. | |
the sweater | let | refl | easily/with.difficulty | wash | ||
'The sweater is easy/difficult to wash.' |
b. | Peter | bewerkt | het hout. | |
Peter | treats | the wood | ||
'Peter carves the wood.' |
b'. | Het hout | laat | zich | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | bewerken. | |
the wood | lets | refl | easily/with.difficulty | treat | ||
'The wood is easy/difficult to carve.' |
It seems that the term AcI-middle is actually a misnomer given that the subject of the infinitival clause can never be overtly realized in these reflexive middle constructions. This is shown in (281); the regular laten-construction differs from the reflexive middle construction in that its infinitival clause optionally contains an accusatively marked subject, which is obligatorily left implicit in the latter. For that reason we will simply use the term reflexive middle construction.
a. | Marie laat [clause | (Jan) | de trui | wassen]. | |
Marie lets | Jan | the sweater | wash | ||
'Marie lets Jan wash the sweater.' |
b. | De trui | laat [clause | (*Jan) | zich | gemakkelijk | wassen]. | |
the sweater | lets | Jan | refl | easily | wash |
The following subsections discuss a number of properties of the reflexive middle construction, subsection I clears the way for the discussion by pointing out that reflexive middles can readily be confused with other types of reflexive laten-constructions, subsection II then begins by comparing the meaning of the reflexive middle to that of the regular middle, subsection III continues with a brief discussion of the implied experiencer introduced by the evaluative modifier and the implied agent of the infinitival clause, subsections IV and V discuss respectively the verb embedded under laten and the evaluative modifier, subsection VI concludes with a brief discussion of the simplex reflexive.
This subsection shows that reflexive middles can easily be confused with other types of reflexive laten-constructions. Before we start our discussion of the former, we therefore must find some means to determine whether we are really dealing with reflexive middles. Let us begin by providing some general information about Dutch AcI-constructions. The primed examples in (282) show that the agent of the infinitival clause need not be realized as an accusative noun phrase, but can also be left implicit or be expressed by an agentive door-phrase.
a. | De meester | liet | [de kinderen | het schoollied | zingen]. | |
the schoolmaster | made | the children | the school.anthem | sing | ||
'The schoolmaster made the children sing the school anthem.' |
a'. | De meester | liet | [het schoollied | (door de kinderen) | zingen]. | |
the schoolmaster | made | the school.anthem | by the children | sing |
b. | De ouders | hoorden | [hun kinderen | het schoollied | zingen]. | |
the parents | heard | their children | the school.anthem | sing | ||
'The parents heard their children sing the school anthem.' |
b'. | De ouders | hoorden | [het schoollied | (door hun kinderen) | zingen]. | |
the parents | heard | the school.anthem | by their children | sing |
A problem for our discussion of reflexive middles arises when we want to express that the object of the embedded verb is coreferential with the subject of the AcI-construction; in that case the object is realized as the simplex reflexive zich and the agent of the embedded verb cannot be realized as an accusative noun phrase. We first illustrate this by means of the examples in (283) with the perception verb horen'to hear'. The indices in (283a) show that if the object is a weak referential pronoun it cannot be coreferential with the subject of the higher clause; this example also shows that the subject of the infinitival verb can be optionally realized as an accusative noun phrase. Expressing that the object of the infinitival verb is coreferential with the subject of the higher clause requires the object to be realized as a weak reflexive; the two (b)-examples in (283) show that in that case the subject of the infinitival clause can be expressed by means of an agentive door-phrase, but not by means of an accusative noun phrase.
a. | Jani | hoorde | [(Marie) | ʼm*i/j | bespotten]. | |
Jan | heard | Marie | him | ridicule | ||
'Jan heard Marie ridicule him (≠ Jan).' |
b. | Jani | hoorde | [(*Marie) | zichi | bespotten]. | |
Jan | heard | Marie | refl | ridicule | ||
'Jan heard someone ridicule him (= Jan).' |
b'. | Jani | hoorde | [zichi | (door Marie) | bespotten]. | |
Jan | heard | refl | by Marie | ridicule | ||
'Jan heard Marie ridicule him (= Jan).' |
The problem that arises with respect to our discussion of the reflexive middle is that we see the same set of facts for AcI-constructions with permissive laten'let': the referential pronoun in (284a) can only be used if the cat did not hamper Peter in caressing some other individual (e.g. by allowing Peter to caress one of its kittens); expressing that the cat allowed Peter to fondle it itself requires that the simplex reflexive zich be used, which makes it impossible to express the agent of the infinitival clause by means of an accusative noun phrase.
