- 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
Section 4.1.1 has shown that the majorative and maximative forms of the adjectives are normally formed by means of affixation. In some cases, however, a periphrastic construction can or must be used. The periphrastic construction consists of the majorative/maximative form of the adjective veel followed by the adjective in its positive form: meer/meest A'more/most A'. The first four subsections below discuss some more or less systematic cases.The final subsection concludes with a discussion of two alleged cases of periphrastic majorative/maximative constructions.
Adjectives that end in /st/ often take the periphrastic superlative form. This is probably due to the fact that there is a tendency to not pronounce the /t/ sound in sequences like /sts/. For instance, a compound like herfststorm, which consists of the nouns herfst'autumn' and storm'storm', is often pronounced as [hεrfstorm] in normal speech, that is, the phoneme sequence /stst/ is reduced to [st]. This can be described by assuming the phonological rules in (29a), which we apply to the phonological form /hεrfststorm/ in (29b). If we apply the same phonological rules to the superlative form of an adjective that end in /st/, such as driest'daring', the ultimate result is indistinguishable from the positive form of the adjective; cf. (29c).
a. | /stst/ ⇒ /s-st/ ⇒ [st] |
b. | /hεrfst/ + /storm/: /hεrfststorm/ ⇒ /hεrfs-storm/ ⇒ [hεrfstorm] |
c. | /drist/ + /st/: /dristst/ ⇒ /dris-st/ ⇒ [drist] |
This phonological reduction leads to problems if the superlative is used in attributive position; the examples in (30a) and (30b) are pronounced in the same way. As a result, most people strongly prefer the periphrastic form in (30b'). If the superlative is used in predicative position, on the other hand, the problem is less serious; despite the fact that the positive and superlative adjectives in (30c) and (30d) have the same pronunciation, the presence of the element het unambiguously indicates that we are dealing with a superlative in (30d); see Section 4.2, sub II, for a discussion of the element het. As a result, most speakers readily accept (30d), although the periphrastic form in (30d') is possible, too.
a. | de | drieste | jongen | |
the | daring | boy |
c. | Jan is driest. | |
Jan is daring |
b. | *? | de | driestste | jongen |
the | most.daring | boy |
d. | Jan is het driestst. | |
Jan is the most.daring |
b'. | de | meest | drieste | jongen | |
the | most | daring | boy |
d'. | Jan is het meest driest. | |
Jan is the most daring |
Since similar problems do not occur with the majorative, it will probably not come as a surprise that the morphological complex forms in the primeless examples of (31) are preferred to periphrastic constructions in the primed examples.
a. | een | driestere | jongen | |
a | more.daring | boy |
a'. | ?? | een | meer | drieste | jongen |
a | more | daring | boy |
b. | Jan is driester. | |
Jan is more.daring |
b'. | ?? | Jan is meer driest. |
Jan is more daring |
Observe that when the positive form of the adjective ends in the consonant /s/, the superlative affix -st reduces to -t, which is also orthographically reflected. Often, such adjectives also appear in the periphrastic maximative construction; the periphrastic majorative construction, on the other hand, sounds extremely marked.
positive | majorative | maximative |
grijs‘grey’ | grijz-er/??meer grijs | grijs-t/meest grijs |
pervers‘perverse’ | pervers-er/??meer pervers | pervers-t/meest pervers |
wijs‘wise’ | wijz-er/??meer wijs | wijs-t/meest wijs |
Adjectives that end in -en (pronounced as schwa in Standard Dutch) generally can appear in the periphrastic majorative and maximative forms. Acceptability judgments on the morphologically complex forms in the primeless examples of (33), in which the orthographic n must be pronounced, tend to differ among speakers. The marked status of the morphologically derived adjectives may be related to the fact that the addition of the affix -er/-st gives rise to a sequence of two syllables that contain a schwa.
a. | ? | een | gedegen-er | opleiding |
a | more.solid | training |
a'. | een | meer | gedegen | opleiding | |
a | more | solid | training |
b. | ? | de | gedegen-ste | opleiding |
the | most.solid | training |
b'. | de | meest | gedegen | opleiding | |
the | most | solid | training |
c. | ? | een | verlegen-er | jongen |
a | more.bashful | boy |
c'. | een | meer | verlegen | jongen | |
a | more | bashful | boy |
d. | ?? | de | verlegen-ste | jongen |
the | most.bashful | boy |
d'. | de | meest | verlegen | jongen | |
the | most | bashful | boy |
e. | ?? | een | belegen-er | kaas |
a | more.matured | cheese |
e'. | een | meer | belegen | kaas | |
a | more | matured | cheese |
f. | ?? | de | belegen-ste | kaas |
the | most.matured | cheese |
f'. | de | meest | belegen | kaas | |
the | most | matured | cheese |
Many pseudo-participles do not have a morphologically derived majorative or maximative form. Table (34) provides the majorative/maximative forms of the pseudo-participles from Section 2.3.1, sub III. Again, we should note that judgments on the acceptability of the morphologically complex forms vary among speakers.
