- Dutch
- Frisian
- Afrikaans
-
Dutch
-
Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological processes
- Phonology-morphology interface
-
Word stress
-
Primary stress in simplex words
- Monomorphemic words
- Diachronic aspects
- Generalizations on stress placement
- Default penultimate stress
- Lexical stress
- The closed penult restriction
- Final closed syllables
- The diphthong restriction
- Superheavy syllables (SHS)
- The three-syllable window
- Segmental restrictions
- Phonetic correlates
- Stress shifts in loanwords
- Quantity-sensitivity
- Secondary stress
- Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables
- Stress in complex words
-
Primary stress in simplex words
- Accent & intonation
- Clitics
- Spelling
-
Morphology
-
Word formation
-
Compounding
- Nominal compounds
- Verbal compounds
- Adjectival compounds
- Affixoids
- Coordinative compounds
- Synthetic compounds
- Reduplicative compounds
- Phrase-based compounds
- Elative compounds
- Exocentric compounds
- Linking elements
- Separable complex verbs (SCVs)
- Gapping of complex words
- Particle verbs
- Copulative compounds
-
Derivation
- Numerals
- Derivation: inputs and input restrictions
- The meaning of affixes
- Non-native morphology
- Cohering and non-cohering affixes
- Prefixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixation: person nouns
- Conversion
- Pseudo-participles
- Bound forms
-
Nouns
- Nominal prefixes
-
Nominal suffixes
- -aal and -eel
- -aar
- -aard
- -aat
- -air
- -aris
- -ast
- Diminutives
- -dom
- -een
- -ees
- -el (nominal)
- -elaar
- -enis
- -er (nominal)
- -erd
- -erik
- -es
- -eur
- -euse
- ge...te
- -heid
- -iaan, -aan
- -ief
- -iek
- -ier
- -ier (French)
- -ière
- -iet
- -igheid
- -ij and allomorphs
- -ijn
- -in
- -ing
- -isme
- -ist
- -iteit
- -ling
- -oir
- -oot
- -rice
- -schap
- -schap (de)
- -schap (het)
- -sel
- -st
- -ster
- -t
- -tal
- -te
- -voud
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Univerbation
- Neo-classical word formation
- Construction-dependent morphology
- Morphological productivity
-
Compounding
- Inflection
- Inflection and derivation
- Allomorphy
- The interface between phonology and morphology
-
Word formation
-
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)
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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
-
Phonology
-
Frisian
- General
-
Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
-
Phonological Processes
- Assimilation
- Vowel nasalization
- Syllabic sonorants
- Final devoicing
- Fake geminates
- Vowel hiatus resolution
- Vowel reduction introduction
- Schwa deletion
- Schwa insertion
- /r/-deletion
- d-insertion
- {s/z}-insertion
- t-deletion
- Intrusive stop formation
- Breaking
- Vowel shortening
- h-deletion
- Replacement of the glide w
- Word stress
- Clitics
- Allomorphy
- Orthography of Frisian
-
Morphology
- Inflection
-
Word formation
-
Derivation
- Prefixation
- Infixation
-
Suffixation
- Nominal suffixes
- Verbal suffixes
- Adjectival suffixes
- Adverbial suffixes
- Numeral suffixes
- Interjectional suffixes
- Onomastic suffixes
- Conversion
-
Derivation
-
Syntax
-
Verbs and Verb Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Unergative and unaccusative subjects
- Evidentiality
- To-infinitival clauses
- Predication and noun incorporation
- Ellipsis
- Imperativus-pro-Infinitivo
- Expression of irrealis
- Embedded Verb Second
- Agreement
- Negation
-
Nouns & Noun Phrases
- Classification
- Complementation
- Modification
-
Partitive noun constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Nominalised quantifiers
- Kind partitives
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Bare nominal attributions
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers and (pre)determiners
- Interrogative pronouns
- R-pronouns
- Syntactic uses
-
Adjective Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification and degree quantification
-
Comparison by degree
- Comparative
- Superlative
- Equative
-
Attribution
- Agreement
- Attributive adjectives vs. prenominal elements
- Complex adjectives
- Noun ellipsis
- Co-occurring adjectives
- Predication
- Partitive adjective constructions
- Adverbial use
- Participles and infinitives
-
Adposition Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Intransitive adpositions
- Predication
- Preposition stranding
-
Verbs and Verb Phrases
-
Afrikaans
- General
-
Phonology
- Afrikaans phonology
-
Segment inventory
