- Dutch
- Frisian
- Saterfrisian
- Afrikaans
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- Syntax
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- 1 Verbs: Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of verb phrases I: Argument structure
- 3 Projection of verb phrases IIIa: Selected clauses/verb phrases (introduction)
- 1.0. Introduction
- 1.1. Main types of verb-frame alternation
- 1.2. Alternations involving the external argument
- 1.3. Alternations of noun phrases and PPs
- 1.4. Some apparent cases of verb-frame alternation
- 1.5. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of verb phrases IIIa: Selected clauses/verb phrases (introduction)
- 4.0. Introduction
- 4.1. Semantic types of finite argument clauses
- 4.2. Finite and infinitival argument clauses
- 4.3. Control properties of verbs selecting an infinitival clause
- 4.4. Three main types of infinitival argument clauses
- 4.5. Non-main verbs
- 4.6. The distinction between main and non-main verbs
- 4.7. Bibliographical notes
- 5 Projection of verb phrases IIIb: Argument and complementive clauses
- 5.0. Introduction
- 5.1. Finite argument clauses
- 5.2. Infinitival argument clauses
- 5.3. Complementive clauses
- 5.4. Bibliographical notes
- 6 Projection of verb phrases IIIc: Complements of non-main verbs
- 7 Projection of verb phrases IIId: Verb clustering
- 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)
- 11.0. 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
- 11.4. Bibliographical notes
- 12 Word order in the clause IV: Postverbal field (extraposition)
- 13 Word order in the clause V: Middle field (scrambling)
- Nouns and Noun Phrases
- 14 Characterization and classification
- 15 Projection of noun phrases I: Complementation
- 15.0. Introduction
- 15.1. General observations
- 15.2. Prepositional and nominal complements
- 15.3. Clausal complements
- 15.4. Bibliographical notes
- 16 Projection of noun phrases II: Modification
- 16.0. Introduction
- 16.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers
- 16.2. Premodification
- 16.3. Postmodification
- 16.3.1. Adpositional phrases
- 16.3.2. Relative clauses
- 16.3.3. Infinitival clauses
- 16.3.4. A special case: clauses referring to a proposition
- 16.3.5. Adjectival phrases
- 16.3.6. Adverbial postmodification
- 16.4. Bibliographical notes
- 17 Projection of noun phrases III: Binominal constructions
- 17.0. Introduction
- 17.1. Binominal constructions without a preposition
- 17.2. Binominal constructions with a preposition
- 17.3. Bibliographical notes
- 18 Determiners: Articles and pronouns
- 18.0. Introduction
- 18.1. Articles
- 18.2. Pronouns
- 18.3. Bibliographical notes
- 19 Numerals and quantifiers
- 19.0. Introduction
- 19.1. Numerals
- 19.2. Quantifiers
- 19.2.1. Introduction
- 19.2.2. Universal quantifiers: ieder/elk ‘every’ and alle ‘all’
- 19.2.3. Existential quantifiers: sommige ‘some’ and enkele ‘some’
- 19.2.4. Degree quantifiers: veel ‘many/much’ and weinig ‘few/little’
- 19.2.5. Modification of quantifiers
- 19.2.6. A note on the adverbial use of degree quantifiers
- 19.3. Quantitative er constructions
- 19.4. Partitive and pseudo-partitive constructions
- 19.5. Bibliographical notes
- 20 Predeterminers
- 20.0. Introduction
- 20.1. The universal quantifier al ‘all’ and its alternants
- 20.2. The predeterminer heel ‘all/whole’
- 20.3. A note on focus particles
- 20.4. Bibliographical notes
- 21 Syntactic uses of noun phrases
- 22 Referential dependencies (binding)
- Adjectives and Adjective Phrases
- 23 Characteristics and classification
- 24 Projection of adjective phrases I: Complementation
- 25 Projection of adjective phrases II: Modification
- 26 Projection of adjective phrases III: Comparison
- 27 Attributive use of the adjective phrase
- 28 Predicative use of the adjective phrase
- 29 The partitive genitive construction
- 30 Adverbial use of the adjective phrase
- 31 Participles and infinitives: their adjectival use
- Adpositions and adpositional phrases
- 32 Characteristics and classification
- 32.0. Introduction
- 32.1. Characterization of the category adposition
- 32.2. A syntactic classification of adpositional phrases
- 32.3. A semantic classification of adpositional phrases
- 32.4. Borderline cases
- 32.5. Bibliographical notes
- 33 Projection of adpositional phrases: Complementation
- 34 Projection of adpositional phrases: Modification
- 35 Syntactic uses of adpositional phrases
- 36 R-pronominalization and R-words
- 32 Characteristics and classification
- Coordination and Ellipsis
- Syntax
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- General
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- 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)
This section discusses the partitive genitive use of participles and modal infinitives. The previous sections have amply demonstrated that a distinction should be made between verbal and truly adjectival participles/modal infinitives, and that participles and modal infinitives can only be used in predicative position if they are truly adjectival. Section 29.2.3 has shown that partitive genitive adjectives are a subset of the adjectives that can be used predicatively; cf. the observational generalization from Section 29.2.3, repeated here as (158) and (159).
