- Dutch1
- Frisian
- Saterfrisian
- Afrikaans
-
- 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)
- 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
-
- 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
- Compositions
- 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
-
- General
- Morphology
- Morphology
- 1 Word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 1.1.1 Compounds and their heads
- 1.1.2 Special types of compounds
- 1.1.2.1 Affixoids
- 1.1.2.2 Coordinative compounds
- 1.1.2.3 Synthetic compounds and complex pseudo-participles
- 1.1.2.4 Reduplicative compounds
- 1.1.2.5 Phrase-based compounds
- 1.1.2.6 Elative compounds
- 1.1.2.7 Exocentric compounds
- 1.1.2.8 Linking elements
- 1.1.2.9 Separable Complex Verbs and Particle Verbs
- 1.1.2.10 Noun Incorporation Verbs
- 1.1.2.11 Gapping
- 1.2 Derivation
- 1.3 Minor patterns of word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 2 Inflection
- 1 Word formation
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
- 0 Introduction to the AP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of APs
- 2 Complementation of APs
- 3 Modification and degree quantification of APs
- 4 Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative
- 5 Attribution of APs
- 6 Predication of APs
- 7 The partitive adjective construction
- 8 Adverbial use of APs
- 9 Participles and infinitives as APs
- Nouns and Noun Phrases (NPs)
- 0 Introduction to the NP
- 1 Characteristics and Classification of NPs
- 2 Complementation of NPs
- 3 Modification of NPs
- 3.1 Modification of NP by Determiners and APs
- 3.2 Modification of NP by PP
- 3.3 Modification of NP by adverbial clauses
- 3.4 Modification of NP by possessors
- 3.5 Modification of NP by relative clauses
- 3.6 Modification of NP in a cleft construction
- 3.7 Free relative clauses and selected interrogative clauses
- 4 Partitive noun constructions and constructions related to them
- 4.1 The referential partitive construction
- 4.2 The partitive construction of abstract quantity
- 4.3 The numerical partitive construction
- 4.4 The partitive interrogative construction
- 4.5 Adjectival, nominal and nominalised partitive quantifiers
- 4.6 Kind partitives
- 4.7 Partitive predication with a preposition
- 4.8 Bare nominal attribution
- 5 Articles and names
- 6 Pronouns
- 7 Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- 8 Interrogative pronouns
- 9 R-pronouns and the indefinite expletive
- 10 Syntactic functions of Noun Phrases
- Adpositions and Adpositional Phrases (PPs)
- 0 Introduction to the PP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of PPs
- 2 Complementation of PPs
- 3 Modification of PPs
- 4 Bare (intransitive) adpositions
- 5 Predication of PPs
- 6 Form and distribution of adpositions with respect to staticity and construction type
- 7 Adpositional complements and adverbials
- Verbs and Verb Phrases (VPs)
- 0 Introduction to the VP in Saterland Frisian
- 1 Characteristics and classification of verbs
- 2 Unergative and unaccusative subjects and the auxiliary of the perfect
- 3 Evidentiality in relation to perception and epistemicity
- 4 Types of to-infinitival constituents
- 5 Predication
- 5.1 The auxiliary of being and its selection restrictions
- 5.2 The auxiliary of going and its selection restrictions
- 5.3 The auxiliary of continuation and its selection restrictions
- 5.4 The auxiliary of coming and its selection restrictions
- 5.5 Modal auxiliaries and their selection restrictions
- 5.6 Auxiliaries of body posture and aspect and their selection restrictions
- 5.7 Transitive verbs of predication
- 5.8 The auxiliary of doing used as a semantically empty finite auxiliary
- 5.9 Supplementive predication
- 6 The verbal paradigm, irregularity and suppletion
- 7 Verb Second and the word order in main and embedded clauses
- 8 Various aspects of clause structure
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
-
- 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
Circumpositional phrases are typically used in directional constructions, but many of these phrases can also be used in locational constructions. There is a conspicuous difference between these two uses: whereas the second part of the circumposition is mostly obligatorily present in the directional construction, it can generally be dropped in the locational construction without affecting the core meaning of the sentence. This casts some doubt on the assumption that we are dealing with constructions of a similar status. This section discusses the circumpositions from Table 10 and Table 12 from Section 1.2.5 and investigate (i) whether they can be used in the locational and/or the directional construction and (ii) whether the second part can be omitted. Our findings will be summarized in Table 19.