-
Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- The diphthongised long vowels /e/, /ø/ and /o/
- The unrounded mid-front vowel /ɛ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /ɑ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /a/
- The rounded mid-high back vowel /ɔ/
- The rounded high back vowel /u/
- The rounded and unrounded high front vowels /i/ and /y/
- The unrounded and rounded central vowels /ə/ and /œ/
- The diphthongs /əi/, /œy/ and /œu/
-
Overview of Afrikaans consonants
- The bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/
- The alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/
- The velar plosives /k/ and /g/
- The bilabial nasal /m/
- The alveolar nasal /n/
- The velar nasal /ŋ/
- The trill /r/
- The lateral liquid /l/
- The alveolar fricative /s/
- The velar fricative /x/
- The labiodental fricatives /f/ and /v/
- The approximants /ɦ/, /j/ and /ʋ/
-
Overview of Afrikaans vowels
-
Word stress
- The phonetic properties of stress
- Primary stress on monomorphemic words in Afrikaans
- Background to primary stress in monomorphemes in Afrikaans
- Overview of the Main Stress Rule of Afrikaans
- The short vowels of Afrikaans
- Long vowels in monomorphemes
- Primary stress on diphthongs in monomorphemes
- Exceptions
- Stress shifts in place names
- Stress shift towards word-final position
- Stress pattern of reduplications
-
Phonological processes
- Vowel related processes
- Consonant related processes
- Homorganic glide insertion
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Phonotactics
- Morphology
-
Syntax
- Afrikaans syntax
-
Nouns and noun phrases
- Characteristics of the NP
- Classification of nouns
- Complementation of NPs
- Modification of NPs
-
Binominal and partitive constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Partitive constructions with nominalised quantifiers
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Binominal name constructions
- Binominal genitive constructions
- Bare nominal attribution
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- Syntactic uses of the noun phrase
-
Adjectives and adjective phrases
- Characteristics and classification of the AP
- Complementation of APs
- Modification and Degree Quantification of APs
- Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative degree
- Attribution of APs
- Predication of APs
- The partitive adjective construction
- Adverbial use of APs
- Participles and infinitives as adjectives
-
Verbs and verb phrases
- Characterisation and classification
- Argument structure
- Verb frame alternations
- Complements of non-main verbs
- Verb clusters
- Complement clauses
- Adverbial modification
- Word order in the clause: Introduction
- Word order in the clause: position of the finite Verb
- Word order in the clause: Clause-initial position
- Word order in the clause: Extraposition and right-dislocation in the postverbal field
- Word order in the middle field
- Emphatic constructions
- Adpositions and adposition phrases
This section discusses personal passive constructions, that is, passive constructions with a derived subject. Two cases of personal passives should be distinguished: regular worden-passives such as (60b), whichinvolve promotion to subject of the direct objects of the corresponding active constructions, and so-called krijgen-passives such as (60c), whichinvolve promotion to subject of the indirect objects. This section is concerned with the regular passive; the krijgen-passive will be discussed in Section 3.2.1.4.
a. | Marienom | biedt | hemdat | het boekacc | aan. | |
Marie | offers | him | the book | prt. |
b. | Het boeknom | wordt | hemdat | (door Marie) | aangeboden. |
regular passive
|
|
the book | is | him | by Marie | prt.-offered |
c. | Hijnom | krijgt | het boekacc' | aangeboden | (door Marie). |
krijgen-passive
|
|
he | gets | the book | prt.-offered | by Marie |
- I. Verbs entering the regular passive
- II. The derived subject of the regular passive
- III. Meaning differences between active and passive sentences
- IV. Special cases of the regular passive
This subsection discusses the types of verbs that may enter the regular passive. Since the core property of the passive is the demotion of the external argument, it does not really come as a surprise that the core cases of the regular passive involve verbs with an agentive or causer subject. There are, however, several special cases, which will also be discussed in this subsection.