form | example | comparative | superlative |
ge- .. -d/t/en | gebrand op keen on | *gebrander | *gebrandst |
meer gebrand | meest gebrand | ||
gekant tegen opposed to | *gekanter | *?gekantst | |
meer gekant | meest gekant | ||
geschikt voor suitable for | geschikter | geschiktst | |
meer geschikt | meest geschikt | ||
gespitst op especially alert to | ??gespitster | ??gespitstst | |
meer gespitst | meest gespitst | ||
gesteld op keen on | *gestelder | *?gesteldst | |
meer gesteld | meest gesteld | ||
ingenomen met delighted with | *ingenomener | *ingenomenst | |
meer ingenomen | meest ingenomen | ||
ver- .. -d/t | verliefd op in.love with | verliefder | verliefdst |
meer verliefd | meest verliefd | ||
verrukt over delighted at | ?verrukter | ?verruktst | |
meer verrukt | meest verrukt | ||
verwant aan related to | *verwanter | *verwantst | |
meer verwant | meest verwant | ||
be- .. -d/t | bedacht op cautious for | *?bedachter | *?bedachtst |
meer bedacht | meest bedacht | ||
bekend met familiar with | bekender | bekendst | |
meer bekend | meest bekend | ||
bereid tot willing to | *bereider | *?bereidst | |
meer bereid | meest bereid | ||
bevreesd voor fearful of | bevreesder | *bevreesdst | |
meer bevreesd | meest bevreesd | ||
irregular forms | voldaan over content with | voldaner | voldaanst |
meer voldaan | meest voldaan | ||
begaan met sympathetic towards | *beganer | *begaanst | |
meer begaan | meest begaan |
The fact that the pseudo-participles prefer, or at least allow, the periphrastic form may be related to the fact discussed in Subsection V below that adjectivally used past/passive participles normally do not allow majorative/maximative formation. This even holds for the compounds in (35), the adjectival status of which is unquestionable, and which do allow majorative and maximative formation provided that the affix -er/-st is placed on the first morpheme: the resulting majorative forms are often written as two separate words whereas the maximative forms are sometimes also written as a single word. The pattern in (35) strongly resembles the modification pattern of attributively used past/passive participles discussed in Section 9.5.
positive | majorative | maximative |
dichtbevolkt‘densely populated’ | dichter bevolkt | dichtstbevolkt |
drukbezet‘very busy’ | drukker bezet | drukst bezet |
drukbezocht‘well-attended’ | drukker bezocht | drukst bezocht |
hooggeplaatst‘eminent’ | hoger geplaatst | hoogstgeplaatst |
vergezocht‘far-fetched’ | verder gezocht | verstgezocht |
Compounds that take a present participle as their second member, as in (36), normally do allow regular suffixation with -er/-st, although they sometimes also allow affixation of their first member. For more examples, we refer the reader to taaladvies.net/taal/advies/tekst/22/ and taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/838/, as well as the references cited there.
positive | majorative | maximative |
hoogdravend‘grandiloquent’ | hoogdravender *hoger dravend | hoogdravendst *hoogstdravend |
diepgravend‘in-depth/thorough’ | diepgravender dieper gravend | diepgravendst diepst gravend |
veelomvattend‘comprehensive’ | veelomvattender meer omvattend | veelomvattenst meest omvattend |
The periphrastic superlative construction can also be used to give special emphasis, as in the (a)-examples of (37). Alternatively, emphasis can be expressed by affixing the superlative with the prefix aller-, as in the (b)-examples; see the discussion of (171) for the pseudo-superlative use of forms with aller-.
a. | Jan is de | meest | vreemde | jongen | die ik ken. | |
Jan is the | most | strange | boy | that I know |
a'. | Gezond zijn | is het | meest | belangrijk. | |
healthy being | is the | most | important | ||
'Being healthy is the most important.' |
b. | Jan is de | allervreemdste | jongen | die ik ken. | |
Jan is the | strangest | boy | that I know |
b'. | Gezond zijn | is het | allerbelangrijkst. | |
healthy being | is the | most.important | ||
'Being healthy is the most important of all.' |
The cases discussed in the previous subsections seem to exhaust the possibilities. Nevertheless, we have to discuss two other cases that have been claimed to involve a periphrastic majorative/maximative form; cf. Haeseryn et al. (1997:416-7).
