- 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
- I. Genitive and dative nominal complements
- A. The case of nominal complements
- B. The obligatoriness of the nominal complement
- C. Order of the subject of the clause and nominal complements of adjectives
- D. Constituency of the adjective and the nominal complement
- E. Dative complements of adjectives modified by te'too' and genoeg'enough'
- F. Some less clear cases
- A. The case of nominal complements
- II. Clauses introduced by the anticipatory pronoun het
This subsection discusses a relatively small set of adjectives and adjectival constructions that may take a nominal complement. Although such adjectives occur both in German and in Dutch, they seem somewhat rarer in the latter language; cf. Van Riemsdijk (1983) for an extensive discussion of the German counterparts of the adjectives discussed in this subsection. This subsection will not discuss adjectives in the form of past/present participles or modal infinitives, which may occur with nominal complements inherited from the base verb; these will be extensively discussed in Section 9.2.
Although case is not morphologically realized in Dutch, we can divide the set of adjectives that take a nominal complement into three groups on the basis of the case that would be assigned to the nominal complement in German. The German counterparts of the adjectives in parts A and B of Table 5 take, respectively, genitive and dative complements, and the German counterpart of the adjective waard 'worth' in the C part takes an accusative complement.
case | example | translation |
A. Genitive | zich iets bewust zijn | to be conscious of something |
iets deelachtig worden | to acquire something | |
iets gewend/gewoon zijn | to be accustomed to something | |
iets indachtig zijn | to be mindful of something | |
iets moe/zat/beu zijn | to be weary of something | |
iets machtig zijn | to be in command of something. | |
B. Dative | aangeboren | innate |
beschoren | given | |
bespaard | spared | |
duidelijk/helder | clear | |
gehoorzaam | obedient | |
goedgezind | well-disposed | |
(on)bekend | (un)known | |
toegewijd/toegedaan | devoted | |
trouw | loyal | |
vertrouwd/vreemd | familiar/foreign | |
C. Accusative | waard | worth |
These case distinctions seem to correlate with the semantic complement type: the dative complements of the adjectives in Table 5B are normally +human or +animate, whereas the genitive and accusative complements of the adjectives in Table 5A can also be -animate. This is illustrated in (26); the nominal complements are given in italics.
a. | Jan is zich | dat probleem | bewust. | |
Jan is refl | that problem | aware | ||
'Jan is aware of that problem.' |
b. | Het probleem | werd | Peter | maar | niet | duidelijk. | |
the problem | became | Peter | prt | not | clear | ||
'The problem didnʼt become clear to Peter.' |
c. | Dit boek | is | mij | veel geld | waard. | |
this book | is | me | much money | worth | ||
'This book is worth a lot of money to me.' |
The adjectives in Table 5A&B can be readily used in copular constructions, which is shown in the primeless examples of (27) and (28); in the German translations in the primed examples, we have indicated the case of the nominal complement by means of a subscript.
a. | Peter is | het Frans | machtig. | Dutch | |
Peter is | the French | in.command.of |
a'. | Peter ist | des Französischengenitive | mächtig. | German | |
Peter is | the French | in.command.of | |||
'Peter is able to speak French.' |
b. | Peter is | deze opera | zat. | Dutch | |
Peter is | this opera | weary |
b'. | Peter ist | dieser Opergenitive | überdrüssig. | German | |
Peter is | this opera | weary | |||
'Peter is weary of this opera.' |
a. | Deze omgeving | is | hem | erg vertrouwd. | Dutch | |
this area | is | him | very familiar |
a'. | Diese Umgebung | ist | ihmdative | sehr geläufig. | German | |
this area | is | him | very familiar | |||
'This area is very familiar to him.' |
b. | De universele grammatica | is | de mens | aangeboren. | Dutch | |
the universal grammar | is | the man | innate |
b'. | Die Universalgrammatik | ist | dem Menschendative | angeboren. | German | |
the universal grammar | is | the man | innate | |||
'Universal Grammar is innate to man.' |
The nominal complements differ from the prepositional ones discussed in 2.1 in that they cannot follow the adjective. This is illustrated in the (a)-examples in (29) for the Dutch examples in (27) and by the (b)-examples for the Dutch examples in (28).
