- 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
We conclude this chapter on the attributive use of adjectives with a discussion of noun phrases containing more than one attributive adjective. We start by discussing the differences between coordination and stacking, after which the two cases are discussed more extensively in separate subsections.
This subsection considers noun phrases in which the head noun is modified by more than one attributive adjective. Two cases can be distinguished, which will be referred to as coordination (or symmetric co-occurrence) and stacking (or asymmetric co-occurrence) of adjectives, respectively. In the case of coordination, the adjectives are coordinated by means of the coordinator en'and' or maar'but', as in (154). In the case of stacking, the adjectives are immediately adjacent to each other, as in (155); no conjunctions are involved.
a. | een | goede | en | (bovendien) | goedkope | auto | |
a | good | and | moreover | cheap | car |
b. | een | grote | maar | lichte | tent | |
a | big | but | light | tent |
c. | een | sterk | maar | lief | paard | |
a | strong | but | kind | horse |
a. | een | goede | goedkope | auto | |
a | good | cheap | car |
b. | een | grote | lichte | tent | |
a | big | light | tent |
c. | een | kleine | Amerikaanse | auto | |
a | small | American | car |
The presence of the coordinators en and maar clearly signals that the examples in (154) involve coordination of the adjectives; the structure of example (154b), for instance, will therefore be approximately as given in (156a). The examples in (155), on the other hand, do not involve coordination, and the adjectives seem to stand in a hierarchical relation to each other; in (155b), for example, the adjective licht modifies the noun tent, and the adjective groot modifies the complex nominal projection lichte tent. The structure of this example (155b) is therefore approximately as given in (156b).
a. | Coordination: [NP een [AP grote maar lichte] tent] |
b. | Stacking: [NP een [grote [lichte tent]]] |
Semantically, the distinction between coordination and stacking is often not very clear. For instance, (154a) and (155a) seem to be more or less equivalent: both refer to a car that is both good and cheap. If we abstract away from the fact that the use of maar in (154b) suggests that being both big and light is unexpected for a tent, more or less the same seems to hold for (154b) and (155b): they both refer to a tent that is big and light.
There are at least two arguments in favor of the proposed structural difference. The first argument involves the type of adjectives that can be combined. In (154), the coordinated adjectives all belong to the class of set-denoting adjectives. In (155c), on the other hand, the two adjectives belong to two different classes: the adjective klein'small' is a set-denoting adjective, whereas Amerikaans'American' is a relational adjective. If we coordinate these adjectives by means of the coordinator maar or en, as in (157), the result is unacceptable. Apparently, adjectives that belong to different classes cannot be coordinated, so (155c) must involve stacking.
a. | * | een | kleine | maar/en | Amerikaanse | auto |
a | small | but/and | American | car |
b. | * | een | Nederlandse | maar/en | gulle | jongen |
a | Dutch | but/and | generous | boy |
Note, however, that some classes of relational adjectives have a tendency to shift their meaning in the direction of the set-denoting adjectives; cf. Section 1.3.3. It is therefore not really surprising that one occasionally encounters examples such as (158).
a. | een | typisch | Amerikaanse, | en | dus | relatief | grote | auto | |
a | typically | American | and | therefore | relatively | big | car |
b. | een | typisch | Nederlandse, | maar | toch | gulle | jongen | |
a | typically | Dutch, | but | yet | generous | boy |
The second argument involves context sensitive N-ellipsis; cf. Section 5.4, sub I. In (159), the noun phrases in the second conjunct are syntactically but not semantically reduced. Example (159a), for instance, expresses that Peter has bought a very bad cheap car, which indicates that [e] corresponds to the complex phrase goedkope auto and (159b) expresses that Peter has a white American car, which indicates that [e] corresponds to the complex phrase Amerikaanse auto'American car'.
a. | Jan heeft [NP | een | [zeer goede | [goedkope auto]] | gekocht, | maar | Peter [NP | een | zeer slechte [e] ]. | |
Jan has | a | very good | cheap car | bought | but | Peter | a | very bad | ||
'Jan bought a very good cheap car, but Peter a very bad one.' |
b. | Jan heeft [NP | een | [gele [Amerikaanse auto]]] | en | Peter [NP | een | witte [e] ]. | |
Jan has | a | yellow American car | and | Peter | a | white | ||
'Jan has a yellow American car, and Peter a white one.' |
If the co-occurring adjectives in (159) were coordinated, these interpretations would be unexpected, as this would imply that N-ellipsis could affect subparts of a coordinated structure. And, indeed, this reduction is impossible if the coordinator en'and' is present: example (160) does not imply that Peter also has a cheap car, which shows that e corresponds to the nominal head auto only.
