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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
Noun phrases can occur in all argument functions. Some typical examples are given in (1) to (3). In (1) the noun phrases act as nominative subjects of the clause, in (2) as accusative direct objects, and in (3) as dative indirect objects. The examples in (4) show that they can also act as complements of a prepositional object: the primeless examples involve an indirect object and the primed ones the PP-complement op NP selected by the verb wachtento wait; similar examples could also be given for PPs with an adverbial function. The (a) and (b)-examples of each set illustrate non-neuter and neuter singulars, respectively, and the (c)-examples exemplify plurals. For each of these types, a definite and an indefinite example are given. The indefinite null article in plural noun phrases is indicated by ∅.
| a. | De man | was afwezig. | |
| the man | was absent |
| a'. | Er | was | een man | afwezig. | |
| there | was | a man | absent |
| b. | Het kind | was afwezig. | |
| the child | was absent |
| b'. | Er | was | een kind | afwezig. | |
| there | was | a child | absent |
| c. | De mensen | waren | afwezig. | |
| the people | were | absent |
| c'. | Er | waren [DP ∅ | mensen] | afwezig. | |
| there | were | people | absent |
| a. | Hij | genas | de/een man. | |
| he | healed | the/a man |
| b. | Hij | genas | het/een kind. | |
| he | healed | the/a child |
| c. | Hij | genas | de/∅ mensen. | |
| he | healed | the/∅ people |
| a. | Hij | gaf | de/een man | nieuwe hoop. | |
| he | gave | the/a man | new hope |
| b. | Hij | gaf | het/een kind | nieuwe hoop. | |
| he | gave | the/a child | new hope |
| c. | Hij | gaf | de/∅ mensen | nieuwe hoop. | |
| he | gave | the/∅ people | new hope |
| a. | Hij | gaf | het boek | aan de/een man. | |
| he | gave | the book | to the/a man |
| a'. | Jan wacht | op de/een man. | |
| Jan waits | for the/a man |
| b. | Hij | gaf | het boek | aan het/een kind. | |
| he | gave | the book | to the/a child |
| b'. | Jan wacht | op het/een kind. | |
| Jan waits | for the/a child |
| c. | Hij | gaf | boeken | aan de/?∅ mensen. | |
| he | gave | books | to the/∅ people |
| c'. | Jan wacht | op de/??∅ mensen. | |
| Jan waits | for the/∅ people |
The definite noun phrases in (1) to (4) are headed by the definite article de/hetthe, but they can easily be replaced by any other type of definite noun phrase: replacing the noun phrase de manthe man by, e.g. noun phrases like die manthat man or mijn vriendmy friend, a personal pronoun like hij/hemhe/him, or a strong quantifier such as iedereeneveryone does not affect the acceptability judgments. Nor do the acceptability judgments change if we replace the indefinite singular noun phrase een man/kind by the existential quantifier iemandsomeone, or the bare indefinite plural DP [∅ mensen] persons by a plural indefinite noun phrase premodified by a cardinal numeral or a weak quantifier like verschillendeseveral or veelmany, as in vier/verschillende/veel mensen four/several/many persons’.
Two things stand out in the examples above. First, note that the plural indefinite noun phrases in the (c)-examples in (4) give rise to a marked result. This has to do with the fact that the indefinite noun phrase has a non-specific reading; when the plural noun phrase has a generic reading, as in (5), the result is fine.
| a. | Jan geeft | graag | aan goede doelen. | |
| Jan gives | gladly | to good causes | ||
| 'Jan likes to give to charity.' | ||||
| b. | Jan houdt | van zebra’s. | |
| Jan is fond | of zebras | ||
| 'Jan loves zebras.' | |||
Second, the indefinite subjects in the primed examples in (1) usually occur in an expletive construction. This is also related to the fact that the indefinite noun phrase is construed non-generically. We will return to this issue in Section 22.1.4 below.