Examples (269) and (270) illustrate the use of spatial circumpositions with aan as their second member, and show that the circumpositional phrase tegen de muur aan may indicate a (change of) location or a direction. This does not hold, however, for the circumpositional phrase achter de optocht aan in (270b), which can only be used to indicate a direction.
a. | Er | stond | een ladder | tegen de muur | (aan). | location | |
there | stood | a ladder | against the wall | aan | |||
'A ladder stood against the wall.' |
b. | Jan zette | de ladder | tegen de muur | (aan). | change of location | |
Jan put | the ladder | against the wall | aan | |||
'Jan put a ladder against the wall.' |
a. | Jan liep | tegen | de ladder | *?(aan). | direction | |
Jan walked | against | the ladder | aan | |||
'Jan ran into the ladder.' |
b. | Er | liepen | veel kinderen | achter | de optocht | #(aan). | direction | |
there | walked | many children | behind | the parade | aan | |||
'Masses of children followed the parade.' |
The element aan in the locational examples in (269) can be dropped without a notable change in meaning; the presence of aan just seems to stress that there is physical contact between the located object and the reference object. In the directional examples in (270), on the other hand, aan must be present; without it the construction is either degraded or the directional meaning gets lost. The latter holds for (270b), which can be readily illustrated by considering its perfect tense counterparts in (271): if the verb lopen takes the auxiliary zijn it is a verb of traversing, which requires a directional complementive, and aan is compulsory; if the verb takes hebben it is an activity verb, which is compatible with a locational adverbial PP, and aan is preferably dropped.
a. | Er | zijn | horden kinderen | achter | de optocht | *(aan) | gelopen. | |
there | are | masses children | behind | the parade | aan | walked | ||
'Masses of children have followed the parade.' |
b. | Er | hebben | horden kinderen | achter | de optocht | (?aan) | gelopen. | |
there | have | masses children | behind | the parade | aan | walked | ||
'Masses of children have walked behind the parade.' |
The locational and directional examples in (269) and (270) seem to differ in another respect as well. The examples in (272) show that the first differ from the latter in allowing the split pattern under a neutral intonation pattern; see also Section 1.2.5, sub IIIA.
a. | Tegen de muur | stond | een ladder aan. | location |
a'. | Tegen de muur | zette Jan de ladder aan. | change of location |
b. | * | Tegen de ladder liep Jan aan. | direction |
b'. | * | Achter de optocht zijn horden kinderen aan gelopen. | direction |
This suggests that achter ... aan is better not considered a circumposition in the locational construction. Making a distinction between the phrases in the directional and the locational constructions is also supported by the data in (273). In the (change of) locational constructions the element aan can occupy a position within the clause-final verb cluster, which is a typical property of particles, whereas this gives rise to a degraded result in the directional construction. We leave it to future research to investigate whether this suggestion is on the right track; see also Section 1.2.5, sub IIIA, for relevant information.
a. | dat | de ladder | tegen de muur | heeft | aan | gestaan. | location | |
that | the ladder | against the wall | has | aan | stood |
a'. | dat | Jan de ladder | tegen de muur | heeft | aan | gezet. | change of location | |
that | Jan the ladder | against the wall | has | aan | put |
b. | ?? | dat | Jan tegen | de ladder | is | aan | gelopen. | direction |
that | Jan against | the ladder | has | aan | walked |
b'. | ?? | dat | er | veel kinderen | achter | de | optocht zijn | aan | gelopen. |
that | there | many children | behind | the parade | are | aan | walked |
There are two circumpositions with af as their second member: van ... af and op ... af. The examples in (274) show that the circumpositional phrase van ... af may indicate a (change of) location, although it should be noted that (274a) is unnatural. Similar constructions are not possible with op ... af. The examples in (275) show that the two circumpositional phrases can both be used directionally.
a. | ? | Het boek | lag | van de tafel | (af). | location |
the book | lay | from the table | af | |||
'The book was removed/had fallen from the table.' |
b. | Jan legde | het boek van de tafel | (af). | change of location | |
Jan put | the book from the table | af | |||
'Jan removed the book from the table.' |
a. | Jan reed | van de berg | ?(af). | direction | |
Jan drove | from the mountain | af | |||
'Jan drove down from the mountain.' |
b. | Jan liep | op zijn tegenstander | *(af). | direction | |
Jan walked | towards his opponent | af |
In the locational examples in (274), the element af can be dropped without a clear change in meaning; the presence of af just seems to stress that the physical contact between the located object and the reference object has been broken. At first sight, it appears that af can also be dropped in the directional example in (275a), but this may be due to the fact that the preposition van can also be used as a directional preposition. In this respect, it is important to note that the absence or presence of af affects the meaning of the clause: if af is present, as in (276a), the implied path goes downward along the surface of the mountain, as depicted in Figure 32A; if af is absent, as in (276b), the clause can also express that Jan is withdrawing from the mountain, as in Figure 32B. In other words, only if af is present is it necessarily implied that the starting point of the implied part is situated on the mountain. Since the element af cannot be dropped in the case of (275b), it seems safe to conclude that it is actually obligatory in the directional construction, and that the case without af involves the directional prepositional phrase van de berg.
