- 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
This section discusses several sorts of special and/or more or less idiomatic cases of modification of the adjective. We start in Subsection I by discussing two types of postadjectival van-PPs. This is followed in II by a discussion of so-called transparent free relative clauses of the type found in Hij is wat je corpulent noemt'He is what one calls corpulent', subsections III and IV conclude by paying some attention to, respectively, the use of VP adverbs as modifiers of adjectival phrases and the modification of the adjective vol by a noun.
In some cases, adjectives seem to be modified by a postadjectival van-PP. There are at least two types, illustrated in (328). The van-PP in (328a) expresses a restriction on the adjective “big as far as stature is concerned", and the van-PP in (328b) refers to the cause of the occurrence of the property denoted by the adjective “red with excitement". We will discuss the two cases in separate subsections.
a. | groot | van | gestalte | |
big | in | stature |
b. | rood | van | opwinding | |
red | of | excitement |
Sequences of the form A + van + noun are mostly more or less fixed collocations. The noun in the van-PP is never preceded by a determiner and cannot be modified by an adjective. If the adjective is gradable, it can be modified by an intensifier but not by an approximative/absolute adverb like vrijwel'almost' or helemaal'completely', so that we may conclude that the sequences in (329) are scalar.
a. | (erg/*helemaal) | groot/klein | van gestalte | |
very/completely | big/small | of stature | ||
'very big/small in stature' |
b. | (zeer/*helemaal) | knap | van uiterlijk | |
very/completely | pretty | of appearance | ||
'very pretty as far as the face is concerned' |
c. | (vrij/*helemaal) | lang/kort | van stof | |
rather/completely | long/brief | of subject.matter | ||
'rather long-winded/brief' |
d. | (nogal/*helemaal) | traag/snel | van begrip | |
rather/completely | slow/quick | of understanding | ||
'rather stupid/quick-witted' |
e. | (vrij/*helemaal) | kort | van memorie | |
rather/completely | short | of memory | ||
'(have) a rather short memory' |
f. | (erg/*helemaal) | trots | van aard | |
very/completely | pride | of nature | ||
'(have) a rather proud nature' |
The examples in (330) show that the A + van + N sequence can be used in the copular construction and the vinden-construction. However, the sequence cannot readily be used in resultative constructions such as (330c), which suggests that the complex APs function as individual-level predicates; cf. Section 6.2.1, sub II, ex. (25). The fact, illustrated in (330d), that the sequence cannot be used as a supplementive either is consistent with this conclusion; cf. Section 6.3, sub IV. In this respect the examples in (329) differ from sequences such as rood van opwinding'red with excitement' to be discussed in the Subsection B below, which typically function as stage-level predicates.
a. | Jan | is groot | van gestalte. | copular construction | |
Jan | is big | in stature |
b. | Ik | vind | Jan | traag van begrip. | vinden-construction | |
I | consider | Jan | slow of understanding |
c. | * | De visagist | maakt | Jan knap van uiterlijk. | resultative construction |
the cosmetician | makes | Jan good-looking |
d. | * | Knap van uiterlijk | kwam | Jan de kamer | binnen. | supplementive use |
well-looking | came | Jan the room | into | |||
'Jan entered the room well-looking.' |
An exception to the two generalizations above is the sequence gelijk van lengte in (329g): it can be modified by vrijwel'almost' or helemaal'completely' but not by the intensifier zeer and it can function as a stage-level predicate as is clear from the fact that it can be used in resultative constructions. The exceptional behavior of this sequence may be related to the fact that it is the only case that alternates with the sequence with the preposition in: gelijk in lengte'equal in length'. For this reason, we will put this exceptional case aside in the remainder of the discussion.
a. | De touwtjes | zijn | (vrijwel/helemaal/*zeer) | gelijk | van | lengte. | |
the strings | are | almost/completely/very | equal | of | length |
b. | Jan maakte | de touwtjes | gelijk | van | lengte. | |
Jan made | the strings | equal | of | length |
The sequences in (329) form a constituent, which is clear from the fact that the full sequence can be placed in clause-initial position; cf. the constituency test. This is shown in (332).
a. | Groot van gestalte | is Jan niet. | |
big of stature | is Jan not |
b. | Traag van begrip | vind | ik | Jan niet. | |
slow of understanding | consider | I | Jan not |
The sequence cannot readily be split. The examples in (333) show that wh-movement or topicalization of the adjective leads to a marked result if the van-PP is stranded; the topicalization examples improve somewhat if the adjective is assigned heavy accent.
