- Dutch
- 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
Clausal modifiers within the noun phrase can be divided into complement and relative clauses, for which we will occasionally use the abbreviations CC and RC. Despite the fact that the two types of clauses fulfill different functions, they may sometimes be difficult to distinguish. This is due to the fact that, although not entirely identical in form, both complement and relative clauses can take the form of a (restrictive) dat-clause. This is illustrated in (649): in (649a) we are dealing with a complement dat-clause that defines the contents of the proposition noun feit'fact', whereas in (649b) we are dealing with a relative dat-clause that serves to identify the particular fact in question and enables the addressee to pick out the intended referent from a potential set of facts.
a. | Het feit [CC | dat | de aarde | rond | is], | werd | door niemand | betwist. | |
the fact | that | the earth | round | is | was | by no.one | contested | ||
'The fact that the earth was round was contested by no one.' |
b. | Het feit [RC` | dat | door niemand | betwist | werd], | is | dat | de aarde | rond | is. | |
the fact | that | by no.one | contested | was | is | that | the earth | round | is | ||
'The fact that was contested by no.one is that the earth is round.' |
Although different types of analysis are available, we will assume for the sake of concreteness that the two types of clause occupy different positions within the noun phrase: complement clauses occur closest to the nominal head, whereas restrictive relative clauses adjoin at some higher level. The representations in (650) and (651) demonstrate the different positions within the noun phrase; the abbreviations comp and rel stand for, respectively, complementizer and relative pronoun (see Subsection II). The next two subsections will subsequently discuss the relevant differences in function and form between complement and relative clauses.
a. | D | [NP | N | [CC | comp | ]] | ||
b. | het | [NP | feit | [CC | dat | de aarde | rond | is]] |
the | fact | that | the earth | round | is | |||
'the fact that the earth is round' |
a. | D | [NP | N ]i | [RC | reli | ... ] |
b. | de | [NP | fiets ]i | [RC | diei | Jan kocht] |
the | bike | that | Jan bought |
Section 1.2.2.2 has shown that complement clauses specify the contents of the noun, and can therefore only follow proposition or speech-act nouns. These complement clauses are normally obligatorily selected, or at least semantically implied, by these nouns. Some examples are given again in (652).
a. | de veronderstelling | [dat | er | leven | is op Mars]Theme | proposition noun | |
the supposition | that | there | life | is on Mars | |||
'the supposition that there is life on Mars' |
b. | de bewering | dat | de aarde | rond | is | speech-act noun | |
the assertion | that | the earth | round | is | |||
'the assertion that the earth is round' |
Restrictive relative clauses, on the other hand, can be used to modify any type of noun, whether basic or derived, abstract or concrete. Examples are given in (653).
a. | het boek | dat | ik | gisteren | gekocht | heb | |
the book | that | I | yesterday | bought | have | ||
'the book that I bought yesterday' |
b. | de gebeurtenis | die | vanmorgen | plaatsvond | |
the event | that | this morning | took.place | ||
'the event that took place this morning' |
c. | het feit | dat | door niemand | in twijfel | werd | getrokken | |
the fact | that | by no.one | in doubt | was | drawn | ||
'the fact that was contested by no one' |
d. | het verzoek | dat | door de werknemers | werd | gedaan | |
the request | that | by the employees | was | done | ||
'the request that was made by the employees' |
Like complement clauses, relative clauses may sometimes be required in order to arrive at a felicitous result. The reason for this is, however, different for the two types of construction. In the case of complement clauses, it is the semantics of the proposition/speech-act noun that requires the presence of a complement clause, which is clear from the fact that a complement clause in the primeless examples in (654) can only be left out if its content is retrievable from the context. This is also consistent with the fact illustrated by the primed examples that the noun phrases cannot be used as all-new statements, as indicated by the fact that the indefinite article cannot be used.