The first case concerns attributively used past/passive participles. Attributively used participles occasionally retain some of their verbal properties; cf. Section 9.2. The participle in (38a), for example, resembles a regular passive participle in that it can license a passive door-phrase. Example (38b) shows that the participle cannot undergo morphological majorative formation, whereas the grammaticality of (38c) seems to suggest that the periphrastic majorative leads to an acceptable result.
a. | een | door Peter | zeer | gewaardeerde | foto | |
a | by Peter | very | appreciated | photo |
b. | * | een | door Peter | gewaardeerdere | foto |
the | by Peter | more.appreciated | photo |
c. | een | door Peter | meer gewaardeerde | foto | |
a | by Peter | more appreciated | photo |
Example (38c) may be deceiving, however. Since Section 4.2, sub III, will show that adjectives may also appear in the majorative form if they are used adverbially, it may be the case that the element meer does not form a constituent with the participle gewaardeerd, but performs a function similar to that in example (39a). The maximative construction with meest'most' casts light on this issue: if we replace the majorative meer in (39a) by the maximative meest, as in (39b), it must be preceded by the element het.
a. | Peter waardeert | deze foto | meer. | |
Peter appreciates | this photo | more |
b. | Peter waardeert | deze foto | het meest. | |
Peter appreciates | this photo | the most |
Given that attributively used superlatives are never preceded by het, we can test whether meer in (38c) is part of a periphrastic majorative meer gewaardeerd or acts as an independent adverb by replacing it by the superlative form meest. Since (40) shows that het must be present in that case, we should conclude that meer/meest in (38c) and (40) are the majorative/maximative forms of the independent adverb that we also find in (39), and do not form a periphrastic majorative/maximative construction with the past/passive participle.
de | door Peter | *(het) | meest gewaardeerde | foto | ||
the | by Peter | the | most appreciated | photo |
If the door-phrase in (40) is dropped, the element het is preferably absent, which suggests that we are dealing with a periphrastic majorative/maximative forms in the examples in (41). If this is indeed the case, the contrast with example (40) may be due to the fact that the participle has lost its verbal character in example (41) and behaves as a true adjective; cf. Section 9.2.
a. | een | meer gewaardeerde | foto | |
a | more appreciated | photo |
b. | de | (?het) | meest gewaardeerde | foto | |
the | the | most appreciated | photo |
In the remainder of this subsection we will show, however, that the fact that dropping the element het is possible in (41b) is still not conclusive, and that we are actually not dealing with periphrastic majorative/maximative constructions in (41). A first, somewhat weak, argument is that the majorative/maximative form cannot be expressed by morphological means, which may be slightly suspect given that at least some of the pseudo-participles given in (34) can undergo the morphological affixation process.
a. | * | de gewaardeerdere foto |
b. | * | de gewaardeerdste foto |
A more compelling argument is that attributively used participles can also be accompanied by intensifiers of a more adverbial nature, like goed'well' in (43a). The crucial observation is that the superlative form of the adverb in (43c) need not be preceded by the element het either.
a. | een | goed | opgeleide | jongen | |
a | well | trained | boy |
b. | een | beter | opgeleide | jongen | |
a | better | trained | boy |
c. | de | (?het) | best | opgeleide | jongen | |
the | the | best | trained | boy |
The examples in (44) show that a similar effect can be observed if we are dealing with the superlative form of the modifier of a pseudo-participle or true set-denoting adjective.
a. | de | (??het) | zwaarst | behaarde | man | |
the | the | most.heavily | hairy | man |
b. | de | (??het) | ergst | zieke | jongen | |
the | the | worst | ill | boy |
Although it is not immediately clear what causes the degraded status of the noun phrases in (43c) and (44) when het is present, it is clear that we should conclude that adverbially used superlatives need not be accompanied by the element het when they act as modifiers of attributively used adjectives, unlike what is the case when they modify a predicatively used adjective, as in (45). We must therefore conclude that the absence of the element het in (41) is not sufficient to claim that we are dealing with a periphrastic superlative.
