- 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
Unlike the deictic and the inherent interpretations, the absolute interpretation requires no information about the reference object and/or an external anchoring point; minimal information about the natural environment (such as what the position of the earth or magnetic north is) suffices to properly interpret these prepositions. The absolute prepositions can be divided into two groups, which differ in that the former refers to a (change of) location, whereas the latter is directional.
The group of absolute prepositions that denote a (change of) location is given in Table 15. These prepositions denote vectors with a magnitude greater than 0; there is no physical contact between the reference object and the located object. Some examples of PPs headed by these prepositions are given in (185).
preposition | deictic | inherent | absolute | null vector | locational | directional |
boven | — | — | + | — | + | — |
om | — | — | + | — | + | ? |
onder | — | — | + | — | + | ? |
rond | — | — | + | — | + | ? |
tussen | — | — | + | — | + | ? |
a. | De lamp | hangt | boven | de kast. | |
the lamp | hangs | above | the cupboard |
b. | De bal | ligt | onder | de kast. | |
the ball | lies | under | the cupboard |
c. | De lamp | staat | tussen | twee vazen. | |
the lamp | stands | between | two vases |
d. | De ketting | zit | om | zijn enkel. | |
the chain | sits | around | his ankle |
e. | De kaarsen | staan | rond | de kerststal. | |
the candles | stand | around | the crib |
Before we discuss the absolute meaning of the prepositions in Table 15 more extensively, we want to discuss a number of special uses of them. First, the idiomatic expressions with boven in (186) seem to have a directional flavor.
a. | Dat | gaat | mij | boven de pet. | |
that | goes | me | above the cap | ||
'That is over my head /I donʼt understand that.' |
b. | Hij | groeit | mij | boven het hoofd. | |
he | grows | me | above the head | ||
'Heʼs outgrowing me/Heʼs leaving me standing.' |
The same thing seems to hold for the idiomatic constructions in (187a), in which the adposition boven is preceded by the preposition te. The examples in (187b&c) show that similar idiomatic constructions are possible with the non-directional inherent prepositions binnen'inside' and buiten'outside', which will be discussed in Section 1.3.1.2.3.
a. | Dit | gaat | mijn verstand | te boven. | |
this | goes | my understanding | te above | ||
'This goes beyond my power of reasoning.' |
b. | Dat | schoot | me | net | te binnen. | |
that | rushed | me | just | te inside | ||
'This just came to me/I just remembered this.' |
c. | Dit | gaat | alle perken | te buiten. | |
this | goes | all boundaries | te outside | ||
'This oversteps all bounds.' |
The preposition onder seems to denote the null vector in the idiomatic construction zitten + [PPonder ....] in (188a), which expresses that the bird is covered with oil. That we are dealing with an idiom is clear from the fact that the preposition onder has no paradigm; it cannot be replaced by any other spatial prepositions. Other constructions in which physical contact seems to be implied are given in the (b)-examples in (188): the (c)-examples show that in these examples onder functions as the antonym of the inherent preposition op, not of boven. This shows that onder can be used both as an absolute and as an inherent preposition. This subsection only discusses the former use.
a. | De vogel | zit | onder de olie. | |
the bird | sits | under the oil | ||
Idiomatic: 'The bird has oil all over it.' |
b. | Jan ligt | onder de dekens. | |
Jan lies | under the blankets | ||
'Jan is lying under the blankets.' |
b'. | Jan ligt | onder me. | |
Jan lies | under me | ||
'Jan is lying under me.' |
c. | Jan ligt op/?boven de dekens. | |
Jan lies on/above the blankets | ||
'Jan is lying on the blankets.' |
c'. | Jan ligt op/*boven me. | |
Jan lies on/above me | ||
'Jan is lying on top of me.' |
The examples in (189), finally, show that, like the deictic prepositions achter'behind' and voor'in front of', the absolute prepositions boven and onder can be combined with the inherent prepositions op'on' and in'in'. The resulting sequence must be interpreted inherently and denotes the null vector.
a. | bovenop | 'on top of' |
a'. | bovenin | 'at the top of' |
b. | onderop | 'on the bottom of' |
b'. | onderin | 'at the bottom of' |
Let us now turn to the more normal, absolute interpretations of the prepositions boven'above', om'around', onder'beneath', rond'around' and tussen'between' in Table 15. PPs headed by these prepositions can normally be interpreted without taking recourse to the dimensional properties of the reference object (which we therefore represent as a point in Figure 13 below) and/or some external anchoring point. For the interpretation of PPs headed by boven and onder, however, we do need some information about the natural environment; as is shown in Figure 13A, we have to know where the earth surface is situated. Figure 13B&C shows that minimal information like this is not even needed for the prepositions om'around', rond'around' and tussen'between'.