a. | Jan reed | van de berg | af. | |
Jan drove | from the mountain | af | ||
'Jan drove down from the mountain.' |
b. | Jan reed | van de berg | ?(naar het meer). | |
Jan drove | from the mountain | to the lake | ||
'Jan drove from the mountain to the lake.' |
The (a)-examples in (277) show that the circumposition tussen ... door cannot be used to indicate a (change of) location. The grammatical use of the circumpositional phrase in (277b) is directional. The same thing holds for onder ... door, which we will not illustrate here.
a. | Het boek | ligt | tussen de andere spullen | (*door). | location | |
the book | lies | between the other things | door |
a'. | Jan legt | het boek | tussen de andere spullen | (*door). | change of location | |
Jan puts | the book | between the other things | door |
b. | Jan reed | tussen de bomen | #(door). | direction | |
Jan drove | between the trees | door | |||
'Jan drove along a path that goes through the trees.' |
In (277b), door must be present; without it the directional meaning is lost. This can be readily illustrated by considering the perfect-tense constructions in (278): if the verb rijden takes the auxiliary zijn it is a verb of traversing, which requires a directional complementive, and door is compulsory; if the verb takes hebben it is an activity verb, which is compatible with a locational adverbial PP, and door is preferably dropped.
a. | Jan is tussen de bomen | *?(door) | gereden. | |
Jan is between the trees | door | driven | ||
'Jan has driven through in between the trees.' |
b. | Jan heeft | tussen de bomen | (?door) | gereden. | |
Jan has | between the trees | door | driven | ||
'Jan has driven along a path that goes through the trees.' |
The (a)-examples in (279) show that circumpositions with heen as their second member may indicate a (change of) location. The circumpositional phrase in (279b) is directional. In the (a)-examples, heen can be dropped without any clear effect on the meaning. This is also the case in (279b), which is not surprising since over can also be used as a directional preposition; the same thing holds at least marginally for langs'along' and om'around'.
a. | Over | zijn schouder | (heen) | hing | een kleurige das. | location | |
over | his shoulder | heen | hung | a colorful scarf | |||
'A colorful scarf was hanging over his shoulder.' |
a'. | Over | zijn schouder | (heen) | hing | Jan een kleurige das. | change of location | |
over | his shoulder | heen | hung | Jan a colorful scarf | |||
'Jan hung a colorful scarf over his shoulder.' |
b. | Jan reed | over de brug | (heen). | direction | |
Jan drove | over the bridge | heen | |||
'Jan drove over the bridge.' |
For completeness' sake we want to note that it is not particularly clear what semantic effect dropping heen has on the example in (279b). It has been suggested that heen indicates a movement directed away from the speaker (Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal; entry heenII) or some other anchoring point, but this certainly cannot be extended to the non-directional cases in (279). Furthermore, it does not seem to provide a correct characterization for directional examples such as (280) either.
Jan is drie keer | om mij | heen | gefietst. | ||
Jan is three time | around me | heen | cycled | ||
'Jan has traversed the path around me three times on bicycle.' |
It should be noted, however, that heen can be used as a verbal particle, and in that case it indeed has this implication of movement away from the speaker or some other anchoring point. However, these cases often have an archaic or idiomatic flavor. Some more or less idiomatic examples are given in (281).
a. | Jan is heen | gegaan. | |
Jan is away | gone | ||
'Jan has departed this life.' |
b. | Loop heen! | |
go away | ||
'Go away!' or 'You're kidding.' |
c. | Ik | ga | er | morgen | heen. | |
I | go | there | tomorrow | heen | ||
'Iʼll go there tomorrow' or 'Iʼll visit him/her/it/them tomorrow.' |
That (281a) is idiomatic is beyond doubt. . Turning to (281b), in addition to its idiomatic meaning “youʼre kidding!”, the more literal meaning “go away!” is special in that in colloquial speech this combination only occurs in the imperative mood: Jan liep heen'Jan walked away' is very formal and perhaps even archaic. That (281c) is more or less idiomatic is perhaps less clear. The main reason for assuming this is that the locational pro-form er'there' cannot be replaced by a full PP; examples such as (282a) are completely ungrammatical if heen is present (the same thing holds for iets er heen brengen'to bring something to NP'). More idiomatic expressions with heen are given in (282b&c).