a. | * | Peter is machtig het Frans. |
a'. | * | Peter is zat deze opera |
b. | * | Deze omgeving is erg vertrouwd hem. |
b'. | * | De universele grammatica is aangeboren | de mens. |
The examples in (30a&b) show that the adjectives in Table 5 cannot readily be used in resultative constructions. An apparent counterexample is given in (30c), in which bekendmaken (which is normally written as a single word) is a fixed collocation with the meaning “to announce".
a. | * | Ik | maak | Jan deze operagenitive | zat | (door hem te vaak te spelen). |
I | make | Jan this opera | weary | by playing it too often |
b. | * | Ik | maak | Jandative | deze omgeving | bekend. |
I | make | Jan | this area | familiar |
c. | Ik | maak Jan mijn plannen | bekend. | |
I | make Jan my plans | familiar | ||
'I announced my plans to Jan.' |
Adjectives that take a genitive or a dative object differ in that only the former can be marginally used in the achten/vinden-construction; this is shown by the examples in (31a&b). However, if the dative noun phrase in (31b) is dropped, the construction becomes fully acceptable, although it is not clear why omitting the complement should have this effect; see the discussion of (35) for a suggestion that may be helpful in this respect.
a. | ? | Ik | acht | Jan het Fransgenitive | machtig. |
I | consider | Jan the French | in.command.of |
b. | *? | Ik | acht | de mensdative | de universele grammatica | aangeboren. |
I | consider | the man | the universal grammar | innate |
b'. | Ik | acht | de universele grammatica | aangeboren. | |
I | consider | the universal grammar | innate |
An example with the adjective waard in Table 5C is given in (32a). This adjective also occurs in the syntactic frame in (32b); in this frame, the pronoun mij is assigned dative case in German, and the noun phrase het geld receives accusative case.
a. | Peter | is | die onderscheiding | waard. | Dutch | |
Peter | is | that distinction | worth |
a'. | Peter | ist | die Unterscheidungaccusative | wert. | German | |
Peter | is | that distinction | worth | |||
'Peter deserves that distinction.' |
b. | Dit boek | is mij | het geld | niet | waard. | Dutch | |
this book | is me | the money | not | worth |
b'. | Dieses Buch | ist | mirdative | den Preisaccusative | nicht | wert. | German | |
this book | is | me | the money | not | worth | |||
'This book isnʼt worth the money to me.' |
The genitive arguments of the adjectives in Table 5A are normally obligatory, although they can occasionally be replaced by a van-PP, as is illustrated in (33). The use of the number sign in (33b) indicates that omitting the genitive argument is possible, but will have a dramatic effect on the meaning of the sentence: Jan is moe/zat'Jan is tired/drunk'.
a. | Jan is zich | *(het probleemgenitive) | bewust. | |
Jan is refl | the problem | conscious |
a'. | Jan is zich | bewust | van dat probleem. | |
Jan is refl | conscious | of that problem | ||
'Jan is aware of that problem.' |
b. | Jan is #(die operagenitive) | moe/zat. | |
Jan is that opera | weary |
b'. | ? | Jan is | moe/zat | van die opera. |
Jan is | weary | of that opera |
It seems that the adjectives in Table 5B can be divided into two subclasses in this respect: beschoren, bespaard, goedgezind and toegewijd/toegedaan require that the dative argument be present, whereas aangeboren, duidelijk, gehoorzaam, helder, (on)bekend, trouw, vertrouwd and vreemd can also occur without a dative argument. This is illustrated in (34).
a. | Peter is *(hemdative) | goedgezind. | |
Peter is him | well.disposed | ||
'Peter is well-disposed towards him.' |
b. | Dit probleem | is (hemdative) | bekend. | |
this problem | is him | known | ||
'This problem is known (to him).' |
It should be noted, however, that omitting the dative argument from the second subclass sometimes affects the meaning/denotation of the adjective. This is illustrated in (35). This raises the question as to whether our claim that the dative argument is optional with adjectives of the second subclass is actually correct; it may be the case that we are simply dealing with two homophonous forms.
a. | Deze karaktereigenschap | is hemdative | vreemd. | |
this quality | is him | foreign | ||
'He doesnʼt possess this quality of character.' |
b. | Deze karaktereigenschap | is vreemd. | |
this quality | is weird |
In some cases the dative noun phrases can be replaced by a voor- or an aan-PP. The former is possible with the adjectives duidelijk/helder, and the latter with the adjectives gehoorzaam and trouw.