Observe that the preposition tussen'between' is special in that it normally requires a plural complement; the location is computed on the basis of at least two reference objects. This property can also be found with the preposition halverwege in (190a), although this preposition can also refer to a certain position on the reference object; in (190b), the position of the located object is computed on the basis of the boundaries (in this case, the bottom and the top) of the reference object.
a. | Jan woont | halverwege/tussen | Groningen en Zuid-Laren. | |
Jan lives | halfway/between | Groningen and Zuid-Laren |
b. | Jan staat | halverwege/*tussen | de ladder. | |
Jan stands | halfway/between | the ladder |
There are some exceptions to the general rule that the complement of tussen'between' is plural. In (191), for example, tussen takes the singular noun phrase de deur'the door' as its complement. However, what is actually claimed is that Janʼs finger got jammed between the door and the door-post.
Jan kreeg | zijn vinger | tussen de deur. | ||
Jan got | his finger | between the door |
In many cases, the preposition om seems to refer to a region in only two dimensions, as in the left figure in Figure 13C, whereas rond seems to denote a region in three dimensions, as in the right figure. In other cases, however, the difference between the two is not clear, and both om and rond seem to be equally well applicable to the two situations in Figure 13C (and the same thing seems to hold for the complex preposition rondom). The two examples in (192), for example, seem to be nearly equivalent.
a. | De padvinders | zitten | om het vuur. | |
the scouts | sit | around the fire |
b. | De padvinders | zitten | rond het vuur. | |
the scouts | sit | around the fire |
Still, it is not the case that om and rond are always interchangeable. In examples such as (193a), the preposition om is possible whereas the preposition rond gives rise to a severely degraded result, although it should be noted that Zwarts (2006), who proposes a number of semantic restrictions on the use of om and rond, assigns a mere question mark to the example with rond.
Jan woont | om/*rond de hoek. | ||
Jan lives | around the corner |
The examples in (185) have already shown that PPs headed by the prepositions in Table 15 can be used to indicate a location. The examples in (194) show that these PPs can also be used to indicate a change of location.
a. | Jan hangt | de lamp | boven | de kast. | |
Jan hangs | the lamp | above | the cupboard |
b. | Jan legt | de bal | onder | de kast. | |
Jan puts | the ball | under | the cupboard |
c. | Jan zet | de lamp | tussen | twee vazen. | |
Jan puts | the lamp | between | two vases |
d. | Jan wikkelt | de ketting | om | zijn enkel. | |
Jan winds | the chain | around | his ankle |
e. | Jan zet | kaarsen | rond | de kerststal. | |
Jan puts | candles | around | the crib |
Although intuitions are again not very sharp, it seems that, with the exception of boven, the prepositions under discussion can also be used directionally. One indication for this is that they can at least marginally occur as the complement of a verb of traversing like rijden'to drive' in (195).
a. | Jan is ??onder/*boven | de brug | gereden. | |
Jan is under/above | the bridge | driven |
b. | ?? | Jan is tussen | de bomen | gereden. |
Jan is between | the trees | driven |
c. | Jan is om/?rond | het meer | gereden. | |
Jan is around | the lake | driven |
Note that the marginal examples become fully acceptable if rijden takes the auxiliary hebben in the perfect tense, but rijden is then just an activity verb and the PP functions as an adverbial phrase of place. In fact, the same thing holds for boven, as will be clear from the following example: Het zweefvliegtuig heeft/*is boven de hei gevlogen'The sailplane has flown over the heath land'.
A clearer indication that these prepositions can be interpreted directionally is that most of them can head PPs with an extent reading. For examples (196a&b), it might be argued that the preposition is an abbreviation of the circumposition P ... door, but this is certainly not possible for om and rond in (196c).
a. | De weg | loopt | onder | de brug | ?(door). | |
the road | goes | under | the bridge | door |
b. | De weg | loopt | tussen | de bomen | ?(door). | |
the road | goes | between | the trees | door |
c. | De weg | loopt | om/rond | het meer | (*door). | |
the road | goes | around | the lake | door |
The more or less formal preposition te'in/at' probably also belongs to the group of absolute prepositions. A PP headed by te seems to be preferably interpreted as denoting a location, as in (197a), but the examples in (197b&c) show that such PPs may sometimes also refer to a change of location. Given the formal nature of te, it is not surprising that there are several fixed expressions involving a change of location; an example is given in (197d). Note that the examples in (187) above suggest that PPs headed by te are sometimes even directional in nature.