Since agents are typically +animate entities, the regular passive involves the demotion of an animate subject in the majority of cases, as in the (a)-examples in (61). However, Section 3.2.1.1, sub III, has shown that, if an inanimate entity is construed as agentive, passivization is possible as well. This is illustrated again by the (b)-examples.
a. | Jan bestudeert | het passief. | |
Jan investigates | the passive | ||
'Jan is investigating the passive.' |
a'. | Het passief | wordt | door Jan | bestudeerd. | |
the passive | is | by Jan | investigated | ||
'The passive is investigated by Jan.' |
b. | Die machine | sorteert | het huisafval. | |
that machine | sorts.out | the household.garbage | ||
'That machine sorts out the household garbage.' |
b'. | Het | huisafval | wordt | door die machine | gesorteerd. | |
the | household.garbage | is | by that machines | sorted.out |
A causer can be considered a special kind of agent, and it is therefore not surprising that verbs with a causer subject can also be passivized. This is illustrated here by means of the transitive verb breken'to break' in the (a)-examples in (62). The demoted subject of the causative verb can also be inanimate as long as it is construed as the causer of the event; this is shown in the (b)-examples.
a. | Jan | breekt | de vaas. | |
Jan | breaks | the vase |
a'. | De vaas | wordt | (door Jan) | gebroken. | |
the vase | is | by Jan | broken |
b. | Die machine | breekt | het afgekeurde porselein. | |
that machine | breaks | the disapproved china | ||
'That machine breaks the disapproved china.' |
b'. | Het afgekeurde porselein | wordt | door die machine | gebroken. | |
the disapproved china | is | by that machine | broken |
The primed examples in (63) suggest that causative object experiencer psych-verbs like irriteren'to irritate' and overtuigen'to convince' (cf. Section 2.5.1.3, sub II) can also be passivized. This requires, however, that the met-PP referring to the cause (the means by which the causer brings about the mental state of the experiencer) is not overtly realized.
a. | JanCauser | irriteert | haarExp | met zijn gezeurCause. | |
Jan | irritates | her | with his nagging |
a'. | Zij | wordt | door | Jan | geïrriteerd | (*met zijn gezeur). | |
she | is | by | Jan | irritated | with his nagging |
b. | JanCauser | overtuigt | haarExp | met zijn verhaalCause. | |
Jan | convinces | her | with his story |
b'. | Zij | wordt | door Jan | overtuigd | (*met zijn verhaal). | |
she | is | by Jan | convinced | with his story |
A typical property of the psych-verbs in (63) is that the cause can also be realized as the subject of the active construction, as in the primeless examples of (64). The primed examples again suggest that passivization of such causative psych-constructions is possible.
a. | Zijn gezeurCause | irriteert | haarExp. | |
his nagging | irritates | her |
a'. | Zij | wordt | door zijn gezeur | geïrriteerd. | |
she | is | by his nagging | irritated |
b. | Zijn verhaalCause | overtuigde | haarExp. | |
his story | convinced | her |
b'. | Zij | werd | door zijn verhaal | overtuigd. | |
she | was | by his story | convinced |
The claim that we are dealing with passives in the primed examples in (63) and (64) presupposes that the door-PPs are agentive phrases similar to the ones we find in unequivocal passive examples. This seems, however, to be at odds with the fact that the door-phrases in (64) contain an inanimate, non-agentive noun phrase. Furthermore there is an alternative analysis according to which the door-phrases function as causative adjuncts comparable to the ones we find in unaccusative constructions like De ruit brak door de harde wind'The window broke due to the hard wind'. A final reason for doubting the passive analysis of the primed examples in (63) and (64) is that the verb worden can be replaced by raken'to get', which is typically used with a copular-like function.
a. | Zij | raakte/werd | door | Jan/zijn gezeur | geïrriteerd. | |
she | got/became | by | Jan/his nagging | irritated |
b. | Zij | raakte/werd | door Jan/zijn verhaal | overtuigd. | |
she | got/became | by Jan/his story | convinced |
The examples in (65) strongly suggest that the verb worden in (63) and (64) is also used as a copular verb meaning "become". If so, we would expect that in embedded clauses the participle must precede the finite verb. The judgments on the primed examples in (66) show, however, that this expectation is not really borne out; for at least some speakers the order worden-participle is considerably better than the order raken-participle.
a. | dat | zij | door Jan/zijn gezeur | geïrriteerd | raakte/werd. | |
that | she | by Jan/his nagging | irritated | got/became |
a'. | dat zij door Jan/zijn gezeur *raakte/%werd geïrriteerd. |
b. | dat | zij | door Jan/zijn verhaal | overtuigd | raakte/werd. | |
that | she | by Jan/his story | convinced | got/became |
b'. | dat zij door Jan/zijn verhaal *raakte/%werd overtuigd. |
We therefore conclude that it is not entirely clear on the basis of the currently
available evidence whether we are dealing with passive or copular (adjectival passive)
constructions in the primed examples in (63) and (64); see Section 2.5.1.3, sub IID, for more relevant discussion.
