This section deals with the distribution of the modifier heel, which can be used in the two word-order patterns in (168). The modifier heel in (168a) will be called predeterminer bare heel, since it is systematically uninflected and linearly precedes the determiner. In the introduction to this chapter, we already mentioned that predeterminer heel was already restricted to the more elevated and poetic registers at the time when the lemma heel in the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal was written (i.e. between 1901-1912). The modifier heel in (168b) will be called postdeterminer inflectible heel, because it always follows the determiner and is inflected as an attributive adjective (cf. Section 17.2, sub I).

The two cases in (168) differ in that in present-day Dutch only the postdeterminer heel alternates with the morphological alternant geheel. This is shown in (169); cf. also Section 21.2.2.3. Furthermore, we will show later that postdeterminer heel is ambiguous and can receive a purely adjectival or a quantificational interpretation.

The form heel can also be used in other syntactic functions, e.g. as the amplifier of an adjective in een heel/hele lekkere taarta very tasty cake, where it is optionally adorned with the inflectional schwa, the hallmark of adjectival attributive modifiers. This use will not be discussed here, but in Section A26.1.2.

This section will use different glosses for pre and postdeterminer heel: we will gloss predeterminer bare heel as “all” to acknowledge the fact that it shares a number of syntactic and interpretive parallels with predeterminer bare al; postdeterminer inflectible heel will be glossed as “whole” in both its adjectival and quantificational readings, even though this is not semantically appropriate in the latter case. Translations are given where necessary to clarify the intended meaning of heel.

Section 21.2.1 addresses the semantics of heel; the two syntactic patterns in (168) will be discussed in separate sections. Section 21.2.2 discusses the syntactic distribution of heel and its alternants in the noun phrase. Section 21.2.3 continues with a discussion of the distribution of noun phrases modified by heel as a whole. Section 21.2.4 concludes with an overview of the independent uses of heel.