a. | # | Niemand | betwijfelde | het feit. |
no.one | doubted | the fact |
a'. | * | Niemand | betwijfelde | een feit. |
no.one | doubted | a fact |
b. | # | Jan begreep | de vraag. |
Jan understood | the question |
b'. | * | Jan begreep | een vraag. |
Jan understood | a question |
Restrictive relative clauses, on the other hand, are not thus required. The function of the relative clause is to provide information needed to identify the referent of the antecedent. If the antecedent is a definite noun phrase, leaving out the relative clause will typically result in a construction that provides insufficient information to uniquely identify the intended referent, and a request for more identifying information is likely to follow. Unlike the sentences in (654), however, use of an indefinite renders the sentence fully acceptable as an all-new statement.
a. | # | Niemand | kocht | het boek. |
no.one | bought | the book |
a' . | Niemand | kocht | een boek. | |
no.one | bought | a book |
b. | # | Jan zag | het meisje. |
Jan saw | the girl |
b'. | Jan zag | een meisje. | |
Jan saw | a girl |
A more extensive discussion of the function of finite clausal complements and restrictive relative clauses within the noun phrase can be found in, respectively, Section 2.3.1 and Section 3.3.2. The remainder of this section will be devoted to a discussion of the differences in form and syntactic behavior of the two types of clauses.
The previous subsection has shown that complement clauses can only be used in combination with nouns that denote abstract content (proposition and speech act nouns), whereas relative clauses can be used to modify all common nouns. Next to this semantic difference, there are a number of syntactic differences between complement clauses and relative clauses. These involve the aspects given in Table 16, each of which will be discussed in more detail in the following subsections.
complement clause | relative clause | |
Interpretative gap within clause | not present | present |
Linker | complementizer | relative pronoun |
Distribution | can also occur independently in argument or predicative position | can only be used with an antecedent |
Modification of nominal head | does not combine freely with the superlative or comparative forms of the adjective | combines freely with the superlative and comparative forms of the adjective |
Determiner selection | does not combine freely with the indefinite article | combines freely with the indefinite article |
Complement clauses differ from relative clauses in that only the latter contain an interpretative gap that is “filled” by the head of the nominal construction. This gap is the result of movement of the relative pronoun into the initial position of the clause, and will be referred to as trace (t). The relative pronoun takes the NP (the head noun and its optional modifiers) as its antecedent, which is therefore taken to fill the interpretative gap in the clause, and this enables the relative clause to provide additional information about the denotation of the NP. So, in (656) the relative pronoun dat'that' originates as the direct object of the relative clause and is moved into the initial position of the relative clause leaving the trace ti in its original position. The relative pronoun takes the NP feit as its antecedent, which is expressed by means of co-indexing. Consequently, feit is interpreted as the direct object of the relative clause, and as a result the modified NP denotes a subset of the set of facts, namely those accepted by everyone.
a. | D | [NP | N]i | [RC | reli | ... | ti | ... ] |
b. | het | [NP | feit]i | [RC | dati | iedereen | ti | aanvaardde] |
the | fact | that | everyone | accepted | ||||
'the fact that everyone accepted' |
Complement clauses, on the other hand, simply specify the contents referred to by the noun phrase headed by a proposition or speech-act noun. There is no interpretative gap in the complement clause: no part of the complement clause is coreferential with the nominal head, which therefore does not play a role in the interpretation of the complement clause.
a. | D | [NP | N | [CC | comp | ... ]] |
b. | het | [NP | feit | [CC | dat | de aarde rond is]] |
the | fact | that | the earth round is | |||
'the fact that the earth is round' |
For completeness’ sake, observe that the generalization that complement clauses do not contain an interpretative gap holds only for the declarative ones. Interrogative complement clauses introduced by a wh-word do, of course, contain a trace of the wh-word moved into initial position of the dependent clause, but they crucially differ from relative clauses in that the wh-word does not take the head noun as its antecedent.
de vraag | [wati hij ti | feitelijk | gezegd | had] | ||
the question | what he | actually | said | had |
Both complement and relative clauses contain an element linking them to the nominal head of the noun phrase: this linker takes the form of a complementizer in complement clauses, whereas in relative clauses the linker is a relative pronoun taking the NP (the head noun and its optional modifiers), as its antecedent. In many cases the form of the linker will reveal the status of the subordinate clause, but in some cases the complementizer and the relative element can take the same form.