We conclude with a discussion of a set small set of causative non-experiencer verbs
exhibiting behavior more or less similar to that of object experiencer psych-verbs
like
irriteren'to irritate', cf. Section 2.5.1.3, sub V. A typical example is the verb
verduidelijken'to clarify' in (67), which, like
irriteren, allows the subject of the active construction to be either a causer or a cause.
a. | JanCauser | verduidelijkte | de stelling | met een voorbeeldCause. | |
Jan | clarified | the thesis | with an example |
a'. | De stelling | werd | (door Jan) | met een voorbeeld | verduidelijkt. | |
the thesis | was | by Jan | with an example | clarified |
b. | Dit voorbeeldCause | verduidelijkt | de stelling | aanzienlijk. | |
this example | clarifies | the thesis | considerably |
b'. | De stelling | wordt | door dit voorbeeld | aanzienlijk | verduidelijkt. | |
the thesis | is | by this example | considerably | clarified |
It is again not clear whether the primed examples are passive counterparts of the primeless examples, given that the door-phrase is causative in nature. This is especially evident in this case given that some of these causative verbs may also take a causative door-phrase in the active voice. As a result there is no doubt that the door-phrase in (68c) can be construed as causative.
a. | Jan redde | de situatie | door zijn doortastend optreden. | |
Jan saved | the situation | by his vigorous action |
b. | Zijn doortastend optreden | redde | de situatie. | |
his vigorous action | saved | the situation |
c. | De situatie | werd | gered | door zijn doortastend optreden. | |
the situation | was | saved | by his vigorous action |
If (68c) were a passive construction and if the door-phrase in this example were the same type of phrase as the door-phrase in (68a), we would expect that we may add an additional agentive door-phrase in (68c). Our intuitions given in (69) are not entirely clear and depend on the precise positions of the two door-phrases.
a. | ?? | Door zijn doortastend optreden | werd | de situatienom | door Jan | gered. |
by his vigorous act | was | the situation | by Jan | saved |
b. | ?? | De situatienom werd door Jan door zijn doortastend optreden gered. |
c. | ?? | De situatienom werd door zijn doortastend optreden door Jan gered. |
d. | *? | Door Jan werd de situatienom door zijn doortastend optreden gered. |
It seems premature to us to draw any conclusions from the examples in (69); again it is not clear on the basis of the currently available evidence whether we are dealing with a passive or a copular (adjectival passive) construction in the primed examples in (67).
There are various types of non-agentive/non-causative verbs with inanimate subjects that nevertheless do allow passivization. Some examples are given in (70). Other verbs of this type are begrenzen'to bound', omcirkelen'to encircle', omlijsten'to frame', omringen'to surround', overdekken'to cover', and overwoekeren'to overgrow'. Observe that the passive counterparts of the stative primeless examples in (70) require the door-phrase to be present; if it is absent the passive verbs receive an agentive, activity reading.
a. | De snelwegen | omringen | dat huis | aan alle kanten. | |
the highways | surround | that house | at all sides |
a'. | Dat huis | wordt | aan alle kanten | #(door snelwegen) | omringd. | |
that house | is | at all sides | by highways | surrounded |
b. | Tal van rivieren | doorsnijden | het land. | |
many of rivers | crisscross | the land | ||
'A great number of rivers crisscross the land.' |
b'. | Het land | wordt | #(door tal van rivieren) | doorsneden. | |
the land | is | by many of rivers | crisscrossed | ||
'A great number of rivers crisscross the land.' |
Other non-agentive verbs that can be found in the regular passive are verbs taking an object with propositional content like aantonen'to demonstrate', bewijzen'to prove', demonstreren'to show/demonstrate', bepalen'to determine', impliceren'to imply' as well as the verb vormen'to make up'. The examples in (71) show that in these cases too, the passive constructions must contain a door-PP.