a. | Deze jongen | is *(het) | best opgeleid. | |
this boy | is the | best trained |
b. | Deze man | is *(het) | zwaarst | behaard. | |
this man | is the | most.heavily | hairy |
c. | Deze jongen | is *(het) | ergst | ziek. | |
this boy | is the | worst | ill |
We want to conclude by proposing that the markedness of the use of het in examples (41b), (43c) and (44) is due to the fact that it occurs adjacent to the definite article. This claim can be supported by the fact that het deletion also arises with predicatively and adverbially used superlatives in the attributively used participle phrases in the primed examples in (46). If the adjacency of het and the determiner is indeed the relevant factor, we may also account for the fact that het cannot be dropped in example (40) and the primed examples of (46). We will return to the examples in (46) in Section 4.2, sub II and III.
a. | de | (?het) | hardst/minst | hard | lopende | jongen | |
the | the | fastest/least | fast | running | boy | ||
'the boy that runs the fastest/least fast' |
a'. | de | steeds | weer | *(het) | hardst | lopende | jongen | |
the | always | again | the | fastest | running | boy |
b. | de | (?het) | gladst/minst glad | gestreken | broek | |
the | the | smoothest/least smooth | ironed | trousers | ||
'the trousers that were ironed the smoothest/least smooth' |
b'. | de | door Peter | *(het) | gladst/minst glad | gestreken | broek | |
the | by Peter | the | smoothest/least smooth | ironed | trousers |
The second alleged case of periphrastic majorative/maximative forms involves comparison of two adjectives; it has been claimed that this is only possible if the periphrastic majorative form is used. Two examples are given in (47).
a. | Deze kamer | is meer praktisch/*praktischer | dan gezellig. | |
this room | is more practical | than cozy |
b. | De atleet | bereikte | de finish | meer dood/*doder | dan levend. | |
the sportsman | reached | the finish | more dead | than alive |
It is not clear, however, whether the examples in (47) really involve periphrastic majorative phrases. A first reason to doubt this is that these examples seem more concerned with the appropriateness of the used terms, than with degrees. This is shown by the fact that meer in (47) can be replaced by eerder'rather', as in (48), which is never possible with true majoratives; insofar as the examples in (49) are intelligible, eerder must be translated as sooner, which yields a pragmatically odd result because we are dealing here with individual-level adjectives.
a. | Deze kamer | is eerder | praktisch | dan gezellig. | |
this room | is rather | practical | than cozy |
b. | De atleet | bereikte | de finish | eerder | dood/*doder | dan levend. | |
the sportsman | reached | the finish | rather | more dead | than alive |
a. | Jan is intelligenter | dan Peter. | |
Jan is more intelligent | than Peter |
a'. | # | Jan is eerder intelligent dan Peter. |
b. | Jan is meer gesteld | op vlees | dan Peter. | |
Jan is keener | on meat | than Peter |
b'. | # | Jan is eerder gesteld op vlees dan Peter. |
Second, the two examples in (50) involve a syntactic frame similar to that of the examples in (47), although the adjectives are replaced by noun phrases and PPs, respectively. Obviously, the examples in (47) and (50) must receive a similar description, which casts serious doubt on any attempt to analyze the examples in (47) as cases of periphrastic comparatives.
a. | Jan is meer/eerder | een denker | dan | een doener. | |
Jan is rather | a thinker | than | a do-er | ||
'Jan is someone who is thinking rather than someone who acts.' |
b. | Jan valt | meer/eerder | op mannen | dan | op vrouwen. | |
Jan falls | rather | on men | than | on women | ||
'Jan fancies men rather than women.' |
The discussion above does not intend to suggest that comparison of two adjectives is impossible, which is clearly not true; cf. Section 4.1.4. It only shows that the examples under discussion are not cases of periphrastic majoratives. Instead of being part of a periphrastic comparative, meer acts as an independent clausal adverb, just like eerder, which is clear from the fact that, e.g., the (a)-examples in (47) and (48) can be paraphrased as in (51a); cf. adverb tests. The examples in (51b&c) show that similar paraphrases are possible for the examples in (50).
a. | Het | is meer/eerder | zo | dat de kamer praktisch is | dan | dat hij gezellig is. | |
it | is rather | the.case | that the room practical is | than | that he cozy is | ||
'Itʼs the case that the room is practical rather than that itʼs cozy.' |
b. | Het | is meer/eerder | zo | dat Jan een denker is | dan | dat hij een doener is. | |
it | is rather | the.case | that Jan a thinker is | than | that he a do-er is | ||