- 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
Like finite relative clauses, infinitival clauses may provide information about an antecedent. Some examples are given in (511), in which the first infinitival clause is interpreted as restrictive and the second as non-restrictive: in (511a) the infinitival clause restricts the denotation of the modified noun phrase, whereas in (511b) it provides additional information about the antecedent. Note that some speakers prefer an appositive reading for (511b), for which reason we added the question mark; cf. Section 3.1.3.
a. | Dit | is een machine | [om | hout | mee | te schuren]. | |
this | is a machine | comp | wood | with | to sand | ||
'This is a machine to sand wood with.' |
b. | ? | Zoʼn machine, | [om | hout | mee | te schuren], | is vrij goedkoop. |
such a machine | comp | wood | with | to sand | is fairly cheap | ||
'Such a machine, to sand wood with, is fairly cheap.' |
In this modifying function, infinitival clauses are always introduced by the infinitival complementizer om, and, as usual with om-infinitives, the infinitival verb is obligatorily accompanied by the infinitival marker te. The infinitival clauses contain two interpretative gaps. The first gap is the implied subject PRO, which we find in all infinitival om + te-infinitives and which receives an arbitrary interpretation in the examples under discussion. The second interpretative gap in (511) is the complement of the instrumental PP headed by mee'with'; it is generally assumed that this complement is some empty category that is coindexed with the modified noun phrase een/zoʼn machine, and which we will from now on refer to as empty operator (abbreviated as OP in the examples). It is reasonable to assume that this empty operator has moved out of the PP into clause-initial position by means of R-extraction since the preposition surfaces in its stranded form mee, not in its non-stranded form met. This all amounts to saying that the representations of the examples in (511) are as indicated in (512), in which IC stands for infinitival clause and the coreference and antecedent-trace relations are indicated by superscripts.
a. | Dit is een machinei [IC OPi om PROarb hout [PP mee ti] te schuren]. |
b. | Zoʼn machinei, [IC OPi om PROarb hout [PP mee ti] te schuren], is vrij goedkoop. |
It seems natural to assume that the empty operator is a covert relative pronoun and that the infinitival clauses in (511) are in fact relative clauses, but we will see later in this section that there are problems with this assumption. The examples in (513) furthermore show that the distinction between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses is not exhaustive, and that we have to distinguish two types of restrictive infinitival clause.
a. | Dit | is een machine | [om | hout | mee | te schuren]. | type I | |
this | is a machine | comp | wood | with | to sand | |||
'This is a machine to sand wood with.' |
b. | We | zoeken | een meisje | [om | op onze baby | te passen]. | type II | |
we | search | a girl | comp | after our baby | to look | |||
'Weʼre looking for a girl to look after our baby.' |
The two examples differ in the number of interpretative gaps they contain. We have already seen above that (513a) has the representation in (512a), repeated below as (514a), and contains two interpretative gaps, the implied subject PRO and an empty operator that is coreferential with the antecedent of the clause. Example (513b), on the other hand, does not contain an empty operator, and it is the implied subject PRO that is interpreted as coreferential with the antecedent of the infinitival clause; since there is no evidence that movement is involved in this construction, we will assign (513b) the representation in (514b). Infinitival clauses of the form in (514b) cannot be used non-restrictively.
a. | Dit is een machine [IC OPi om PROarb hout [PP mee ti] te schuren]. | type I |
b. | We zoeken een meisje [IC om PROi op onze baby te passen]. | type II |
The three types of infinitival clause will be discussed more extensively in separate subsections. Subsection IV concludes with a brief discussion of two constructions that can be easily confused with the infinitival clauses discussed above.
This subsection discusses restrictive infinitival clauses containing an empty operator in more detail. We start with the question as to whether these infinitival clauses can be considered relative clauses. After that we address whether there are any restrictions on the antecedent of the empty operator or the infinitival verb.