a. | Die maatregelen | impliceren | een grotere werkloosheid. | |
these measures | imply | a greater unemployment | ||
'These measures imply greater unemployment.' |
a'. | Een grotere werkloosheidnom | wordt | *(door die maatregelen) | geïmpliceerd. | |
a greater unemployment | is | by these measures | implied |
b. | Twaalf dozijn | vormt | een grosacc. | |
twelve dozen | makes.up | a gross | ||
'Twelve dozen make up a gross.' |
b'. | Een grosnom | wordt | gevormd | *(door twaalf dozijn). | |
a gross | is | made.up | by twelve dozen |
The (a)-examples in (72) show that measure verbs like duren'to last', kosten'to cost', tellen'to count' and wegen'to weigh' with a non-agentive subject cannot be passivized. If the verb denotes an activity, as in the (b)-examples, passivization is possible.
a. | Peter weegt | 100 pond. | |
Peter weighs | 100 pound |
a'. | * | 100 pond | wordt/worden | (door Peter) | gewogen. |
100 pound | is/are | by Peter | weighed |
b. | Peter weegt | de appels. | |
Peter weighs | the apples |
b'. | De appels | worden | (door Peter) | gewogen. | |
the apples | are | by Peter | weighed | ||
'The apples are being weighed by Peter.' |
The difference between the two sets of examples could in principle be attributed to the non-agentive nature of the subject in (72a), but it is sometimes also assumed that it is the nature of the nominal complement (here: 100 pond) that is relevant; it is not a direct object but a predicatively used phrase comparable to the adjective zwaar in Jan weegt zwaar'Jan weighs heavy'.
This subsection discusses a number of properties of derived subjects in regular passive constructions.
Since regular passivization results in promotion to subject of the theme argument of the active verb, it is sometimes claimed that an important function of regular passivization is "externalization" of the internal argument of the active verb. Section 3.2.1.1, sub IV, has already shown that this cannot be correct; the obligatoriness of the complementives van de tafel af'from the table' and kapot'broken' in the primeless examples in (73) shows that the accusative noun phrases are subjects (external arguments) of these phrases, and not internal arguments of the verb vegen.
a. | Jan veegde | de kruimels | *(van de tafel af). | |
Jan wiped | the crumbs | from the table af |
a'. | De kruimels | werden | (door Jan) | van de tafel af | geveegd. | |
the crumbs | were | by Jan | from the table af | wiped |
b. | Jan | veegde | de bezem | *(kapot). | |
Jan | brushed | the broom | broken |
b'. | De bezem | werd | (door Jan) | kapot | geveegd. | |
the broom | was | by Jan | broken | brushed |
Section 3.2.1.1, sub IV, concluded from this that, in contrast to the active verb, the passive participle is unable to assign accusative case to the noun phrase de kruimels/de bezem, which must therefore be promoted to subject in order to receive nominative case. That we are not dealing with externalization of the internal argument is also clear from the fact that arguments that are not assigned accusative case but surface in the form of a PP cannot be promoted to subject; intransitive PO-verbs only give rise to impersonal passivization; see Subsection IVB.
a. | Wij | spraken | lang | over die jongen/hem. | |
we | talked | a.long.time | about that boy/him | ||
'We talked about that boy/him for a long time.' |
b. | Er | werd | (door ons) | lang | over die jongen/hem | gesproken. | |
there | was | by us | long | about that boy/him | talked |
b'. | * | Die jongen/Hij | werd | (door ons) | lang | over | gesproken. |
that boy/he | was | by us | a.long.time | about | talked |
The (a)-examples in (75) show the same thing for complement clauses. Note in passing that the expletive er in (75a') does not have the syntactic function of subject, that is, it is not an anticipatory pronoun introducing the embedded clause. This function is restricted to the pronoun het in the (b)-examples. The passive examples in (75) thus differ in that the passive construction in (75a') is an impersonal passive, whereas the one in (75b') is a regular passive.