a. | ? | Hoe groot | is Jan van gestalte? |
how big | is Jan in stature |
a'. | ? | Hoe traag | is Jan van begrip? |
how slow | is Jan of understanding |
b. | ?? | Groot | is Jan niet | van gestalte. |
big | is Jan not | in stature |
b'. | ?? | Traag | vind | ik | Jan niet | van begrip. |
slow | consider | I | Jan not | of understanding |
The examples in (334) show that movement of the van-PP cannot strand the adjective either; the (a)-examples involve PP-over-V, and the (b)- and (c)-examples involve, respectively, scrambling and topicalization.
a. | dat | Jan groot | <van gestalte> | is <*van gestalte>. | |
that | Jan big | in stature | is |
a'. | dat | ik | Jan traag | <van begrip> | vind <*?van begrip>. | |
that | I | Jan slow | of understanding | consider |
b. | * | Jan is van gestalte groot. |
b'. | * | Ik vind Jan van begrip traag. |
c. | * | Van gestalte is Jan niet groot. |
c'. | * | Van begrip vind ik Jan niet traag. |
Attributive use of the sequence A + van + N is impossible. Given the fact illustrated above that the van-PP must be right-adjacent to the adjective, this is correctly excluded by the Head-final Filter on attributive adjectives, which requires that the adjective be immediately adjacent to the modified noun; cf. Section 5.3, sub IB.
a. | * | een | <van gestalte> | grote <van gestalte> | jongen <van gestalte> |
an | in stature | big | boy |
b. | * | een | <van begrip> | trage <van begrip> | jongen <van begrip> |
an | of understanding | slow | boy |
Generally, the sequence A + van + N denotes a property of a human being. Consequently, it cannot occur in the partitive genitive construction iets leuks'something nice' as this construction can only denote -human entities: *iemand leuks'lit: someone nice'; cf. Section 7.2.3. Whether this fully accounts for the impossibility of the sequence in the partitive genitive construction is not clear, however, as the A + van + N sequence in (336b), which is exceptionally predicated of an -human noun phrase, cannot enter the partitive genitive construction either.
a. | Jan/*de tafel | is groot | van stuk. | |
Jan/the table | is big | of piece | ||
'Jan is big in bulk.' |
a'. | * | iets groots van stuk |
b. | Het boek | is knap | van opzet. | |
the book | is ingenious | of design | ||
'The book is ingeniously designed.' |
b'. | * | iets knaps van opzet |
In constructions such as (337), the van-PP does not express a restriction on the adjective but instead indicates the cause of the property denoted by the adjective; this cause is generally a mental state of the argument the adjective is predicated of, or something external that may affect the physical state of the argument the adjective is predicated of. The examples in (337) resemble those discussed in Subsection A in that they denote properties of human beings and often have an idiomatic flavor. They differ, however, in that the noun must be preceded by a definite determiner if it denotes an external cause, as in (337c); if the noun denotes a mental state, the determiner is normally absent in this type as well. It should be noted, however, that in all these types, cases in which the article is present can be found on the internet.
a. | rood | van | (??de) | opwinding | |
red | of | the | excitement | ||
'red with excitement' |
c. | blauw | van | *(de) | kou | |
blue | of | the | cold | ||
'blue with cold' |
b. | groen van | (*de) | nijd | |
green of | the | envy |
d. | gek | van | (??de) | angst | |
mad | of | the | fear |
Modification of the adjective by means of an intensifier generally gives rise to a degraded result, whereas modification by means of the absolute modifier helemaal'completely' is easily possible. This suggests that the sequence under discussion is not gradable and perhaps is even absolute. Perhaps this is related to the fact that the sequences are metaphorical in nature; someone who is gek van angst'crazy with fear' need not be crazy. This may also account for the fact that the use of an intensifier yields a much better result in (338a) than in the other cases; one may literally turn red as the result of excitement, but one cannot become literally green as the result of envy.
a. | (helemaal/?erg) | rood | van | opwinding | |
completely/very | red | of | excitement | ||
'completely red with excitement' |
b. | (helemaal/*erg) | groen van | nijd | |
completely/very | green of | envy | ||
'green with envy' |
c. | (helemaal/*erg) | blauw | van | de kou | |
completely/very | blue | of | the cold | ||
'completely blue with cold' |
d. | (helemaal/*erg) | gek | van | angst | |
completely/very | mad | of | fear | ||
'completely crazy with fear' |
For completeness’ sake, the examples in (339) show that comparative formation gives rise to similar judgments as modification by an intensifier like erg'very', shown above.
a. | Jan | wordt | steeds | roder | van opwinding. | |
Jan | gets | continuously | redder | of excitement | ||
'Jan is continuously getting redder with excitement.' |
b'. | * | Jan wordt steeds groener van nijd. |
c'. | * | Jan wordt steeds blauwer van de kou. |
d'. | * | Jan wordt steeds gekker van angst. |
The sequence A + van + N(P) under discussion can be used in copular, resultative and supplementive constructions. The fact that the sequence can be used in the latter two environments is consistent with the fact that the adjective denotes a transitory property; in contrast to the constructions discussed in Subsection A, they are stage-level predicates. For some unclear reason, the sequence cannot be used in the vinden-construction.
