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35.3. Attributive use of adpositional phrases
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Adpositional phrases can be used attributively, as shown in (75) by spatial adpositions. As usual, the prepositional phrase in het bos denotes a location, and the postpositional and circumpositional phrases denote a direction. Unlike adjectival phrases, attributively used adpositional phrases are always postnominal.

75
a. de weg in het bos
locational only
  the road in the forest
  'the road in the forest'
b. de weg het bos in
directional only
  the road the forest into
  'the road into the forest'
c. de weg onder de brug door
  the road under the bridge door
  'the road via the underpass of the bridge'

Intransitive adpositions and particles do not occur, unless the attributively used elements in (76) are analyzed as such. Note that the formations in (76b) are generally considered to be compounds and are therefore written as single words: stroomafwaarts/stroomopwaarts.

76
a. de weg omhoog/omlaag
  the road upwards/downwards
  'up/down the road'
b. stroom afwaarts/opwaarts
  stream downwards/upwards
  'down/upstream'

Attributively used adpositional phrases usually do not undergo topicalization, A'-scrambling, PP-over-V or R-extraction. This is illustrated by the examples in (77) with the attributively used PP in het bosin the forest. Example (77b) is acceptable, but only if the PP is construed as an adverbial phrase: “In the forest, Jan followed the road”. The same applies to the examples in (77c&d). Example (77e) shows that R-extraction is excluded.

77
a. dat Jan het pad in het bos volgde.
  that Jan the path in the forest followed
  'Jan followed the road in the forest.'
b. # In het bos volgde Jan het pad.
  in the forest followed Jan the path
c. # dat Jan in het bos het pad volgde.
d. # dat Jan het pad volgde in het bos.
e. * dat Jan er het pad in volgde.

The same pattern is illustrated in (78), but now for a non-spatial PP. Example (78a) is ambiguous between an attributive reading (shown in the paraphrase), expressing that Jan is looking at a man who has binoculars with him, and an adverbial reading, expressing that Jan saw the man by using binoculars. The number signs indicate that the attributive reading is lost in the examples in (78b-e).

78
a. Jan zag de man met de verrekijker.
  Jan saw the man with the binoculars
  'Jan saw the man who had binoculars with him.'
b. # Met de verrekijker zag Jan de man.
  with the binoculars saw Jan the man
c. # dat Jan met de verrekijker de man zag.
d. # dat Jan de man zag met de verrekijker.
e. # dat Jan er de man mee zag.
  that Jan there the man with saw

There is a much more to say about attributively used adpositional phrases; the reader is referred to Section N16.3.1, where we discuss the different ways in which they are used in nominal constructions.

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