- Dutch
- Frisian
- Saterfrisian
- Afrikaans
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- 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
- Coordination and Ellipsis
- Nouns and noun phrases (JANUARI 2025)
- 15 Characterization and classification
- 16 Projection of noun phrases I: Complementation
- 16.0. Introduction
- 16.1. General observations
- 16.2. Prepositional and nominal complements
- 16.3. Clausal complements
- 16.4. Bibliographical notes
- 17 Projection of noun phrases II: Modification
- 17.0. Introduction
- 17.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers
- 17.2. Premodification
- 17.3. Postmodification
- 17.3.1. Adpositional phrases
- 17.3.2. Relative clauses
- 17.3.3. Infinitival clauses
- 17.3.4. A special case: clauses referring to a proposition
- 17.3.5. Adjectival phrases
- 17.3.6. Adverbial postmodification
- 17.4. Bibliographical notes
- 18 Projection of noun phrases III: Binominal constructions
- 18.0. Introduction
- 18.1. Binominal constructions without a preposition
- 18.2. Binominal constructions with a preposition
- 18.3. Bibliographical notes
- 19 Determiners: Articles and pronouns
- 19.0. Introduction
- 19.1. Articles
- 19.2. Pronouns
- 19.3. Bibliographical notes
- 20 Numerals and quantifiers
- 20.0. Introduction
- 20.1. Numerals
- 20.2. Quantifiers
- 20.2.1. Introduction
- 20.2.2. Universal quantifiers: ieder/elk ‘every’ and alle ‘all’
- 20.2.3. Existential quantifiers: sommige ‘some’ and enkele ‘some’
- 20.2.4. Degree quantifiers: veel ‘many/much’ and weinig ‘few/little’
- 20.2.5. Modification of quantifiers
- 20.2.6. A note on the adverbial use of degree quantifiers
- 20.3. Quantitative er constructions
- 20.4. Partitive and pseudo-partitive constructions
- 20.5. Bibliographical notes
- 21 Predeterminers
- 21.0. Introduction
- 21.1. The universal quantifier al ‘all’ and its alternants
- 21.2. The predeterminer heel ‘all/whole’
- 21.3. A note on focus particles
- 21.4. Bibliographical notes
- 22 Syntactic uses of noun phrases
- 23 Referential dependencies (binding)
- Syntax
-
- General
Section 15.1.2 suggested that the internal structure of the DP can be represented as in (1), where the determiner D and the noun N are the heads of the projections DP and NP, respectively. The dots indicate the positions available for possible other elements such as modifiers and complements. The present chapter is concerned with the various forms of modification of the NP; for a detailed discussion of complementation in the NP, the reader is referred to Chapter 16, and for a discussion of modifiers in the DP to Chapter 21. The relation between the two nouns in binominal constructions such as een reep chocolaa bar [of] chocolate is of a different nature and will be discussed in Chapter 18.
| [DP ... D ... [NP ... N ....] ] |
Apart from the obligatory head noun and its (optional or obligatory) complements, each noun phrase can contain one or more modifiers. These modifiers can be categorized according to their function, form and position.
Modifiers can have either a restrictive or a non-restrictive function. Restrictive modifiers restrict the denotation of the head noun and thus provide information necessary for the correct identification of the referent of the DP as a whole; we will therefore assume that they are part of the NP-domain, as in (2a). Non-restrictive modifiers, on the other hand, do not restrict the denotation of the head noun and thus do not provide information necessary for the identification of the referent of the whole DP. Rather, they provide more information about the intended referent of the DP, and we will therefore assume that non-restrictive modifiers modify the complete noun phrase; they are part of the DP-domain, and external to the NP-domain as in (2b).
| a. | [DP ... D ... [NP MODrestrictive [N (complement)] MODrestrictive]] |
| b. | [DP ... D ... MODnon-restrictive [NP N (complement)] MODnon-restrictive] |
Non-restrictive modifiers are usually easy to recognize: they are separated from their head by a specific intonation pattern (a comma in written language), thus reflecting the loose relationship between head and non-restrictive modifiers. Restrictive modifiers, on the other hand, can be difficult to distinguish from complements; for a discussion of the differences between restrictive modifiers and complements, see Section 16.2.1 (for PPs) and Section 16.3.3 (for clauses).
As indicated in (2), restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers can appear in two different positions within the DP: they can precede or follow the head of the DP. The actual placement of the modifier depends on the form of the modifier. Prenominal modifiers are always headed by an adjective, a present or past participle, or a modal infinitive; if these phrases are complex they may also occur postnominally. Postnominal modifiers, on the other hand, typically take the form of a prepositional phrase or a clause. Semantically, modifying clauses can be divided into content, relative, and adverbial clauses. Finally, a limited number of adverbial phrases can be used as postnominal modifiers. Table 1 gives examples of all relevant constructions.
| form | premodification | postmodification | |
| Adjectival | de vette koeien the fat cows | de koeien, vet en oud, ... the cows fat and old | |
| Participial | de grazende koeien the grazing cows | de koeien, grazend in de wei, ... the cows grazing in the field | |
| de geslachte koeien the slaughtered cows | de koeien, geslacht in het slachthuis, ... the cows slaughtered in the slaughterhouse | ||
| Infinitival | de te slachten koeien the cows to be slaughtered | de koeien, binnenkort te slachten, ... the cows soon to be slaughtered | |
| Prepositional | — | de koeien in de wei the cows in the field | |
| Clausal | Content | — | de mededeling dat we weggingen, ... the announcement that we away.went ‘the announcement that we were leaving’ |
| Relative | — | de koeien die grazen in de wei the cows that graze in the field | |
| Adverbial | — | de protesten sinds de euro werd ingevoerd the protests since the euro was introduced | |
| Adverbial | — | de krant gisteren the paper yesterday | |
The organization of this chapter is as follows. Section 17.1 begins with a brief general discussion of the difference between restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers, and also pays some attention to the difference between modifiers and appositives. Sections 17.2 and 17.3 deal with premodification and postmodification, respectively. The discussion of premodification is comparatively short, since it is treated in great detail in Chapter A28.