a. | Het probleem | is | mij | duidelijk/helder. | |
the problem | is | me | clear/clear | ||
'The problem is clear to me.' |
a'. | ? | Het probleem | is duidelijk/helder | voor me. |
the problem | is clear/clear | to me |
b. | De hond | is Peter gehoorzaam. | |
the dog | is Peter obedient | ||
'The dog is obedient to Peter.' |
b'. | De hond | is gehoorzaam | aan Peter. | |
the dog | is obedient | to Peter |
c. | De hond | is Peter trouw. | |
the dog | is Peter loyal | ||
'The dog is loyal to Peter.' |
c'. | De hond | is trouw | aan Peter. | |
the dog | is loyal | to Peter |
The genitive complement of the adjectives in Table 5A always follows the subject of the clause, which is illustrated in (37) by the contrast between the primeless and primed examples.
a. | dat | Jan | het Fransgenitive | machtig | is. | |
that | Jan | the French | in.command.of | is | ||
'that Jan has a firm grasp of French' |
a'. | * | dat het Frans Jan machtig is. |
b. | dat | Jan deze operagenitive | zat | is. | |
that | Jan this opera | weary | is | ||
'that Jan had enough of this opera.' |
b'. | * | dat deze opera Jan zat is. |
The adjectives in Table 5B, however, can again be divided into two subclasses in this respect. The adjectives gehoorzaam and trouw in (38a) require the dative object to follow the subject of the clause; the order in example (38b) forces the reading that it is Jan who is loyal/obedient to the dog.
a. | dat | de hond | Jandative | trouw/gehoorzaam | is. | |
that | the dog | Jan | loyal/obedient | is | ||
'that the dog is loyal/obedient to Jan.' |
b. | # | dat Jan de hond trouw/gehoorzaam is. |
The adjectives in (39), on the other hand, allow the dative object to precede the subject. Since we also find this kind of order variation with the subject of dyadic unaccusative verbs, it has been suggested that the subject of the clause is in fact an internal argument of the adjective; cf. Bennis (2004) and also Cinque (1990). More evidence in favor of this claim can be found in Section 6.5.
a. | dat | de universele grammatica | de mensdative | aangeboren | is. | |
that | the universal grammar | the man | innate | is | ||
'that Universal Grammar is innate to man.' |
a'. | dat | de mensdative de universele grammatica aangeboren is. |
b. | dat | dat probleem | Jandative | nu | eindelijk | duidelijk/helder | is. | |
that | that problem | Jan | now | finally | clear | is | ||
'that the problem is finally clear to Jan now.' |
b'. | dat | Jandative dat probleem nu eindelijk duidelijk/helder is. |
The genitive/dative noun phrase is a complement of the adjective (and not of the verb). One fact supporting this claim is that, in German, the case assigned to the noun phrase is determined by the adjective. Furthermore, if the noun phrase can be replaced by a complement PP, the combination A + PP can be placed in clause-initial position and must therefore be a constituent; cf. the constituency test.
a. | Ik | was me | dat probleemgenitive | bewust. | |
I | was refl | that problem | aware |
a'. | Ik | was me | bewust | van dat probleem. | |
I | was refl | aware | of that problem | ||
'I was aware of that problem.' |
a''. | [Bewust | van dat probleem] | was | ik | me | niet. | |
aware | of that problem | was | I | refl | not |
b. | De ridder | bleef | zijn heerdative | trouw. | |
the knight | remained | his lord | loyal |
b'. | De ridder | bleef | trouw | aan zijn heer. | |
the knight | remained | loyal | to his lord |
b''. | [Trouw | aan zijn heer] | bleef | de ridder | niet. | |
loyal | to his lord | remained | the knight | not |
Given that the combination A + PP forms a constituent, it seems relatively safe to assume that the same thing holds for the combination NP + A, although it should be noted that there is a potential problem: the primeless examples in (41) show that at least for some speakers, topicalization of the combination NP + A gives rise to a degraded result, and all speakers clearly prefer the split patterns in the primed examples. We return to these patterns in Section 2.3, while noting that German speakers seem to have much fewer problems with the primeless orders in (41).