| The set of partitive genitive adjectives is a proper subset of the adjectives that can be used as predicative complements. |
| a. | adjectives that can only be predicated of [+animate] noun phrases; |
| b. | adjectives that take a proposition as their logical subject; |
| c. | adjectives that take weather het as their logical subject; |
| d. | adjectives that take a nominal complement; |
| e. | superlatives; |
| f. | adjectives ending in /a/, /o/, /i/, /e/, /y/ or /ə/. |
Consequently, we predict that only truly adjectival participles/modal infinitives can enter into a partitive genitive construction. This section will show that this prediction is borne out, although the partitive genitive construction is much more restricted than one might expect from the generalizations in (158) and (159).
Section 31.3 has shown that only past/passive participles of transitive, unaccusative and object experiencer psych-verbs can be used in predicative position. The generalization in (158) consequently limits the set of possible candidates for the partitive genitive construction to (a subset of) these verbs. The examples in (160) to (162), however, show that past/passive participles do not normally seem to occur in the partitive genitive construction at all, although some speakers seem to marginally accept the transitive examples in (160a&c).
| a. | % | iets | gekookts |
| something | cooked |
| b. | * | iets | besprokens | transitive |
| something | discussed |
| c. | % | iets | gestolens |
| something | stolen |
| d. | * | iets | gelezens |
| something | read |
| a. | * | iets | gekrompens |
| something | shrunk |
| b. | * | iets | gevallens | unaccusative |
| something | fallen |
| a. | * | iets | opgewondens |
| something | excited |
| b. | * | iets | overtuigds | psych-verbs |
| something | convinced |
| c. | * | iets | verontrusts |
| something | upset |
We need not be surprised about the unacceptability of the examples with object experiencer psych-verbs in (162): truly adjectival participles of psychological verbs are predicated only of [+human] entities (cf. the primed examples in (122)), and these examples are therefore excluded by clause (159a). Since this does not hold for the examples in (160) and (161), the reason for their degraded status remains a mystery. Note that when the participle is prefixed with on-, which is only possible when we are dealing with true adjectives, the result improves, but is still not very good; the primed examples are added to show that these prefixed participles can be used in copular constructions.
| a. | (?) | iets ongekookts |
| Het ei |
| a'. | Het ei | bleek | nog | ongekookt. | |
| the egg | turned.out | still | un-boiled |
| b. | *? | iets onbesprokens |
| Dit onderwerp |
| b'. | Dit onderwerp | bleef | onbesproken. | |
| this topic | remained | un-discussed |
| c. | *? | iets ongelezens |
| Het boek |
| c'. | Het boek | bleef | ongelezen. | |
| the book | remained | unread |
For completeness, the examples in (164) show that pseudo-participles can be used in partitive genitive constructions.
| a. | iets | bekends | |
| something | well-known |
| b. | iets | gekleurds | |
| something | colored |
| c. | iets | geschikts | |
| something | suitable |
The generalization in (158) correctly predicts that the present participles of object experiencer psych-verbs can also be felicitously used in the partitive genitive; this is shown in the primed examples in (165).
The generalization in (158) correctly predicts that the present participles of object experiencer psych-verbs can also be used felicitously in the partitive genitive; this is shown in the primed examples in (165).
| a. | Zijn avontuur | was heel opwindend. | |
| his adventure | was very exciting |
| a'. | iets | opwindends | |
| something | exciting |
| b. | Die mededeling | was heel verontrustend. | |
| that announcement | was very disturbing |
| b'. | iets | verontrustends | |
| something | disturbing |
| c. | Zijn argumenten | zijn | erg overtuigend. | |
| his arguments | are | very convincing |
| c'. | iets | overtuigends | |
| something | convincing |
Section 31.3.1, sub II, has shown that the present participles of psych-verbs like irriterento irritate and interesserento interest cannot be used predicatively; they are blocked in this context by the existence of genuine adjectives like irritantirritating and interessantinteresting. The same can be observed in the partitive genitive constructions in (166).