The fact that infinitival clauses of the type in (512/514a) arguably contain an empty operator that is moved into clause-initial position suggests that we are dealing with regular relative clauses, where the relative pronoun simply has no phonetic realization. There are, however, several problems for this suggestion. The first is only circumstantial, and is concerned with the fact that German actually cannot readily use infinitival clauses in this modifying function (Kester 1994: 3.3.4.4), which is clear from the fact that a Dutch example such as (515a) cannot be directly translated into German, as shown by the unacceptability of (515b). Given the fact that Dutch and German are so closely related, it would be very surprising if the first could make use of infinitival relative clauses, but the latter could not.
a. | Ik | zoek | een boeki [OPi | om PRO | morgen ti | te lezen]. | |
I | search | a book | comp | tomorrow | to read | ||
'Iʼm looking for a book to read tomorrow.' |
b. | * | Ich suche ein Buch [um morgen zu lesen]. |
The second problem is a more serious one. As can be seen in (516a'&b'), infinitival clauses containing an empty operator can also occur in predicative position, an option that, as is shown in (517), does not exist for regular finite clauses. This suggests that the infinitival clause is comparable to the set-denoting adjectives in that it can be used both predicatively and attributively.
a. | Dit | is een boeki [OPi | om PRO | in één adem | uit | te lezen]. | |
this | is a book | comp | in one breath | prt. | to read | ||
'This is a book to read out in the same breath.' |
a'. | Dit boeki | is [OPi | om PRO | in één adem | uit | te lezen]. | |
this book | is | comp | in one breath | prt. | to read |
b. | Dit | is | een boeki [OPi | om ti | te zoenen]. | |
this | is | a book | comp | to kiss | ||
'This is an absolutely delightful book.' |
b'. | Dit boeki | is [OPi | om PRO ti | te zoenen]. | |
this book | is | comp | to kiss | ||
'This book is absolutely delightful.' |
a. | Dit is de jongeni | [diei | gisteren ti | ziek | was]. | |
this is the boy | who | yesterday | ill | was | ||
'This is the boy that was ill yesterday.' |
b. | * | Deze jongeni | is [diei | gisteren ti | ziek | was]. |
this boy | is who | yesterday | ill | was |
A third problem is that infinitival clauses are often used in the presence of adjectives that may enter the so-called easy-to-please construction in the primed examples in (518), the analysis of which also involves an empty operator; see Section A6.5, sub IVA for more discussion. Given the semantic similarities between the primeless and primed examples, it seems reasonable that the former are the attributive counterparts of the predicative constructions in the latter.
a. | Dat | is | een | gemakkelijk boeki [OPi | om PRO ti | te lezen]. | |
that | is | an | easy book | comp | to read | ||
'That is an easy book to read.' |
a'. | Dat boeki | is | gemakkelijk [OPi | om PRO ti | te lezen]. | |
that book | is | easy | comp | to read | ||
'That book is easy to read.' |
b. | Dat | is een leuke jongeni [OPi | om PRO ti | te ontmoeten]. | |
that | is a nice boy | comp | to meet |
b'. | Die jongeni | is | leuk [OPi | om PRO ti | te ontmoeten]. | |
that boy | is | nice | comp | to meet |
At this point German comes in again. It can be noted that German does not have easy-to-please construction of the type in (518a'&b'): *Das Buch ist einfach um zu lesen. German does have constructions such as Das Buch ist einfach zu lesen without the infinitival complementizer um, but these must clearly be analyzed as modal infinitives, which is also clear from the fact that the infinitive can be used in pronominal attributive position das (leicht) zu lesende Buch, where it is realized in the form of an attributively inflected present participle; cf. the discussion in Subsection IVB. It therefore seems plausible to relate the ungrammaticality of (515b) to this fact; infinitival clauses are actually more like infinitival clauses in the easy-to-please construction than like regular relative clauses.
Leaving the precise analysis of the restrictive infinitival clauses in this subsection for future research, we may safely conclude from the discussion above that infinitival clauses containing an empty operator are either set-denoting phrases that can be used either predicatively or attributively, or belong to the adjectival part of an easy-to-please construction that can be used in these functions. Despite appearances, there is no clear evidence that infinitival clauses are relative clauses.