a. | Jan | zei | dat | het boek | gestolen | was. | |
Jan | said | that | the book | stolen | was | ||
'Jan said that the book was stolen.' |
a'. | Er | werd | (door Jan) | gezegd | dat | het boek | gestolen | was. | |
there | was | by Jan | said | that | the book | stolen | was |
b. | Jan | zei | het | dat | het boek | gestolen | was. | |
Jan | said | it | that | the book | stolen | was | ||
'Jan said it that the book was stolen.' |
b'. | Het | werd | (door Jan) | gezegd | dat | het boek | gestolen | was. | |
it | was | by Jan | said | that | the book | stolen | was |
In English, the derived subject is not only assigned nominative case but also obligatorily placed in the regular subject position of the clause. The latter does not hold for Dutch: the derived subject may remain in its original position, that is, the position normally occupied by the direct object of the active verb. This can readily be demonstrated by means of the passive counterparts of the active ditransitive construction in (76a); the derived object may either follow or precede the indirect object, an option that is not available to the subject of active constructions (like Jan in (76a)).
a. | dat | Jan de kinderendat | dat mooie boekacc | aangeboden | heeft. | |
that | Jan the children | that beautiful book | prt.-offered | has | ||
'that Jan offered the children that beautiful book.' |
b. | dat | de kinderendat | dat mooie boeknom | aangeboden | werd. | |
that | the children | that beautiful book | prt.-offered | was |
b'. | dat | dat mooie boeknom | de kinderendat | aangeboden | werd. | |
that | that beautiful book | the children | prt.-offered | was |
The difference between the two (b)-examples in (76) is related to the information structure of the clause: if the derived subject surfaces in its original position, as in (76b), it typically belongs to the focus ("new" information) of the clause, whereas it is presented as part of the presupposition("old" information) of the clause if it is placed in the canonical subject position, as in (76b'). That this is the case is supported by the distribution of (non-specific) indefinite noun phrases like een mooi boek'a beautiful book', which typically belong to the focus, and referential personal pronouns like het'it', which typically belong to the presupposition of the clause; the examples in (77) show that the former normally follow and the latter precede the indirect object.
a. | dat | de kinderen | een mooi boek/*het | aangeboden | werd. | |
that | the children | a beautiful book/it | prt.-offered | was | ||
'that a beautiful book was offered to the children.' |
b. | dat | het/*een mooi boek | de kinderen | aangeboden | werd. | |
that | it/a beautiful book | the children | prt.-offered | was | ||
'that it was offered to the children.' |
The examples in (76) and (77) show that the placement of the derived subject into the regular subject position is subject to conditions similar to scrambling of nominal objects; cf. Section N8.1.3. This is not really surprising given that the placement of subjects of active clauses is also subject to similar conditions. This is illustrated in example (78a), in which the position of the adverbial phrase gisteren'yesterday' shows that the subject does not have to occupy the canonical subject position right-adjacent to the complementizer. The (b)- and (c)-examples show that the information structure of the clause is also involved in this case. Note in passing that the presence of er in (78b) depends on whether gisteren'yesterday' is presented as part of the focus or the presupposition of the clause; cf. N8.1.4. Note further that we assume a more or less neutral intonation pattern; example (78b') becomes acceptable if the noun phrase een student is assigned contrastive focus.
a. | dat | <die student> | gisteren <die student> | weer | belde. | |
that | that student | yesterday | again | phoned |
b. | dat | (er) | gisteren | een student | belde. | |
that | there | yesterday | a student | phoned |
b'. | ?? | dat | een student gisteren belde. |
c. | dat | <hij> | gisteren <*hij> | belde. | |
that | he | yesterday | phoned |
For completeness' sake, it can further be observed that in some cases the derived subject can never be placed in the regular subject position. This holds for passive counterparts of idiomatic expressions like (79a&b), in which the obligatory presence of the expletive er'there' suggests that the derived subject is not in the canonical subject position. The reason for this is probably that the derived subject is not referential, and therefore cannot be part of the presupposition of the clause.
a. | dat | Jan | een stokje | voor dat plan | stak. | |
that | Jan | a stick | in.front.of that plan | put | ||
'Jan forestalled that plan.' |
a'. | dat | ??(er) | een stokje | voor dat plan | gestoken | werd. | |
that | there | a stick | in.front.of that plan | put | was |
b. | dat | Peter | de draakacc | met Els | stak. | |
that | Peter | the dragon | with Els | stabbed | ||
'Peter always made fun of Els.' |
b'. | dat | ?(er) | de draaknom | met Els | werd | gestoken. | |
that | there | the dragon | with Els | was | stabbed |
The derived subject in regular passives normally corresponds to the accusative phrase in the corresponding active clause. In some cases, however, it seems that dative phrases can also be promoted to subject in the regular passive.