Complement clauses can be introduced by a number of complementizers, depending on the semantic type of the noun they modify: proposition or speech-act noun, as well as the type of speech-act noun. If a complement clause construction is headed by a proposition noun, such as feit'fact', aanname'assumption' or geloof'belief', the complementizer dat must be used. This is shown in (659), as well as in (652) above.
a. | de aanname | dat | Jan komt | |
the assumption | that | Jan comes | ||
'the assumption that Jan is coming' |
b. | het geloof | dat | er | leven | is op Mars | |
the belief | that | there | life | is on Mars | ||
'the belief that there is life on Mars' |
If the head noun is a speech-act noun, the choice of complementizer depends on the illocutionary force of the speech-act noun. If the speech act concerned is a statement, promise, threat, or prediction, the declarative complementizer dat must be used, as illustrated by the constructions in (660a&b).
a. | de mededeling | dat | Jan komt | |
the announcement | that | Jan comes | ||
'the announcement that Jan is coming' |
b. | het bericht | dat | er | leven | is op Mars | |
the news | comp | there | life | is on Mars | ||
'the news that there is life on Mars' |
If the illocutionary force is that of a question, the form of the complementizer depends on the kind of question formulated in the complement clause: if the complement is the equivalent of a yes/no-question like (661a), the complementizer of will be used, as in (661a'); if the complement is the equivalent of a wh-question like (661b), the linker will take the form of a question word like wie'who', waarom'why' or hoe'how', as is shown in (661b').
a. | Komt | Jan morgen | ook? | |
comes | Jan tomorrow | too | ||
'Is Jan also coming tomorrow?' |
a'. | de vraag | of | Jan morgen | komt | |
the question | comp | Jan tomorrow | comes | ||
'the question as to whether Jan is coming tomorrow' |
b. | Wanneer/Waarom/Hoe | komt | Peter? | |
when/why/how | comes | Peter | ||
'When/Why/How will Peter come?' |
b'. | de vraag | wanneer/waarom/hoe | Peter komt | |
the question | when/why/how | Peter comes | ||
'the question as to when/why/how Peter will come' |
The examples in (662) show that if the speech act concerned is a request, order or suggestion, the complement typically takes the form of an infinitival clause (optionally preceded by the complementizer om); we have seen earlier that it is also marginally possible to use a finite clause introduced by of but we will not illustrate this here again; cf. (619d').
a. | het verzoek | (om) PRO | toegelaten | te worden | |
the request | comp | admitted | to be | ||
'the request to be admitted' |
b. | het bevel | (om) PRO | te vertrekken | |
the order | comp | to leave | ||
'the order to leave' |
In relative clauses, the linker takes the form of a relative pronoun. These pronouns can take a number of forms. If the antecedent is an NP, the relative pronouns die and dat can be used, depending on the gender and the number features of the noun. Examples are given in (663).
singular | plural | |
[-neuter] | de bal die daar ligt the ball that there lies ‘the ball that is lying there’ | de ballen die daar liggen the balls that there lie ‘the balls that are lying there’ |
[+neuter] | het boek dat daar ligt the book that there lies ‘the book that is lying there’ | de boeken die daar liggen the books that there lie ‘the books that are lying there’ |
But this does not exhaust the possibilities. For example, question words can function as relative pronouns, as in (664a), in which the antecedent NP refers to a place. The same thing holds for pronominal PPs, as in examples (664b&c), in which case the relativized element is the object of a PP. Where the antecedent has temporal reference, as in example (664d), the linker toen can be used, although the relative particle dat is usually preferred. There are more options but for these we refer the reader to Section 3.3.2.1; for our present purpose the examples in (663) and (664) suffice.