Given the conclusion that the infinitival clauses under discussion are not relative clauses, and that the empty operator is therefore not a relative pronoun, it does not come as a surprise that there are no restrictions on the antecedent in terms of number, gender or animacy. This is illustrated in Table 6.
singular | plural | ||
non-neuter | animate | een man om op te bouwen a man comp on to build ‘a man to rely on’ | mannen om op te bouwen men comp on to build ‘men to rely on’ |
inanimate | een dag om nooit te vergeten a day comp never to forget ‘a day never to be forgotten’ | dagen om nooit te vergeten days comp never to forget ‘days never to be forgotten’ | |
neuter | animate | een meisje om op te bouwen a girl comp on to build ‘a girl to rely on’ | meisjes om op te bouwen girls comp on to build ‘girls to rely on’ |
inanimate | een boek om direct te lezen a book comp at once to read ‘a book to read at once’ | boeken om direct te lezen books comp at once to read ‘a book to read at once’ |
There do not seem to be any further restrictions either: the antecedent can be definite, indefinite, or quantified. Thus, while in Table 6 all antecedents are indefinite, the antecedent in (519a) is a definite DP and in (519b&c) the antecedent is quantified.
a. | Jan is | de mani [OPi | om PRO | het [PP | aan ti] | te vragen]. | |
Jan is | the man | comp | it | to | to ask | ||
'Jan is the man to ask it to.' |
b. | Jan | is | geen mani [OPi | om PRO [PP | op ti] | te bouwen]. | |
Jan | is | no man | comp | on | to build | ||
'Jan isnʼt a man you can rely on.' |
c. | Ik heb | alle boekeni [OPi | om PRO ti | te lezen] | in mijn kamer | gelegd. | |
I have | all books | comp | to read | in my room | put | ||
'I have put all books to read in my room.' |
For completeness’ sake, it can be noted that noun phrases modified by a restrictive infinitival clause often have a nominal compound as their counterpart in which the verb of the infinitival clause is used as the first morpheme. The relation between the two morphemes of these compounds is typically one of purpose. Some examples are given in (520).
a. | een zaal om in te lezen | |
a room to read in |
a'. | een leeszaal | |
a reading room |
b. | een machine om mee te schuren | |
a machine to sand with |
b'. | een schuurmachine | |
a sanding machine |
c. | een hond om mee te waken | |
a dog to watch with |
c'. | een waakhond | |
a watchdog |
There seem to be some restrictions on the types of verbs that can appear in the modifying infinitival clause, and the syntactic function of the empty operator. For obvious reasons, infinitival clauses with an empty operator normally do not occur if the infinitival verb is intransitive or unaccusative, as in (521a&b); of course, both examples are acceptable, but must be analyzed without an empty operator: in these examples it is the implied subject PRO that is interpreted as the element coreferential with the antecedent. It should be noted, though, that this restriction is not absolute; example (524) will show that there are means to circumvent this restriction.
a. | Hij | is geen jongeni | [om PROi | hard | te werken]. | |
he | is no boy | comp | hard | to work | ||
'He isnʼt the kind of boy that works hard.' |
b. | Dit | is geen artikeli | [om PROi | in een taalkundig tijdschrift | te verschijnen]. | |
this | is no article | comp | in a linguistic journal | to appear | ||
'This is no article to appear in a linguistic journal.' |
An infinitival clause gives rise to a perfect result if the infinitive is a transitive verb, as in (522a): in this case the empty operator corresponds to the direct object. If the verb is ditransitive, the result depends on the form of the indirect object; constructions with a nominal indirect object are much less acceptable than constructions with a prepositional indirect object. The (b)-examples show that for constructions in which the empty operator acts as the direct object, and the (c)-examples for cases in which it corresponds to the indirect object.
a. | Dit | is een boekenkasti [OPi | om PRO | zelf ti | in elkaar | te zetten]. | |
this | is a bookcase | comp | oneself | together | to put | ||
'This is a bookcase one has to put together oneself.' |
b. | ?? | Dit | is | geldi [OPi | om PRO | de kerk ti | te schenken]. |
this | is | money | comp | the church | to donate | ||
'This is money meant to be donated to the church.' |
b'. | Dit | is | geldi [OPi | om PRO ti | aan de kerk | te schenken]. | |
this | is | money | comp | to the church | to donate | ||
'This is money meant to be donated to the church.' |
c. | *? | Dit | is een goed projecti [OPi | om PRO ti | geld | te geven]. |
this | is a good project | comp | money | to give |
c'. | Dit | is een goed projecti [OPi | om PRO | geld | [PP | aan ti] | te geven]. | |
this | is a good project | comp | money | [PP | to | to give | ||
'This is a good project to give money to.' |
Given the fact that the empty operator can act as the complement of the preposition aan in (522c'), it will not come as a surprise that the result is also fine if the empty operator acts as the complement of a PP-complement of the verb as in (523a). Example (523b) shows that the empty operator may act as the complement of a locational predicate.