a. | Jan is rood | van opwinding. | copular construction | |
Jan is red | with excitement |
b. | * | Ik | vind | Jan blauw | van de kou. | vinden-construction |
I | consider | Jan blue | of the cold |
c. | Die film | maakte | Jan gek van angst. | resultative construction | |
that movie | made | Jan mad with fear |
d. | Gek | van angst | rende | Jan de bioscoop | uit. | supplementive use | |
mad | with fear | ran | Jan the cinema | out | |||
'Mad with fear Jan ran out of the cinema.' |
That the sequences in (337) form a constituent is clear from the examples in (341), which show that the full sequence can be placed in clause-initial position; the constituency test.
a. | Rood van opwinding | is Jan. | |
red with excitement | is Jan |
b. | Gek van angst maakte | die film | Jan. | |
mad with fear made | that movie | Jan |
As in the constructions discussed in Subsection I, wh-movement and topicalization of the adjective here yields a degraded result if the van-PP is stranded. Note that the unacceptability of (342b) may also be due to the fact that the AP gek van angst is not gradable.
a. | ?? | Hoe rood | is Jan van opwinding? |
how red | is Jan with excitement |
a'. | ?? | Rood is Jan van opwinding. |
b. | * | Hoe Gek is Jan van angst? |
b'. | ?? | Gek is Jan van angst. |
The (a)-examples in (343) show, however, that PP-over-V does seem to lead to an acceptable result, although speakers of Dutch have varying preferences with respect to placement of the PP; according to some, preverbal placement of the van-PP is preferred, whereas others strongly prefer postverbal placement (even to the point that they claim that preverbal placement is unacceptable). The (b)- and (c)-examples show that leftward movement of the PP gives rise to an ungrammatical result.
a. | dat | Jan rood | <van opwinding> | is <van opwinding>. | |
that | Jan red | with excitement | is |
a'. | dat | die film | Jan gek | <van angst> | maakt <van angst> | |
that | that movie | Jan mad | with fear | made |
b. | * | Jan is van opwinding rood. |
b'. | * | Die film maakte Jan van angst gek. |
c. | * | Van opwinding is Jan rood. |
c'. | * | Van angst maakte die film Jan gek. |
Given that PP-over-V is possible, we may expect it to be possible for the A + van + N sequence to be used attributively with the van-PP in postnominal position, but (344) shows that this expectation is not borne out.
a. | * | een | rode jongen | van opwinding |
a | red boy | of excitement |
b. | * | een | gekke jongen | van angst |
a | mad boy | of fear |
We must observe, however, that the constructions in (345a&b) are acceptable. The ungrammaticality of (345c) suggests that examples like these must be interpreted literally.
a. | een rood hoofd | van (de) opwinding | |
a red head | of excitement |
b. | blauwe handen | van de kou | |
blue hands | of the cold |
c. | * | een | groene | kop | van nijd |
a | green | head | of envy |
Possibly, the examples in (345a&b) may involve a third type of construction since the AP is not predicated of a human being but of a body part. This suggestion seems to be supported by at least two facts: first, example (345a) shows that the noun opwinding can at least optionally be preceded by a definite article and, second, the examples in (346) show that the van-PP can undergo topicalization.
a. | Van opwinding | werd | zijn hoofd | helemaal | rood. | |
of excitement | became | his head | completely | red |
b'. | Van de kou | werden | zijn handen | helemaal | blauw. | |
of the cold | became | his hands | totally | blue |
Example (347) shows that adjectives can be the antecedents of non-restrictive relative clauses, in which case the relative pronoun is wat.
Jan is zeer goed in wiskunde | [wati | jij | wel | nooit ti | zal | worden] | ||
Jan is very good at math | which | you | prt | never | will | be | ||
'Jan is very good at math which youʼll probably never be.' |
The constructions in (348), which have been called transparent free relative clauses, are somewhat special; cf. Van Riemsdijk (2000/2006). The free relatives, which are given in square brackets, function in the same way as the adjectives corpulent and aardig'nice' would do; it is expressed that the subject is corpulent/kind, with the modification that the appropriateness of the term is open to debate.