a. | % | [AP | Dat probleemgenitive | bewust] | was | ik | me | niet. |
% | %[AP | that problem | aware | was | I | refl | not | |
'I wasnʼt aware of that problem.' |
a'. | Bewust was ik me dat probleem niet. |
a''. | Dat probleem was ik me niet bewust. |
b. | % | [AP | Zijn heerdative | trouw] | bleef | de ridder/hij | niet. |
% | %[AP | his lord | loyal | remained | the knight/he | not | |
'The knight/he didnʼt remain loyal to his lord.' |
b'. | Trouw bleef de ridder/hij zijn heer niet. |
b''. | Zijn heer bleef de ridder/hij niet trouw. |
Although the set of adjectives that take a nominal complement is quite small in Dutch, it should be noted that virtually any gradable adjective can be combined with a dative object if it is modified by the (evaluative) intensifying element te'too'; cf. Section 3.1.2, sub II. The examples in (42) show that, in the resulting structure, the dative object refers to the individual whose evaluation is given. Note further that the subject of the clause can always follow the dative object; cf. the discussion of examples (38b&c) in Subsection C.
a. | dat | het boek | Jan/mij | *(te) | moeilijk | is. | |
that | the book | Jan/me | too | difficult | is | ||
'that the book is too difficult for Jan/me.' |
a'. | dat Jan/mij het boek te moeilijk is. |
b. | dat | het water | Jan/mij | *(te) | koud | is. | |
that | the water | Jan/me | too | cold | is | ||
'that the water is too cold for Jan/me.' |
b'. | dat Jan/mij het water te koud is. |
The examples in (43) show that similar facts can sometimes be observed in the case of the modifier genoeg'enough'; cf. Section 3.1.3, sub IV.
a. | dat | het boek | Jan/mij | al | moeilijk | *(genoeg) | is. | |
that | the book | Jan/me | already | difficult | enough | is | ||
'that the book is already difficult enough for Jan/me.' |
a'. | dat Jan/mij het boek al moeilijk genoeg is. |
b. | dat | het water | Jan/mij | al | koud | *(genoeg) | is. | |
that | the water | Jan/me | already | cold | enough | is | ||
'that the water is cold enough for Jan/me.' |
b'. | dat Jan/mij het water al koud genoeg is. |
The primeless examples in (44) illustrate that the dative phrases in (42) and (43) alternate with voor-PPs. The primed examples show that these PPs can be readily pied-piped by topicalization of an AP modified by te'too', but that this is harder in the case of the modifier genoeg. The fact that (44b') is also marked without the PP suggests that this is not due to problems with pied piping of the PP but to problems with topicalization of the modified adjective.
a. | dat | het boek te moeilijk | is voor Jan. | |
that | the book too difficult | is for Jan |
a. | Te moeilijk voor Jan | is dat boek | niet. | |
too difficult for Jan | is that book | not |
b. | dat | het boek | al | moeilijk | *(genoeg) | is voor Jan. | |
that | the book | already | difficult | enough | is for Jan |
b'. | ?? | Moeilijk genoeg | (voor Jan) | is het boek | nog niet. |
difficult enough | for Jan | is the book | not yet |
Besides the examples in Table 5, there are some more or less fixed expressions in which the categorial status of the predicative element is not clear; examples such as (45) are often considered lexicalized phrasal verbs.
a. | Hij | is het spoor | bijster. | |
he | is the track | lost | ||
'He has lost his way.' |
b. | Hij | is de stad | meester. | |
he | is the city | in.command.of | ||
'Heʼs in command of the city.' |
c. | Hij | is zijn sleutels | steeds | kwijt. | |
he | is his keys | all.the.time | lost | ||
'He mislays/loses his keys all the time.' |
A small subset of the adjectives in Table 5A, which take a genitive noun phrase as their complement, may also occur with a clausal complement, which can be finite or infinitival; the clearest cases involve the adjectives bewust'conscious' and moe/zat/beu'weary', illustrated in (46a) and (46b), respectively. The examples in (46) show that the clause is obligatorily introduced by the anticipatory pronoun het'it', which suggests that we can consider these examples as special cases of the examples with a nominal complement discussed in Subsection I. Observe that the implied subject PRO of the infinitival clauses in the primed examples must be construed as identical to the subject of the matrix clause.
a. | Ik | ben | ??(het) | me | bewust | [dat hij ziek is]. | |
I | am | it | refl | conscious | that he ill is | ||
'Iʼm aware of the fact that heʼs ill.' |
a'. | Iki | ben | *(het) | me | bewust [PROi | ziek | te zijn]. | |
I | am | it | refl | conscious | ill | to be | ||
'Iʼm aware of the fact that Iʼm ill.' |
b. | Ik | ben | *(het) | moe/zat/beu | [dat | jij | steeds | zeurt]. |