a. | De kati | liet | [(Peter) | ʼm*i/j | aaien]. | |
the cat | let | Peter | him | caress |
b. | De kati | liet | [(*Peter) | zichi | aaien]. | |
the cat | let | Peter | refl | caress |
b'. | De kati | liet | [zichi | (door Peter) | aaien]. | |
the cat | let | refl | by Peter | caress |
When we now add an adverbial phrase to the (b)-examples in (284), as in (285a), we derive a structure that closely resembles the reflexive middle construction in (285b). In fact, we cannot even be sure that (285b) is a reflexive middle given that adverbs like gemakkelijk can also be used in a wide range of non-middle constructions.
a. | De kati | liet | zichi | graag | aaien. | non-middle construction | |
the cat | let | refl | gladly | caress | |||
'The cat liked to be caressed.' |
b. | De kati | liet | zichi | gemakkelijk | aaien. | reflexive middle? | |
the cat | let | refl | easily | caress | |||
'It was easy to caress the cat.' |
In order to ensure that we are dealing with reflexive middle constructions, we can appeal to the fact that the nominative subject of an AcI-construction with permissive laten must be agentive and volitional: its referent must be able/willing to allow (or to prevent) the activity denoted by the infinitival verb. This means that conclusions drawn from examples with animate subjects should be looked upon with suspicion; by avoiding the use of animate subjects potential ambiguity can be prevented.
Reflexive middle constructions occasionally have regular middle counterparts with more or less the same meanings. The examples in (286) show, however, that the two constructions impose somewhat different selection restrictions on their subject: subjects of reflexive middles can readily be definite and thus refer to entities in the domain of discourse, subjects of regular middles, on the other hand, normally refer to a kind or some physically present entity as is clear from the fact that they are preferably generic or demonstrative; definite subjects like de trui'the sweater' or het hout'the wood' are normally restricted to contrastive contexts.
a. | De trui | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | wassen. | reflexive middle | |
the sweater | let | refl | easily | wash | |||
'The sweater is easy to wash.' |
a'. | Zoʼn/Die/?De trui | wast | gemakkelijk/moeilijk. | regular middle | |
such.a/that/the sweater | washes | easily/with.difficulty | |||
'Such a/That/The sweater is easy/difficult to wash.' |
b. | Het hout | laat | zich | gemakkelijk/moeilijk | bewerken. | reflexive middle | |
the wood | lets | refl | easily/with.difficulty | treat | |||
'It is easy/difficult to carve the wood.' |
b'. | Zulk/Dit/?Het hout | bewerkt | gemakkelijk/moeilijk. | regular middle | |
such/this/the wood | treats | easily/with.difficulty | |||
'Such/This/The wood is easy/difficult to carve.' |
The default interpretation of the reflexive middles in (286) seems to be a generic one; like regular middles they seem to refer to some individual-level property of the subject of the construction. Since the use of punctual time adverbs like gisteren'yesterday' is incompatible with such a generic interpretation of the clause, it normally yields a somewhat marginal result (although the same types of exception hold as discussed for regular middles in Section 3.2.2.2, sub IF).
a. | ? | Die trui | liet | zich | gisteren | gemakkelijk | wassen. |
that sweater | let | refl | yesterday | easily | wash |
b. | ?? | Die trui | waste | gisteren | gemakkelijk. |
that sweater | washed | yesterday | easily |
We add the examples in (288) to illustrate the problem discussed in Subsection I; although the examples in (288) seem structurally identical to the (a)-examples in (286) and (287), they may in fact be cases of non-middle constructions. Support for this claim is that the infinitival clause in (288a) does not necessarily refer to an individual-level property of the subject die baby as is also clear from the fact that using punctual time adverbs like gisteren'yesterday' is fully acceptable.
a. | Die baby | laat zich | gemakkelijk | wassen. | |
that baby | lets refl | easily | wash | ||
'That baby is easy to wash.' |
b. | Die baby | liet zich | gisteren | gemakkelijk | wassen. | |
that baby let | refl | yesterday | easily | wash |
Although reflexive middles and regular middles are similar in that they both normally refer to an individual-level property of their subject, they do differ in a subtle way. In the regular middle construction the individual-level property must be a property that is prototypically assigned to the subject, whereas this is not required in the case of reflexive middles. As a result, reflexive middles can be based on a wider range of verbs than regular middles; the contrast between the two (b)-examples in (289) is due to the fact that having a certain degree of "predictability" is not a prototypical property of the results of soccer matches.