English and Dutch differ with respect to the original grammatical function of the object that is promoted to subject in passive constructions. This does not, of course, hold for regular passives of transitive clauses, given that the direct object is the only available one in such cases.
a. | Marienom | slaat | haaracc. | |
Marie | beats | her |
b. | Zijnom | wordt/is | (door Marie) | geslagen. | |
she | is/have.been | by Marie | beaten | ||
'She is/has been beaten (by Marie).' |
English and Dutch do differ, however, if the verb is ditransitive. In English, the derived subject may correspond to either the direct or the indirect object, depending on whether the indirect object is realized as a noun phrase or a PP. In Dutch, on the other hand, it is normally the direct object that is promoted to subject, as is shown in the examples in (81).
a. | Ik | bood | de boeken | aan Jan | aan. |
prepositional indirect object
|
|
I | offered | the books | to Jan | prt. |
a'. | De boeken | werden | aan Jan | aangeboden. | |
the books | were | to Jan | prt.-offered | ||
'The books were offered to Jan.' |
b. | Ik | bood | Jan/hem | de boeken | aan. |
dative indirect object
|
|
I | offered | Jan/him | the books | prt. |
b'. | De boeken | werden | Jan/hem | aangeboden. | |
the books | were | Jan/him | prt.-offered |
b''. | * | Jan/Hij | werd | de boeken | aangeboden. |
Jan/he | was | the books | prt.-offered |
The promoted objects in (80) and (81) are internal arguments of the verbs. Recall from Subsection A, however, that externalization of internal arguments is not the core property of passivization given that intransitive PO-verbs or verbs selecting a clause only give rise to impersonal passivization. It is therefore not the thematic but the case assignment relation between the verb and its objects that is relevant.
Although regular passivization normally involves promotion of the accusative noun phrase to subject, there seem to be some, at least marginally acceptable, cases that involve the promotion of an indirect object to subject. This is, for instance, the case with object controlverbs like verzoeken'to request' in (82). Besides the expected impersonal passive construction in (82b), the construction in (82c) is regularly produced. Other object control verbs that seem to allow promotion of the indirect object are aanraden'to recommend', beletten'to prevent', verbieden'to prohibit', verwijten'to blame' and vragen'to ask'.
a. | Peternom | verzocht | de studenten/hun [PRO | het terrein | te verlaten]. | |
Peter | requested | the students/them | the premises | to leave | ||
'Peter asked the students to leave.' |
b. | Er | werd | de studenten/hun | verzocht | het terrein | te verlaten. | |
there | was | the students/them | requested | the premises | to leave |
c. | % | De studenten/zij | werden | verzocht | het terrein | te verlaten. |
the students/they | were | requested | the premises | to leave |
The judgments of our informants do not really change if the complement clause in (82) is replaced by a PP-complement; see also Section 2.3.3, sub IID, where it is shown that PO-verbs with a dative object exhibit this behavior in general.
a. | Peter heeft | zijn schuldeisers/hun | om uitstel van betaling | verzocht. | |
Peter has | his creditors/them | for suspension of payment | requested | ||
'Peter has asked his creditors/them for suspension of payment.' |
b. | Er | is zijn schuldeisers/hun | om uitstel van betaling | verzocht. | |
there | is his creditors/them | for suspension of payment | requested |
c. | % | Zijn schuldeisers/Zij | worden | om uitstel van betaling | verzocht. |
his creditors/they | are | for suspension of payment | requested |
However, if the complement clause in (82) is replaced by a pronominal noun phrase, promotion of the indirect object leads to a severely degraded result. This suggests that promotion of the indirect object is only possible if no accusative noun phrase is present.
a. | Peter heeft | de studenten/hun | dat | verzocht. | |
Peter has | the students/them | that | requested | ||
'Peter has asked that of the students/them.' |
b. | Dat is | de studenten/hun | verzocht. | |
that is | the students/them | requested |
c. | * | De studenten/Zij | zijn | dat | verzocht. |
the students/they | are | that | requested |
It is tempting to speculate that the acceptability of the (c)-examples in (82) and (83) is the result of a reanalysis process that started with an incorrect analysis of examples such as (85); since the object and the subject form of the politeness pronoun are identical, this may have led to misinterpretation of u'you' as a subject pronoun.