a. | Dit | is | een onderwerpi [OPi | om PRO | goed [PP | over ti] | na | te denken]. | |
this | is | a topic | comp | well | about | prt. | to think | ||
'This is a topic to reflect on well.' |
b. | Dit | is | geen caféi [OPi | om PRO | gezellig [PP | in ti] | te zitten]. | |
this | is | not a bar | comp | cozily | in | to sit | ||
'This isnʼt a bar to sit in cozily.' |
Finally, the empty operator may correspond to the complement of a PP-adjunct, provided at least that this PP allows R-extraction. Examples of this sort were already given in (520), and some more examples are given in (524). Note that if such adjuncts are present, the construction can also appear with intransitive and unaccusative verbs.
a. | Dit | is een stoeli [OPi | om PRO | lekker [PP | in ti] | te lezen]. | |
this | is a chair | comp | cozily | in | to read |
b. | Dit | zijn | schoeneni [OPi | om PRO [PP | mee ti] | te dansen]. | |
these | are | shoes | comp | with | to dance |
c. | Dit | is een goede omgeving [OPi | om PRO [PP | in ti] | te herstellen]. | |
this | is a good environment | comp | in | to recuperate |
The examples in (525) and (526) show that the construction is excluded if the adjunct PP does not allow R-extraction. First, consider (525b) which illustrates that it is not possible to strand the preposition in in the relative construction; relativization is possible but it requires that the full PP is replaced by the locational pro-form waar.
a. | We | gaan | gezellig | iets | in dit café | drinken. | |
we | go | cozily | something | in this bar | drink | ||
'Weʼre going to drink something cozily in this bar.' |
b. | het caféi | [waari | we | gezellig | iets | [PP | (*in) ti] | gaan | drinken] | |
the bar | where | we | cozily | something | [PP | in | go | drink | ||
'the bar where weʼre going to drink something cozily' |
Example (526a) shows that it is not possible to have the infinitival construction with the stranded preposition, which seems to constitute additional evidence in favor of our earlier conclusion that the empty operator must be moved into clause-initial position. More surprising is that (526b) seems unacceptable as well: the most prominent, but incoherent, reading of this example seems to be the one which een café functions as the direct object of drinken'to drink'. We leave open whether the construction must be considered ungrammatical under the intended reading given that we did find a small number of examples such as this on the internet.
a. | * | Dit | is een caféi [OPi | om PRO | gezellig [PP | in ti] | te drinken]. |
this | is a bar | comp | cozily | in | to drink |
b. | ?? | Dit | is een caféi [OPi | om PRO | gezellig ti | te drinken]. |
this | is a bar | comp | cozily | to drink |
Our discussion of non-restrictive infinitival clauses will be brief given that they behave in most respects similarly to the non-restrictive ones discussed in Subsection I; we will restrict our attention to a difference that seems related to the fact that, instead of restricting the denotation of the antecedent, the non-restrictive infinitival clause serves to provide additional information about the referent of the antecedent. Recall that the question marks in (527) serve to indicate that the infinitival clauses in these cases are likely to receive an appositional rather than a non-restrictive reading.
a. | ? | Deze kasteni, [OPi | om PRO | zelf ti | in elkaar | te zetten], | zijn | niet duur. |
these closets | comp | oneself | together | to put | are | not expensive | ||
'These closets, which one has to put together oneself, arenʼt too expensive.' |
b. | ? | Dit cadeaui, [OPi | om PRO ti | aan Marie | te geven], | heb ik in Londen gekocht. |
this present | comp | to Marie | to give | have I in London bought | ||
'This present, meant for Marie, I bought in London.' |
c. | ? | Zoʼn machinei, [OPi | om PRO | hout | [PP | mee ti] | te schuren], | is goedkoop. |
such a machine | comp | wood | [PP | with | to sand | is cheap | ||
'Such a machine, to sand wood with, is cheap.' |
Since the antecedent of a non-restrictive infinitival clause must be identifiable independently from the information provided in the infinitival clause, these antecedents typically contain a definite determiner, like the demonstratives in (527a&b), or a type denoting expression like zoʼn'such a' in (527c); indefinite determiners or quantifiers generally give rise to a degraded result.