a. | Ik | ga | morgen | naar oma/de bioscoop | (*heen). | |
I | go | tomorrow | to granny/the cinema | heen | ||
'Iʼll visit granny /go to the movies tomorrow.' |
b. | achter | iets | heen | gaan | |
after | something | heen | go | ||
'to chase/follow something up' |
c. | achter | iets/iemand | heen | zitten | |
after | something/someone | heen | sit | ||
'to keep onto something/someone' |
The (a)-examples in (283) show that the circumpositional phrase tussen de meisjes in may indicate a (change of) location; this is not easily possible, however, with tegen + NP + in. Both circumpositional phrases with in as their second member can be used directionally. This is illustrated in (283b) for tegen de stroom in: this example expresses that the speaker is traversing a path opposite to the direction of the current.
a. | Jan zit | tussen de twee meisjes | (in). | location | |
Jan sits | between the two girls | in | |||
'Jan is sitting in between the two girls.' |
a'. | Marie zet | Jan | tussen de twee meisjes | (in). | change of location | |
Marie puts | Jan | between the two girls | in | |||
'Marie is putting Jan in between the two girls.' |
b. | Tegen | de stroom | *(in) | zwem | ik | niet | graag. | direction | |
against | the current | in | swim | I | not | gladly | |||
'I don't like to swim against the current.' |
The element in can be dropped without a notable difference in meaning in the non-directional (a)-examples; in just seems to function as an emphasizer. In the directional example in (283b), on the other hand, in must be present; without it, the directional meaning gets lost.
The examples in (284) show that circumpositions with langs as their second member are only used as directional adpositions; the non-directional (a)-examples are only acceptable without the element langs.
a. | De bloemen | liggen | achter het huis | (*langs). | location | |
the flowers | lie | behind the house | langs | |||
'The flowers are lying behind the house.' |
a'. | Jan legt | de bloemen | achter het huis | (*langs). | change of location | |
Jan puts | the flowers | behind the house | langs | |||
'Jan is putting the flowers behind the house.' |
b. | Jan wandelt | achter | het huis | #(langs). | direction | |
Jan walks | behind | the house | langs | |||
'Jan is walking along the back of the house.' |
In (284b), the element langs is obligatory; without it the directional meaning gets lost. This can be readily illustrated by considering the perfect-tense constructions in (285): if the verb wandelen takes the auxiliary zijn it is a verb of traversing, which requires a directional complementive, and langs is compulsory; if the verb takes hebben it is an activity verb, which is compatible with a locational adverbial PP, and langs is preferably dropped.
a. | Jan is achter | het huis | *(langs) | gewandeld. | |
Jan is behind | the house | langs | walked | ||
'Jan has walked along the back of the house.' |
b. | Jan heeft achter | het huis | (*?langs) | gewandeld. | |
Jan is behind | the house | langs | walked | ||
'Jan has walked behind the house.' |
The examples in (286) show that circumpositions with om as their second member are only used as directional adpositions; the non-directional (a)-examples are only acceptable without the element om. In example (286c), we are dealing with a metaphorical use of the circumpositional phrase buiten de administratie om.
a. | De bloemen | liggen | achter het huis | (*om). | location | |
the flowers | lie | behind the house | om | |||
'The flowers are lying behind the house.' |
a'. | Jan legt | de bloemen | achter het huis | (*om). | change of location | |
Jan puts | the flowers | behind the house | om | |||
'Jan is putting the flowers behind the house.' |
b. | Jan liep | achter | het huis | #(om). | direction | |
Jan walked | behind | the house | om | |||
'Jan walked around the back of the house.' |
c. | Deze procedure | loopt | buiten | de administratie | *(om). | |
this procedure | goes | outside | the administration | om | ||
'The administration is not involved in this procedure.' |
In (286b&c), the element om is obligatory; without it the directional meaning of (286b) is lost, and (286c) becomes ungrammatical. The loss of the directional meaning of (b) can be readily illustrated by considering the perfect-tense constructions in (287): if the verb lopen takes the auxiliary zijn it is a verb of traversing, which requires a directional complementive, and om is compulsory; if the verb takes hebben it is an activity verb, which is compatible with a locational adverbial PP, and om is preferably dropped.