a. | de plaatsi | waari | ik | geboren ti | ben | |
the place | rel | I | born | am | ||
'the place where I was born' |
b. | de autoi | waarmeei | ik | op vakantie ti | ben | geweest | |
the car | rel-with | I | on holiday | have | been | ||
'the car I went on holiday with' |
c. | het boeki | waarini | ik | zit ti | te lezen | |
the book | rel-in | I | sit | to read | ||
'the book Iʼm reading' |
d. | de tijd | ?toeni/dati | men | nog | per koets ti | reisde | |
the time | when/that | one | still | by carriage | traveled | ||
'the days people traveled by carriage' |
The discussion above has shown that in many cases the nature of the subordinate clause is revealed by the form of the linker. For example, the linkers om and of can only be used as complementizers introducing complement clauses, whereas the linker die is a relative pronoun introducing relative clauses. The linker dat, however, can be used to introduce both complement and relative clauses. Here, we will show how the two cases can be distinguished.
The linker dat behaves syntactically in a different way in the two types of clauses. If dat functions as the complementizer in a complement clause, its form is invariable: in contrast to the relative pronouns in (663), it does not agree with the number and gender features of the head noun. Therefore, in cases of doubt all we have to do is to replace the singular head noun by a plural one and see whether the form of the linker changes: in the (a)-examples of (665) the form of the linker remains the same and we are therefore dealing with a complement clause; in the (b)-examples, the form of the linker changes from dat to die, which shows that we are dealing with a relative clause.
a. | het bericht | [dat | er | leven | op Mars | zou | zijn] | complement clause | |
the report | that | there | life | on Mars | would | be | |||
'the news that there would be life on Mars' |
a'. | de berichten | [dat | er | leven | op Mars | zou | zijn] | |
the reports | that | there | life | on Mars | would | be |
b. | het bericht | [dat | ons | bereikte] | relative clause | |
the report | that | us | reached | |||
'the report that reached us' |
b'. | de berichten | [die | ons | bereikten] | |
the reports | that | us | reached |
If the linker takes the form of a wh-word or a pronominal PP, the ambiguity still prevails, as these are insensitive to number and gender variation of the head noun. Of course, with proposition and declarative speech-act nouns the problem does not arise because such nouns can only be complemented by declarative clauses introduced by the complementizer dat; if such a noun is followed by a question word or a pronominal PP, as in (666), we must be dealing with a relative clause.
a. | Het feit waar | <aan> | niemand <aan> | twijfelde | was dat de aarde rond is. | |
the fact where | on | no.one | doubted | was that the earth round is | ||
'The fact that no one contested was that the earth is round.' |
b. | De veronderstelling | waar | <over> | veel discussie <over> | ontstond | was | of | er | leven | is op Mars. | |
the supposition | where | about | much discussion | arose | was | whether | there | life | is on Mars | ||
'The supposition causing much discussion was whether there is life on Mars.' |
However, if the speech-act noun involves a question, true ambiguity may occur. In example (667), for instance, the element waarover can introduce both a relative clause and an interrogative complement. In the former case, the pronominal part of the PP is coindexed with the NP vraag'question', which is therefore interpreted as the theme of the verb discussiëren'to discuss', and as a result, the clause provides information needed to identify the question referred to. In the latter case, the pronominal PP is interpreted independently of vraag and the following complement clause simply describes the contents of the question referred to.