a. | Jan | voorspelde | de uitslag van die voetbalwedstrijd. | |
Jan | predicted | the score of that soccer.match |
b. | * | De uitslag van die voetbalwedstrijd | voorspelt | gemakkelijk. |
the score of that soccer.match | predicts | easily |
b'. | De uitslag van die voetbalwedstrijd | laat zich | gemakkelijk | voorspellen. | |
the result of that soccer.match | lets refl | easily | predict | ||
'The score of that soccer match is easy to predict.' |
Perhaps this meaning difference also accounts for the fact, mentioned in the beginning of this subsection, that regular middles typically take type denoting noun phrases as their subject; they are less felicitous with definite subjects given that these are used to refer to specific entities mentioned earlier in the discourse, which are less likely to be described in terms of prototypical properties. Reflexive middles, on the other hand, do not refer to prototypical properties and are thus expected to readily take definite subjects.
The experiencer introduced by the evaluative modifier gemakkelijk'easily' and the subject of the infinitival clause are construed as coreferential, but must both be left implicit in the reflexive middle. The (a)-examples in (290) show this for the experiencer voor-PP normally selected by gemakkelijk and the (b)-examples for the agent of the infinitival clause. The fact that the experiencer and agent are both left implicit, of course, much favors the generic interpretation of the reflexive middle construction.
a. | * | De trui | laat | zich | voor Peter/iedereen | gemakkelijk | wassen. |
the sweater | let | refl | for Peter/everyone | easily | wash |
a'. | * | Het hout | laat | zich | voor Peter/iedereen | gemakkelijk | bewerken. |
the wood | lets | refl | for Peter/everyone | easily | treat |
b. | * | De broek | laat | Peter/iedereen | zich | gemakkelijk | wassen. |
the trousers | let | Peter/everyone | refl | easily | wash |
b'. | * | Het hout | laat | Peter/iedereen | zich | gemakkelijk | bewerken. |
the wood | lets | Peter/everyone | refl | easily | treat |
The examples in (291) show, however, that it may be possible to realize the agent of the embedded verb by means of an agentive door-phrase, although the nominal part is normally not referential but generic in nature (or quantificational like iedereen'everyone' or niemand'nobody').
a. | Die trui | laat | zich | door een specialist/?Jan | gemakkelijk | wassen. | |
that sweater | let | refl | by a specialist/Jan | easily | wash |
b. | Het hout | laat | zich | door een timmerman/?Jan | gemakkelijk | bewerken. | |
the wood | lets | refl | by a carpenter/Jan | easily | treat |
The example in (292) illustrates again the problem discussed in Subsection I: the superficially similar construction with an animate subject in (292) does readily allow the nominal part of the agentive door-phrase to be referential in nature.
De baby | laat zich | door Peter | gemakkelijk | wassen. | ||
the baby | lets refl | by Peter | easily | wash |
This subsection discusses the verbs that may enter the reflexive middle construction. We will begin by showing that in the prototypical case the verb embedded under laten'to let' is transitive; intransitive and unaccusative verbs cannot enter the construction. The fact that unaccusative verbs cannot be used strongly suggests that the nominative subject of the reflexive middle does not correspond to the internal argument of the embedded verb but to the argument that is normally assigned accusative case by it; this is confirmed by the fact that verbs taking a complementive may also occur in the construction. We conclude with a discussion of ditransitive verbs.
The examples in the preceding discussion have already shown that reflexive middles are typically based on transitive verbs, subsection II has further shown that the embedded verbs in reflexive middles exhibit a wider variation in meaning than those in regular middles: although reflexive middles refer to some inherent property of their subjects, this property need not be prototypically assigned to it. This is illustrated again in (293) by means of the verb verklaren'to explain': since remarkable phenomena are not prototypically thought of in terms of their degree of predictability, the transitive construction in (293a) does have a reflexive middle but not a regular middle counterpart. Some other verbs that have the same distribution as verklaren'to explain' are aanduiden'to point out', herkennen'to recognize', voorspellen'to predict' and vervangen'to replace'.