a. | Jan is achter | het huis | *(om) | gewandeld. | |
Jan is behind | the house | om | walked | ||
'Jan has walked around the back of the house.' |
b. | Jan heeft | achter | het huis | (*?om) | gewandeld. | |
Jan has | behind | the house | om | walked | ||
'Jan has walked behind the house.' |
The examples in (288) show that the circumposition tegen ... op can only be used as a directional adposition; the non-directional (a)-examples are only acceptable without the element op. In example (288c), we are dealing with an idiomatic construction tegen de klippen op werken.
a. | De ladder | stond | tegen de muur | (??op). | location | |
the ladder | stood | against the wall | op | |||
'The ladder stood against the wall.' |
a'. | Marie zette | de ladder | tegen de muur | (??op). | change of location | |
Marie put | the ladder | against the wall | op | |||
'Marie put the ladder against the wall.' |
b. | Jan klimt | tegen de muur | #(op). | direction | |
Jan climbs | against the wall | op | |||
'Jan is climbing up against the wall.' |
c. | Jan werkt | tegen | de klippen | *(op). | |
Jan works | against | the cliffs | up | ||
'Jan is working extremely hard.' |
The element op is obligatory in the directional construction; without it the directional meaning of (288b) gets lost and (288c) becomes ungrammatical. For those people who accept (289b) without op, the verb acts as an activity verb, and the PP acts as an adverbial phrase.
a. | Jan is | tegen de berg | *(op) | geklommen. | |
Jan is | against the mountain | op | climbed | ||
'Jan has climbed up against the wall.' |
b. | Jan heeft | tegen de berg | ?(*?op) | geklommen. | |
Jan has | against the mountain | op | climbed | ||
'Jan has climbed up against the wall.' |
The examples in (290) show that the circumposition tot ... toe cannot readily be used to denote a (change of) location.
a. | De stenen | liggen | tot de heg | (*?toe). | location | |
the stones | lie | until the hedge | toe | |||
'The stones are lying up to the hedge.' |
b. | Jan legt | de stenen | tot de heg | (*?toe). | change of location | |
Jan lays | the stones | until the hedge | toe | |||
'Jan is laying the stones up to the hedge.' |
The examples seem to improve slightly if we add a van-PP, as in (291). It is, however, doubtful whether the circumpositions refer to a (change of) location in these cases: the van-PP is directional (it indicates the starting point of the path) so we expect that the circumpositional phrase is also directional (it indicates the endpoint of the path). Therefore, the examples in (291) are directional, and have an extent reading comparable to Het pad loopt van hier tot aan de heg (toe)'The path extends from here to the hedge'.
a. | De stenen | liggen | van hier | tot de heg | (?toe). | |
the stones | lie | from here | until the hedge | toe |
b. | Jan legt | de stenen | van hier | tot de heg | (?toe). | |
Jan lays | the stones | from here | until the hedge | toe | ||
'Jan is laying the stones from here to the hedge.' |
As is shown in (292), the examples in (290) become completely grammatical if the noun phrase de heg is preceded by the element aan. It has been suggested that tot aan ... toe is also a circumposition, albeit of a slightly more complex nature. There are, however, reasons to reject this suggestion: the preposition tot is able to take an adpositional complement (see Section 2.2.1, sub III, for more discussion), so we may be dealing with the circumposition tot ... toe, which takes a PP-complement.
a. | De stenen | liggen | tot | aan de heg | (toe). | |
the stones | lie | until | at the hedge | toe |
b. | Jan legt | de stenen | tot | aan de heg | (toe). | |
Jan lays | the stones | until | at the hedge | toe | ||
'Jan is laying the stones from here to the hedge.' |
From the discussion above, we can probably conclude that circumpositions with toe are directional only, as in (293). In these examples, toe seems to be optional, which is not really surprising given that the prepositions naar'to' and tot'until' are both directional themselves; the meaning contribution of toe seems to be mainly a case of adding emphasis. Note that (293b) can also be made more complex by adding the element aan; we will return to such examples in Section 2.2.1, sub III.
a. | Jan | reed | naar Peter | (toe). | |
Jan | drove | to Peter | toe | ||
'Jan drove to Peter.' |
b. | Jan reed | tot | <aan> | de grens <aan> | (toe). | |
Jan drove | until | aan | the border | toe | ||
'Jan drove until the border.' |
The circumpositions with uit as their second member can be used to refer to a location, as in (294a): the element uit must be present in order to obtain the “out from” reading. The corresponding construction involving a change of location in (294b) is infelicitous, which, in this case, may be due to the fact that it seems improbable that Marie would stick out her skirt on purpose.
a. | Haar rok | hing | onder haar jas | #(uit). | location | |
her skirt | hung | under her coat | uit | |||
'Her skirt was sticking out from under her coat.' |