| a. | ?? | iets | irriterends |
| something | annoying |
| a'. | iets | irritants | |
| something | annoying |
| b. | * | iets | interesserends |
| something | interesting |
| b'. | iets | interessants | |
| something | interesting |
| c. | ?? | iets | bekorends |
| something | beguiling |
| c'. | iets | bekoorlijks | |
| something | beguiling |
The primeless examples of (167) show again that the present participles of a limited number of unaccusative verbs can be used predicatively, provided that they are affixed with the ending -e; such cases are exceptional, since predicatively used adjectives are usually not inflected; cf. Section 31.3.1, sub IIB. The primed examples show that partitive genitive use of these present participles is also possible; note that the -e ending is missing in these cases.
| a. | Het schip | is zinkende. | |
| the ship | is sinking |
| a'. | iets | zinkends/*zinkendes | |
| something | sinking |
| b. | Het verzet | is groeiende. | |
| the resistance | is growing |
| b'. | iets | groeiends/*groeiendes | |
| something | growing |
Another subset of the unaccusative verbs that allow predicative use of their present participle are the motion verbs; cf. (168). However, since these present participles are always predicated of [+human] entities, generalization (158a) correctly predicts that they cannot be used in partitive genitive constructions.
| a. | De jongen | bleek | lopend. | |
| the boy | turned.out | walking |
| a'. | * | iets | lopends |
| something | walking |
| b. | Het meisje | bleek | liftend. | |
| the girl | turned.out | hitchhiking |
| b'. | * | iets | liftends |
| something | hitchhiking |
This subsection concludes with a number of problematic cases for the generalization in (158), according to which the set of adjectives that can enter the partitive genitive construction is a proper subset of the set of adjectives that can be used as predicative complements. The (a)-examples in (169) involve intransitive motion verbs, the (b) and (c)-examples involve verbs expressing the transmission of sound and light respectively, and the (d)-examples involve verbs denoting certain natural processes. In all cases, the partitive genitive constructions in the primeless examples are at least marginally acceptable, while the corresponding copular constructions in the primed examples are severely degraded.
| a. | ? | iets | bewegends/wapperends/vliegends |
| something | moving/waving/flying |
| a'. | * | Het gordijn is bewegend./De vlag is wapperend./Het toestel is vliegend. |
| the curtain is moving/the flag is waving/the machine is flying |
| b. | iets | zoemends/ruisends | |
| something | buzzing/rustling |
| b'. | * | De wekker is zoemend./De bladeren zijn ruisend. |
| the alarm.clock is buzzing/the leaves are rustling |
| c. | ? | iets | flikkerends/glinsterends |
| something | flashing/glittering |
| c'. | * | De lamp is flikkerend/Het glas is glinsterend. |
| the lamp is flickering/the glass is glittering |
| d. | ? | iets | rottends/bloeiends |
| something | rotting/flowering |
| d'. | * | Die appel is rottend./Die boom is bloeiend. |
| that apple is rotting/that tree is flowering |
The verbs in (169) do not take an object but differ from normal intransitive verbs in that their subject can be inanimate and that impersonal passivization yields a degraded result. For this reason, it has been suggested that these verbs form a special unaccusativity type, which differs from the more familiar type in that its members select the perfect auxiliary hebben; cf. Section V2.1 for discussion. The question as to why the primeless examples in (169) are acceptable must be left to future research.
Section 31.3.1, sub III, has demonstrated that modal infinitives of transitive verbs can be used in the copular construction in their ability reading. The generalization in (158) therefore predicts that truly adjectival predicatively used modal infinitives can be used in the partitive genitive construction: however, the primed examples in (170) show that this prediction is incorrect. As in the case of the past/passive participles in Subsection I, there is no obvious explanation for the unacceptability of the partitive genitive constructions.
| a. | Dat boek | is gemakkelijk | te lezen. | |||
| that book | is easily | to read | ||||
| 'This book is easily accessible.' | ||||||
| a'. | * | iets | te lezens |
| something | to read |
| b. | Deze afstand | is gemakkelijk | af | te leggen. | ||||
| this distance | is easily | prt. | to cover | |||||
| 'This distance can be covered easily.' | ||||||||
| b'. | * | iets | af | te leggens |
| something | prt. | to cover |
| c. | Dit probleem | is gemakkelijk | te begrijpen. | |||
| this problem | is easily | to understand | ||||
| 'This problem can be understood easily.' | ||||||
| c'. | * | iets | te begrijpens |
| something | to understand |