a. | Deze theorie | verklaart | dit opmerkelijke verschijnsel. | |
this theory | explains | this remarkable phenomenon |
b. | * | Dit opmerkelijke verschijnsel | verklaart | gemakkelijk. |
this remarkable phenomenon | explains | easily |
b'. | Dit opmerkelijke verschijnsel | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | verklaren. | |
this remarkable phenomenon | lets | refl | easily | explain | ||
'This remarkable phenomenon is easy to explain.' |
The subject of a reflexive middle construction normally corresponds to the object of the verb embedded under laten. This is clear from the fact illustrated in (294) that intransitive verbs cannot be used in this construction.
a. | Jan laat | Marie slapen. | |
Jan lets | Marie sleep |
b. | * | Marie laat | zich | gemakkelijk | slapen. |
Marie lets | refl | easily | sleep |
This observation may lead to either of two conclusions: the subject of the reflexive middle must correspond to the internal argument of the embedded verb or to the noun phrase to which it assigns accusative case. The fact illustrated by (295) that unaccusative verbs cannot be used in reflexive middles either strongly suggests that the latter is the correct generalization.
a. | Jan liet | de bus | vertrekken. | |
Jan let | the bus | leave |
b. | * | De bus | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | vertrekken. |
the bus | let | refl | easily | leave |
That the subject of the reflexive middle normally corresponds not to an internal argument of the verb embedded under laten but to an object that is assigned accusative case by it is also clear from the fact illustrated by (296) that the nominal part of a PP-complement of an embedded PO-verb cannot appear as the subject of a reflexive middle.
a. | Marie laat | Peter naar het schilderij | kijken. | |
Marie lets | Peter at the painting | look |
b. | * | Het schilderij | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | naar | kijken. |
the painting | lets | refl | easily | at | look |
The examples in (297) show that the PO-verbs like beveiligen'to protect', which take an additional accusative object, can be used in reflexive middles, but then the subject of the middle, of course, corresponds to the accusative object of the verb.
a. | Jan beveiligt | zijn computer | tegen virussen. | |
Jan protects | his computer | against viruses |
b. | Computers | laten | zich | niet | zo gemakkelijk | beveiligen | tegen virussen. | |
computers | let | refl | not | that easily | protect | against viruses | ||
'It isnʼt that easy to protect computers against viruses.' |
The examples in (294) to (296) suggest that subjects of reflexive middles need not correspond to internal arguments of the embedded verbs but instead correspond to arguments that are assigned accusative case by them. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that the embedded verb of a reflexive middle construction can also be a verb that selects a complementive PP; the subject of the reflexive middle construction then corresponds to the argument that is normally assigned accusative case by the embedded verb but functions as the subject of the PP; it is not an internal argument of the verb.
a. | Jan | zet | het boek | in de boekenkast. | |
Jan | puts | the book | onto the bookshelves |
a'. | Dat boek | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | in de boekenkast | zetten. | |
that book | lets | refl | easily | onto the bookshelves | put |
b. | Els | neemt | de kat | op schoot. | |
Els | takes | that cat | on the.lap |
b'. | De kat | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | op schoot | nemen. | |
that cat | lets | refl | easily | onto the.lap | take |
The examples in (299) show the same thing for verbs taking an adjectival predicate or a verbal particle.
a. | De bezoekers | lopen | het gras | plat. | |
the visitors | walk | the grass | flat |
a'. | Het gras | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | plat | lopen. | |
the grass | lets | refl | easily | flat | walk |
b. | Jan bergt | zijn spullen | op. | |
Jan puts | his things | away |
b'. | Die spullen | laten | zich | gemakkelijk | opbergen. | |
those things | let | refl | easily | away-put |
The (a)-examples in (300) show that double object verbs cannot be used in reflexive middle constructions. The (b)-examples show, however, that reflexive middles are possible if the embedded verb takes a periphrastic indirect object.
a. | Sinterklaas | geeft | lieve kinderen | graag | zulke cadeaus. | |
Santa Claus | gives | sweet children | gladly | such presents | ||
'Santa Claus likes to give such presents to sweet children.' |
a'. | * | Zulke cadeaus | laten | zich | lieve kinderen | gemakkelijk | geven. |
such presents | let | refl | sweet children | easily | give |
b. | Sinterklaas | geeft | zulke cadeaus graag | aan lieve kinderen. | |
Santa Claus | gives | such presents gladly | to sweet children | ||
'Santa Claus likes to give such presents to sweet children.' |
b'. | Zulke cadeaus | laten | zich | gemakkelijk | (aan lieve kinderen) | geven. | |
such presents | let | refl | easily | to sweet children | give | ||
'Such presents give easily to sweet children.' |
Example (301a) suggests that double object verbs can be more readily used if the subject of the reflexive middle construction corresponds to the dative object; see Ackema & Schoorlemmer (2006:181) for similar examples. We should be careful here, however, given that indirect objects are normally animate: we may therefore be dealing with a regular permissive/causative construction comparable to the one given in (301b).