a. | *? | Een machinei, [OPi | om PRO | hout | mee ti | te schuren], | is vrij goedkoop. |
a machine | comp | wood | with | to sand | is fairly cheap |
b. | *? | Veel kasteni, [OPi | om PRO | zelf ti | in elkaar | te zetten], | zijn niet duur. |
many closets | comp | oneself | together | to put | are not expensive |
Note that in examples such as (529), in which the modified noun phrase occupies the right periphery of the clause, the antecedent may contain an indefinite article. In this case, however, the om-clause is likely to be interpreted as an afterthought. This is clear from the fact illustrated in the (b)-examples that in the corresponding embedded clauses the infinitival clause cannot precede the verb in clause-final position.
a. | Ik | gaf | hem | een machinei, [OPi | om PRO | hout [PP | mee ti] | te schuren]. | |
I | gave | him | a machine | comp | wood | with | to sand | ||
'I gave him a machine, to sand wood with.' |
b. | dat ik hem een machine gaf, om PRO hout mee te schuren. |
b'. | * | dat ik hem een machine, om PRO hout mee te schuren, gaf. |
This subsection discusses restrictive infinitival clauses that do not contain an empty operator. As previously mentioned, these infinitival clauses cannot be used non-restrictively. This is illustrated here in (530).
a. | Zoʼn machinei | [om PROi | hout | te schuren] | is vrij goedkoop. | |
such a machine | comp | wood | to sand | is fairly cheap |
b. | *? | Zoʼn machinei, [om PROi hout te schuren], is vrij goedkoop. |
Subsection I has argued that infinitival clauses with an empty operator are not relative clauses on the basis of the fact that they can be used predicatively, which is never possible in the case of relative clauses. This argument does not hold, however, for infinitival clauses without an empty operator, which is clear from the fact that the primed examples in (531) are not interpretable.
a. | We | zoeken | een meisjei | [om PROi | op onze baby | te passen]. | |
we | search | a girl | comp | after our baby | to look |
a'. | * | Dit meisjei | is [om PROi | op onze baby | te passen]. |
this girl | is comp | after our baby | to look |
b. | Zoʼn machinei | [om PROi | hout | te schuren] | is vrij goedkoop. | |
such a machine | comp | wood | to sand | is fairly cheap |
b'. | * | Deze machinei | is [om PROi | hout | te schuren]. |
this machine | is comp | wood | to sand |
The question as to whether non-restrictive infinitival clauses without an empty operator are relative clauses therefore cannot be decided in this way. In order to come closer to an answer, we may ask ourselves the basic question as to whether the modifying function of the infinitival clause is brought about by the coreference relation between PRO and the modified noun phrase, or whether this relation is just epiphenomenal due to the fact that often PRO must have an antecedent in order to be interpretable? If the infinitival clause is a regular relative clause we should conclude that the former is the case. However, there are examples of modifying infinitival clauses that seem to refute this hypothesis. In (532), for example, it seems clear that the infinitival clauses are used as restrictive modifiers of the noun phrase (de) tijd'(the) time'. Nevertheless, the modified noun phrase is not coreferential with PRO (nor with an empty operator, since the noun phrase does not seem to play any semantic role within the infinitival clause). These examples therefore suggest that modification by the infinitival clause is not related to the coreference relation between the modified noun phrase and PRO, which, in turn, suggests that modifying infinitival clauses are not relative clauses. More potential examples of this sort are given in (533).
a. | Het | is tijd | [om PRO | te vertrekken]. | |
it | is time | comp | to leave |
b. | De tijd | [om PRO | te vertrekken] | is aangebroken. | |
the time | comp | to leave | has come |