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Modification of content nouns in the referential partitive construction
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The content noun in the referential partitive construction has the following possibilities of modification: it may be modified by adjectives, it may not be modified by a quantifier, and it may not be modified by a demonstrative.

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The content noun in the referential partitive construction can be modified in different ways.

i. Modification of content nouns by adjectives:

The content noun may be modified by adjectives.

The following examples involve a referential partitive construction in which the content noun is modified by two adjectives.

1
a. 'n boks duur suikervrye sjokalokade
a box expensive sugarfree chocolate
a box of expensive sugarfree chocolate
b. 'n homp ongesonde geel botter
a lump unhealthy yellow butter
a lump of unhealthy yellow butter

ii. Modification of content nouns by quantifiers:

The content noun may not be modified by a universal quantifier in a bare partitive construction, nor by a negative quantifier.

The following pair of examples shows that the content noun in a bare partitive construction resists modification by a universal quantifier, whereas this is acceptable in a prepositional partitive construction:

2
a. *die blik alle sjokolade
the tin all chocolate
the tin of all chocolates
b. Die blik met alle sjokolade
the tin with all chocolate
The tin with all the chocolate

The same is illustrated below for the negative quantifier:

3
a. *Die blik niks sjokolade
the tin nothing chocolate
The tin with no chocolates
b. Die blik met niks sjokolade
the tin with nothing chocolate
The tin with no chocolates

iii. Modification of content nouns by demonstratives:

The content noun may not be modified by a demonstrative in the bare partitive construction.

The following sentences illustrate that the content noun may not be modified by a demonstrative in the bare partitive construction, although it is acceptable in a prepositional partitive construction:

4
a. *Die blik hierdie sjokolade
the tin this chocolate
The tin with these chocolates
b. Die blik met hierdie sjokolade
the tin with this chocolate
The tin with these chocolates
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