a. | Jan woont | te Amsterdam. | location | |
Jan lives | in Amsterdam |
b. | Jan raakte | te water. | change of location | |
Jan got | in water | |||
'Jan got into the water.' |
c. | Jan vestigt | zich | te Amsterdam. | (change of) location | |
Jan settles | refl | in Amsterdam |
d. | We | hebben | hem | gisteren | ter aarde | besteld. | |
we | have | him | yesterday | into.the earth | delivered | ||
'We buried him yesterday.' |
To conclude this discussion of the absolute locational prepositions, we want to note that boven and onder together with the deictic prepositions discussed in 1.3.1.2.1 give an exhaustive, but not necessarily complementary, division of space. If we take the crossing point of the three axes in the Cartesian-style coordinate system in Figure 14 to represent the position of the reference object, six regions can be distinguished. The regions denoted by voor'in front of' and achter'behind', boven'above' and onder'above' and links van'to the left of' and rechts van'to the right of' do not overlap; they are true antonyms. The other ones, on the other hand, may overlap, which is also clear from the fact that combinations such as rechts boven'right above', links achter'left behind' and ?voor onder'in front under' can be found. Observe that naast'next to' can be used if the left/right distinction is not relevant; similar prepositions do not exist for voor/achter or boven/onder. Adpositions of the sort given in Figure 14, including the preposition tussen'in between', are referred to as projective prepositions in Zwart (1997).
As was shown in Figure 13B&C above, in addition to the regions denoted by these six “basic” prepositions, other regions can be denoted by prepositions like tussen'between' and om/rondom'around'. Further, it should be noted that there are also other ways to divide space, for example, by means of the absolute phrasal prepositions ten noorden/oosten/zuiden/westen van'to the north/east/south/west of'.
The absolute directional prepositions in Table 16 do not normally refer to a (change of) location, but denote a direction (a movement along a path). Given the fact that the located object is not situated in a fixed location but on a path (an ordered sequence of vectors), they do not involve the null vector by definition.
preposition | deictic | inherent | absolute | null vector | locational | directional |
naar | — | — | + | — | — | + |
tot (en met) | — | — | + | — | — | + |
van | — | — | + | — | — | + |
vanaf | — | — | + | — | — | + |
vanuit | — | — | + | — | — | + |
over (I) | — | — | + | — | — | + |
via | — | — | + | — | — | + |
voorbij | — | — | + | — | — | + |
That the PPs headed by the prepositions in Table 16 do not readily refer to a location is clear from the fact that they cannot head the complements of locational verbs like liggen'to lie' or verbs of change of location like leggen'to put'. In (198), this is illustrated for the prepositions naar'to', van'from' and via'via'.
a. | * | Het boek | ligt | naar | de boekenkast. |
the book | lies | to | the bookshelves |
a'. | * | Jan legt | het boek | naar | de boekenkast. |
Jan puts | the lamp | to | the bookshelves |
b. | * | Het boek | ligt | van | de boekenkast. |
the book | lies | from | the bookshelves |
b'. | ? | Jan legt | het boek | van | de boekenkast. |
Jan puts | the book | from | the bookshelves |
c. | * | Het boek | ligt | voorbij | de boekenkast. |
the book | lies | past | the bookshelves |
c'. | * | Jan legt | het boek | voorbij | de boekenkast. |
Jan puts | the book | past | the bookshelves |
The fact that example (198b') is relatively good is perhaps due to the fact that van can sometimes be used as an abbreviation of the circumposition van ... af. Note further that the preposition voorbij can be used to indicate a location if the located object is a building or a geographical entity (city, village mountain, etc.); the speaker then has a path in mind stretching from his current position towards the located object; the located object is then situated with respect to the reference object on this path. An example is given in (199a). Another counterexample to the claim that the prepositions in Table 16 are not locational is the possessive dative construction in (199b), which is normally interpreted metaphorically. That we are dealing with a more or less fixed expression is clear from the fact that it does not alternate with the construction in (199b'), in which the possessive relation is expressed by a possessive pronoun; see the discussion in V3.3.1.4.
a. | Goirle ligt | even | voorbij | Tilburg. | |
Goirle lies | just | past | Tilburg |
b. | Het water | staat | hem | tot de lippen. | |
the water | stands | him | to the lips | ||
'Heʼs in great difficulties.' |
b'. | * | Het water | staat | tot zijn lippen. |
the water | stands | to his lips |
Whereas the prepositions in Table 16 normally do not occur as the complement of verbs of (change of) location, they do typically occur as the complement of verbs of traversing like rijden'to drive', fietsen'cycling', and lopen'to walk'.