a. | De vraagi | waariover | ze | discussieerden, | bleef | onbeantwoord. | |
the question | where-about | they | discussed | remained | unanswered | ||
Relative clause: 'The question they discussed remained unanswered.' |
b. | De vraag | waarover | ze | discussieerden, | bleef | onbeantwoord. | |
the question | where-about | they | discussed | remained | unanswered | ||
Complement: 'The question of what they discussed remained unanswered.' |
The difference is again exemplified by the sentences in (668). In the relative clause in (668a) the pronominal PP waarmee functions as a relative pronoun, coreferential with the antecedent vraag'question', which is therefore interpreted as the complement of the verb lastigvallen'to bother': as a result the relative clause provides information that is necessary to properly identify the intended question. In the complement clause in (668a) the pronominal part of the PP waarmee is interpreted independently of vraag; it refers to the instrument used to commit the murder, and the whole complement clause is simply specifying the contents of the question referred to.
a. | De vraagi | waarimee | hij | me bleef | lastigvallen | was zeer persoonlijk. | |
the question | where-with | he | me kept | bother | was very personal | ||
'The question he kept harassing me with was very personal.' |
b. | Hij | beantwoordde | de vraag | waarmee | hij | de moord | had gepleegd. | |
he | answered.to | the question | where-with | he | the murder | had committed | ||
'He replied to the question about what he had committed the murder with.' |
There are also distributional differences between complement and relative clauses. These differences are due to the fact that relative clauses contain a relative pronoun that requires an antecedent, whereas complement clauses are not dependent on the noun in that same way. As a result, complement clauses are freer in their distribution: they may function, e.g., as the subject of the object of a verb, as in (669b).
a. | Niemand | geloofde | toen | [dat de aarde rond is]. | |
no.one | believed | then | that the earth round is | ||
'No one believed then that the earth is round.' |
b. | [Dat de aarde rond is] | werd | toen | door niemand | geloofd. | |
that the earth round is | was | then | by no.one | believed | ||
'That the earth is round was believed by no one then.' |
They may even be used as the predicate in a copular construction, in which case they are predicated of a noun phrase headed by a proposition or speech-act noun, as in (670). This is, of course, hardly surprising, given that the nominal head denotes the same abstract entity as the clause.
a. | De nieuwste ontdekking | is [dat | de aarde | rond | is]. | |
the newest discovery | is that | the earth | round | is | ||
'The latest discovery is that the earth is round.' |
b. | Het antwoord | was | [dat | de zaak | nog | onbeslist | was]. | |
the answer | was | that | the case | still | undecided | was | ||
'The answer was that the case was still undecided.' |
c. | De vraag | is [of | we | dat | wel | willen]. | |
the question | is whether | we | that | prt | want | ||
'The question is whether we want that.' |
Relative clauses, on the other hand, never occur independently; the clause contains a relative pronoun which needs an antecedent, and, consequently, the relative clause in (671a) can be used neither as an argument nor as a predicate of a copular construction. This is demonstrated by, respectively, (671b&c) and (671d).
a. | De veronderstellingi | diei | niet | aanvaard | werd, | was dat er leven is op Mars. | |
the supposition | that | not | accepted | was | was that there life is on Mars | ||
'The supposition that wasnʼt accepted was that there is life on Mars.' |
b. | * | Niemand | veronderstelde | diei | niet | aanvaard | werd. |
no.one | supposed | that | not | accepted | was |
c. | * | Diei niet aanvaard werd, | werd | door niemand | verondersteld. |
that not accepted was | was | by no.one | supposed |
d. | * | De veronderstelling | is diei | niet | aanvaard | werd. |
the supposition | is that | not | accepted | was |
Another difference between the complement and relative clauses stems from the different communicative functions they fulfill. Finite complement clauses express the contents of some proposition or speech-act noun. As such they can be said to be uniquely determining; there is only one fact, assumption, question, request, etc. with the particular contents specified in the complement clause. This can be supported by the fact that the adjectives interessant and triviaal in (672) can only be used on a nonrestrictive (purely property-assigning) reading.
a. | het interessante feit | dat | er | leven | is op Mars | |
the interesting fact | that | there | life | is on Mars |
b. | de triviale aanname | dat | de aarde | rond | is | |
the trivial assumption | that | the earth | round | is |