a. | Hij | is | [wati | je ti | corpulent | zou | kunnen | noemen]. | |
he | is | what | one | corpulent | would | can | call | ||
'Heʼs what one could call corpulent.' |
b. | Hij | is | nu | [wati | ik ti | aardig | noem]. | |
he | is | prt | what | I | nice | call | ||
'Heʼs what I call kind.' |
Like the relative clause in (347), the transparent free relative is introduced by the relative pronoun wat, which can probably be considered the logical subject of the adjective. Wat does not, however, refer to an entity in the discourse; it is clearly related to the deictic pronoun dat'that' in examples such as (349).
a. | Je | zou | dat | corpulent | kunnen | noemen. | |
one | would | that | corpulent | can | call | ||
'One could call that corpulent.' |
b. | Ik | noem | dat | aardig. | |
I | call | that | nice | ||
'I call that kind.' |
The constructions in (349) are used to define or clarify the notions corpulent and aardig, which suggests that the adjectives function as second-order predicates. This seems to be supported by the fact that the relative pronoun wat in (348) clearly cannot be construed as coreferential with the subject of the main clause since it is never used to refer to human entities.
The primeless examples in (350) show that transparent free relatives can also occur with other predicatively used categories; in these examples the predicative element is the full noun phrase een corpulente/aardige man. This is consistent with the fact that the -human pronoun dat can be used in the primed examples.
a. | Hij | is [wati | je ti | een corpulente man | zou | kunnen | noemen]. | |
he | is what | one | a corpulent man | would | can | call | ||
'Heʼs what one could call a corpulent man.' |
a'. | Je | zou | dat | een corpulente man | kunnen | noemen. | |
one | would | that | a corpulent man | can | call | ||
'One could call that a corpulent man.' |
b. | Hij | is [wati | ik ti | een aardige man | noem]. | |
he | is what | I | a nice man | call |
b'. | Ik | noem | dat | een aardige man. | |
I | call | that | a kind man |
The acceptability of the attributive examples in (351) is mysterious for various reasons. In contrast to (348) and (350), the verb noemen is not preceded by a predicatively used constituent. Since this verb requires such a predicative complement, we should assume that either the adjective corpulente or the nominal projection corpulente man are acting as such, in violation of the requirement that a predicative complement precede the verbs in clause-final position; see (74) in Section 6.2.2. Further, if we assume that corpulent is the predicate of the clause, we have no account for the attributive -e ending, since predicatively used adjectives are normally not inflected; if we assume that corpulente man is the predicate of the clause, we should conclude that the determiner een can precede free relatives, which is not attested in other cases. In fact, the primed and doubly-primed examples show that free relatives of the type in (348) and (350) are both excluded after the determiner een.
a. | Hij | is een | wat | je | zou | kunnen | noemen | corpulente | man. | |
he | is a | what | one | would | can | call | corpulent | man | ||
'Heʼs a what one could call corpulent man.' |
a'. | * | Hij is een wat je corpulent zou kunnen noemen man. |
a''. | * | Hij is een wat je een corpulente man zou kunnen noemen. |
b. | Hij | is een | wat | ik | noem | aardige | man. | |
he | is a | what | I | call | nice | man |
b'. | * | Hij is een wat ik aardig noem man. |
b''. | * | Hij is een wat ik een aardige man noem. |
For more discussion and a possible solution for these mysteries, we refer the reader to Van Riemsdijk (2000/2006), who suggests that the adjective simultaneously functions as the predicate of the free relative and as the attributive modifier of the noun in the noun phrase.
Consider the examples in (352) and (353). Given the fact, illustrated in the primed examples, that the adjective can be topicalized in isolation, we conclude that the adverbial phrases are not modifiers of the adjective (although it seems that the modifiers in (352) can marginally be pied-piped under topicalization).
a. | Jan is in alle opzichten | gelukkig. | |
Jan is in all respects | happy |
a'. | Gelukkig is Jan in alle opzichten. |
b. | Jan is in geen enkel opzicht | geschikt. | |
Jan is in no respect | suitable |
b'. | Geschikt is Jan in geen enkel opzicht. |
c. | Jan is op bijzondere wijze | actief. | |
Jan is in a special way | active |
c'. | Actief is Jan op bijzondere wijze. |
a. | Jan is af en toe | erg aardig. | |
Jan is now and then | very nice |
a'. | Erg aardig is Jan af en toe. |
b. | Jan is soms/meestal/altijd | erg aardig. | |
Jan is sometimes/generally/always | very nice |
b'. | Erg aardig is Jan soms/meestal/altijd. |
c. | De zaak | is tot op heden | onopgelost. | |
the case | is until now | unsolved |
c'. | Onopgelost is de zaak tot op heden. |
Despite the fact that the adverbial phrases in (352) and (353) probably act as clausal adverbs, they can also be used as modifiers in the noun phrases in (354) and (355). Their ability to appear depends on the presence of the attributive adjective; if the adjective is dropped, the constructions are ungrammatical. It is not e