U | wordt | verzocht [PRO | de rekening | zo spoedig mogelijk | te voldoen]. | ||
you | are | requested | the bill | as soon as possible | to pay | ||
'You are requested to pay the bill as soon as possible.' |
It has also been suggested that the acceptability of the (c)-examples in (82) and (83) is due to the fact that the verb verzoeken'to request' has a meaning akin to that of the transitive PO-verb uitnodigen (tot)'to invite'; see onzetaal.nl/advies/reizigers.php. It is highly unlikely, however, that verzoeken is a transitive PO-verb if it selects a complement clause, as in (82), given that example (84) has already shown that the pronominalized form of the complement clause is a pronoun and not a pronominal PP; this shows unequivocally that we are dealing in (82) with a regular ditransitive verb and not with a PO-verb.
The generalization that promotion to subject of the indirect object is (only) possible if no accusative noun phrase is present may also shed light on the exceptional behavior of verbs like voeren'to feed', betalen'to pay', vergeven'to forgive' and voorlezen'to read aloud to'. Consider the examples in (86). Example (86a) shows that the verb voeren can be used as a ditransitive verb, and the singular inflection on the auxiliary in (86a') shows that its passive counterpart involves promotion to subject of the accusative phrase brood. The verb voeren is somewhat special, however, in that it has a cognate direct object that can be left implicit, as shown in example (86b); in this case the indirect object can, or actually must, be promoted to subject.
a. | Jan voerde | de eendjesdat | broodacc. | |
Jan fed | the ducks | bread |
a'. | Er | werd/*werden | de eendjesdat | broodnom | gevoerd. | |
there | was/were | the ducks | bread | fed |
b. | Jan voerde | de eendjesdat/acc?. | |
Jan fed the | ducks |
b'. | De eendjesnom | werden/werd | gevoerd. | |
the ducks | were/was | fed |
Example (87) provides similar examples for the verb betalen'to pay'; in the (a)-examples the verb is ditransitive and it is the direct object een hoog loon rather than the indirect object de werknemers that must be promoted to subject; in the (b)-examples the direct object is omitted and now it is the noun phrase de werknemers that must be promoted to subject; cf. Van den Toorn (1971).
a. | Els betaalt | de werknemersdat | een hoog loonacc. | |
Els pays | the employees | a high salary |
a'. | Er | wordt/*worden | de werknemersdat | een hoog loonnom | betaald. | |
there | is/are | the employees | a high salary | paid |
b. | Els betaalde | de werknemersdat/acc? | niet | op tijd. | |
Els paid | the employees | not | in time |
b'. | De werknemersnom | werden/*werd | niet | op tijd | betaald. | |
the workers | were/was | not | in time | paid |
If one does not want to appeal to the idea that promotion of the indirect object is possible if no accusative noun phrase is present, one would be forced to assume that the objects de eendjes and de werknemers have different grammatical functions in the (a)- and (b)-examples, namely that of indirect and direct object, respectively. Such a view might be undesirable given that these objects have a similar semantic role in all cases, namely that of recipient, but we cannot rule out this possibility beforehand.
Another reason for accepting the generalization that promotion of the indirect object is possible if no accusative noun phrase is present comes from verbs like assisteren'to assist', gehoorzamen'to obey', helpen'to help', huldigen'to honor', and volgen'to follow'. The primed examples in (88) show that these verbs all allow personal passivization in Dutch, even though the Standard German counterparts of these verbs take a dative object; see Drosdowski (1995:608-9) for an extensive list of such verbs. One might, of course, assume that the syntactic function of the objects in the Dutch examples simply differs from those in the corresponding German constructions, but then we would have to conclude that the assignment of syntactic functions may differ considerably even among closely related languages.
a. | De jongens | gehoorzaamden | de agent. | |
the boys | obeyed | the policeman |
a'. | De agent | werd | (door de jongens) | gehoorzaamd. | |
the policeman | was | by the boys | obeyed |
b. | Jan helpt | mijn vader. | |
Jan helps | my father |
b'. |