a. | ? | Lieve kinderen | laten | zich | gemakkelijk | zulke cadeaus | geven. |
sweet children | let | refl | easily | such presents | give | ||
'Sweet children are easy to give such presents.' |
b. | Bankdirecteuren | laten | zich | graag | hoge bonussen | toekennen. | |
bank.managers | let | refl | gladly | high premiums | prt.-grant | ||
'Bank managers like to make someone give them high premiums.' |
In order to establish unambiguously that the subject of a reflexive middle can correspond to an indirect object of a double object verb, the indirect object must be inanimate, but such cases seem to give rise to a marginal result at best.
a. | Jan gaf | het huis | een flinke beurt. | |
Jan gave | the house | a good cleaning |
b. | ?? | Het huis | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | een flinke beurt | geven. |
the house | lets | refl | easily | a good cleaning | give |
The evaluative modifier in the reflexive middle is of the gemakkelijk-type. Like in the regular middle, the modifier is normally compulsory although the examples in (303) show that it can be left out under the same conditions as the evaluative modifier in regular middles (though some of our informants report they have difficulty with (303c)); cf. Section 3.2.2.2, sub IC.
a. | De trui | laat | zich | (niet) | wassen. | |
the sweater | let | refl | not | wash |
b. | Het hout | laat | zich | (niet) | bewerken. | |
the wood | lets | refl | not | treat |
c. | Dat huis | laat | zich | verven | als een trein. | |
that house | lets | refl | paint | as a train |
So far, we have not discussed the most conspicuous element in the reflexive middle construction, the simplex reflexive. We will in fact keep our discussion of this element very brief given that the function of this element is more extensively discussed in Section 2.5.2, sub II, on inherently reflexive constructions. We especially discuss there the hypothesis proposed by Burzio (1986: Section 1.5) and Everaert (1986) that the simplex reflexive can be used as a non-argument which nonetheless must be assigned case. Since verbs normally assign accusative case to a single argument only, addition of the simplex reflexive will block case-assignment to the original direct object, which must hence be assigned nominative case (as a result of which the subject of the corresponding transitive construction is suppressed, just as in passive constructions). Reflexive middles work in essentially the same way: the simplex reflexive is assigned accusative case by the verb embedded under laten; consequently, the embedded verb can no longer assign this case to its internal argument, which must therefore be promoted to subject of the entire construction in order to receive nominative case. For a more detailed discussion we refer to Section 2.5.2, sub IID.
The proposal briefly summarized above can account for various properties of the reflexive middle, such as the fact discussed in Subsection IV that the subject of the construction must correspond to an argument that is assigned accusative case by the embedded verb, which excludes intransitive (PO-)verbs as input for the construction. It also provides a partial answer to the question as to why regular middles and reflexive middles occur side-by-side, as is shown again by the (a)-examples in (304), whereas there are no complex reflexive constructions that correspond to adjunct or impersonal middles, as is shown by the (b)- and (c)-examples.
a. | Die trui | wast | gemakkelijk. | regular middle | |
that sweater | washes | easily |
a'. | Die trui | laat | zich | gemakkelijk | wassen. | |
that sweater | lets | refl | easily | wash |
b. | Die muziek | danst | lekker. | adjunct middle | |
that music | dances | nicely | |||
'It is nice to dance to that music.' |
b'. | * | Die muziek | laat | zich | lekker | dansen. |
that music | lets | refl | nicely | dance |
c. | Het danst | lekker | op die muziek. | impersonal middle | |
it dances | nicely | on that music | |||
'It is nice to dance to that music.' |
c'. | * | Het | laat | zich | lekker | dansen | op die muziek. |
it | lets | refl | nicely | dance | on that music |
The answer is simply that the simplex reflexive can only perform its function as case absorber in example (304a'), in which the transitive verb wassen would otherwise assign case to its internal argument die trui'that sweater'. In (304b'&c'), the use of the reflexive is superfluous since the verb cannot assign case to the noun phrase die muziek anyway; cf. Jan danst *(op) die muziek'Jan is dancing to that music'.
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