a. | Jan | reed | naar Groningen. | |
Jan | drove | to Groningen |
a'. | Jan | is | naar Groningen | gereden. | |
Jan | has | to Groningen | driven |
b. | Jan | fietst | van Utrecht ?(naar Groningen). | |
Jan | cycles | from Utrecht to Groningen |
b'. | Jan | is | van Utrecht ?(naar Groningen) | gefietst. | |
Jan | has | from Utrecht to Groningen | cycled |
c. | Jan | reed | voorbij Groningen. | |
Jan | drove | past Groningen |
c'. | (?) | Jan | is | voorbij Groningen | gereden. |
Jan | has | past Groningen | driven |
The examples in (201) show that these prepositions also occur with unaccusative verbs like vertrekken'to leave', komen'to come', and gaan'to go'. This need not surprise us, given that the verbs of traversing in (200) also behave like unaccusatives: for example, they must take the auxiliary zijn'to be' in the perfect tense.
a. | Jan vertrok/ging | naar Groningen. | |
Jan left/went | to Groningen |
b. | Jan vertrekt/komt | van Utrecht. | |
Jan leaves/comes | from Utrecht |
c. | Jan kwam | voorbij Groningen | |
Jan came | past Groningen |
Note that if the verbs in (200) take the auxiliary hebben, they no longer behave like verbs of traversing but like normal activity verbs; the concomitant result, shown in (202), is that PPs headed by the prepositions in Table 16 become degraded. Note that (202b) is acceptable if the phrase van Groningen tot Tilburg is interpreted restrictively in the sense that it is implied that Jan did something else (e.g., driving) during the remainder of the covered path; this adverbial reading is not relevant here.
a. | Jan | heeft | (*naar Groningen) | gereden. | |
Jan | has | to Groningen | driven |
b. | Jan | heeft | (#van Utrecht naar Groningen) | gefietst. | |
Jan | has | from Utrecht to Groningen | cycled |
c. | Jan | heeft | (*voorbij Groningen) | gereden. | |
Jan | has | past Groningen | driven |
The directional prepositions can be divided into three groups. The first group takes the reference object as the endpoint of the implied path. The second group, on the other hand, takes the reference object as the starting point of the path. The prepositions of the third group, finally, denote a path that includes the reference object. This can be represented by means of the two features ±from and ±to.
a. | -from-to: locational adpositions |
b. | -from+to: naar'to'; tot'until'; in de richting van'in the direction of' |
c. | +from-to: van'from'; vanuit'from out of'; vanaf'from' |
d. | +from+to: via'via'; over'over'; voorbij'past' |
The feature constellation in (203a) denotes the set of prepositions that are non-directional, that is, the locational adpositions. The three others divide the directional adpositions into three subclasses depending on whether the adpositions take a reference object denoting the endpoint of a path, a reference object denoting the starting point of a path, or a reference object denoting both the end and the starting point of some subpart of the path. These three subclasses will be discussed below.
The complement of the preposition naar'to' refers to the endpoint of a complete path, with the implication that it will be reached. The complement of the preposition tot (en met)'until' denotes an arbitrary point on an implied path, with the implication that this point is the endpoint of a subpart of the complete path. In other words, whereas example (204a) suggests that both Jan and Peter are going to Groningen (see Figure 15A), example (204b) suggests that at least one of the two participants will continue his travel beyond Groningen (in Figure 15B the dotted arrow indicates the remainder of the path that either Jan or Peter is covering). The difference between tot and tot en met is that in the latter case the relevant subpart of the path includes the position referred to by the reference object, whereas in the first case it can be excluded. Note that the (reduced version of the) phrasal preposition in de richting van just indicates the direction of the path, without implying that the reference object is ever reached (see Figure 15C).
a. | Jan rijdt | met Peter | mee | naar Groningen. | |
Jan drives | with Peter | with | to Groningen | ||
'Peter takes Jan with him to Groningen.' |
b. | Jan | rijdt | met Peter | mee | tot Groningen. | |
Jan | drives | with Peter | with | until Groningen | ||
'Peter will drive Jan until Groningen.' |
c. | Jan rijdt | (in de) | richting | (van) | Groningen. | |
Jan drives | into the | direction | of | Groningen |
PPs headed by the prepositions naar'to' and in de richting van'towards' are special in that they also allow an orientation reading. This is illustrated in (205). The two examples differ in that only in (205a) is the reference object actually pointed at.
a. | Jan wijst | naar de kerk. | |
Jan points | to the church |
b. | Jan wijst | in de richting van de kerk. | |
Jan points | in the direction of the church |
Note that the PPs can be used as attributive modifiers with a similar distinction: according to (206a) the road will lead up to the church, whereas this need not be the case in (206b). Note that PPs headed by tot cannot be used as attributive modifiers; we return to this in our discussion of example (211).
a. | de weg | naar de kerk | |
the road |