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36.5.Appendix: The syntax of R-words
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This section concludes the discussion on R-pronominalization and R-extraction by delving more deeply into the behavior of R-words, which, strictly speaking, takes us beyond the limited domain of R-pronouns. This section will show that R-words have four uses. First, the examples in (131) show that R-words can be used not only as the pronominal part of PPs, but also as locational pro-forms.

131
prepositional R-pronouns
Locational pro-forms
a. Jan keek er zojuist naar.
  Jan looked there just.now at
  'Jan looked at it just now.'
a'. Jan was er.
  Jan was there
  'Jan was there.'
b. Jan keek hier/daar goed naar.
  Jan looked here/there well at
  'Jan looked at this/that well.'
b'. Jan zat hier/daar.
  Jan sat here/there
  'Jan was sitting here/there.'
c. het boek waar ik naar keek
  the book where I at looked
  'the book that I looked at'
c'. de stad waar Jan woont
  the city where Jan lives
  'the city where Jan is living'
d. Waar keek je naar?
  what looked you at
  'What did you look at?'
d'. Waar woont Jan?
  where lives Jan
  'Where does Jan live?'
e. Jan keek ergens goed naar.
  Jan looked something well at
  'Jan looked at something carefully.'
e'. Dat boek is ergens.
  that book is somewhere
  'That book is somewhere.'
f. Jan keek nergens goed naar.
  Jan looked nothing well at
  'Jan looked at nothing carefully.'
f'. Dat boek is nergens.
  that book is nowhere
  'That book is nowhere.'
g. Jan keek overal goed naar.
  Jan looked everywhere well at
  'Jan looked at everything carefully.'
g'. de boeken liggen overal.
  the books lie everywhere
  'The books are lying everywhere.'

The examples in (132) further show that there are two uses that are specifically associated with the R-word er; in (132a-b) it functions as an expletive in impersonal passive and existential/presentational constructions (i.e. constructions that indicate the existence of an entity or introduce a new entity into domain of discourse), and in (132c) is used as an indicator of the nominal gap in a quantitative er construction.

132
a. Er werd gedanst.
impersonal passive
  there was danced
b. Er waren/stonden drie studenten in de tuin.
existential/presentational
  there were/stood three students in the garden
c. Jan heeft er [NP drie [e]] gekocht.
quantitative er
  Jan has there three bought
  'Jan has bought three [e.g. books].'

The distribution of the four types of R-words in (131) and (132) interacts in various intricate ways, which will be the topic of this section. Section 36.5.1 begins with a discussion of the difference between er and the other R-words. Section 36.5.2 then continues with a discussion of the co-occurrence restrictions on the different types of R-words. Section 36.5.3 concludes this appendix by discussing a striking property of er that has received a lot of attention in previous work, namely that it can perform more than one function simultaneously.

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