Jan heeft [NP | een [AP | goede | en | bovendien | goedkope] | auto], | maar | Peter heeft [NP | een slechte [e] ]. | ||
Jan has | a | good | and | moreover | cheap | car | but | Peter has | a bad (one) |
Cases that involve coordination of adjectives, such as (161a), should be distinguished from cases such as (161b) that involve coordination of noun phrases with backward conjunction reduction; cf. Section 5.4, sub I, example (129). Note that the examples in (161) are given as embedded clauses in order to avoid interference of clausal backward conjunction reduction, which would also delete the verb in clause-final position. The apparent similarity between the two constructions is due to the fact that in (161b) the head noun of the first conjunct is deleted under phonological identity with the noun of the second conjunct.
a. | dat | Jan [NP | een [AP | goede | en | goedkope] | auto] | heeft. | |
that | Jan | a | good | and | cheap | car | has |
b. | dat | Jan [NP [NP | een goede auto] | en [NP | een goedkope auto]] | heeft. | |
that | Jan | a good | and | a cheap car | has |
Constructions with adjectival coordination differ syntactically from conjunction reduction constructions, however, in that in the former case there is only one determiner present, whereas in the latter case there are two determiners present. The corresponding semantic difference is that (161a) expresses that Jan has a single car, which is both good and cheap, whereas (161b) expresses that Jan has two cars, one of which is good and one of which is cheap. This semantic difference can be readily demonstrated by means of the examples in (162): (162a) is unacceptable since one car cannot be both completely black and completely white; (162b) is fully acceptably given that there are two cars involved.
a. | * | dat Jan [NP | een [AP | geheel witte | en | geheel zwarte] | auto] | heeft. |
that Jan | a | completely white | and | completely black | car | has |
b. | dat Jan [NP [NP | een geheel witte auto] | en [NP | een geheel zwarte auto]] | heeft. | |
that Jan | a completely white | and | a completely black car | has |
That the two constructions differ can also be made clear by replacing the conjunction en'and' by the contrastive coordinator maar'but'. This is possible with the symmetrically coordinated adjectives in (163a), but not with the conjunction-reduction construction in (163b). The reason why maar leads to an unacceptable result in the latter case is that this conjunction can normally not be used for coordinating noun phrases: Ik wil het meisje en/of/*maar de jongen bezoeken'I want to visit the girl and/or/*but the boy'.
a. | dat | Jan [NP | een [AP | goede | maar | goedkope] | auto] | heeft. | |
that | Jan | a | good | but | cheap | car | has |
b. | * | dat | Jan [NP [NP | een goede auto] | maar [NP | een goedkope auto]] | heeft. |
that | Jan | a good | but | a cheap car | has |
The disjunctive coordinator of'or' can also be used to distinguish the two constructions. Example (164b) shows that this coordinator can be used in the conjunction-reduction construction, but not with coordinated adjectives. The reason why disjunction is not possible in (164a) is probably of a semantic or a pragmatic nature, as entities are generally not defined by means of a disjunction of properties.
a. | * | dat | Jan [NP | de [AP | goedkope | of | zuinige] | wagen] | koopt. |
that | Jan | the | cheap | or | economical | car | buys |
b. | dat | Jan [NP [NP | de goedkope wagen] | of [NP | de zuinige | wagen]] | koopt. | |
that | Jan | the cheap | or | the economical | car | buys |
Note, however, that the coordinator of can be used with coordinated adjectives if the speaker intends to correct himself. This is illustrated in (165), which is only acceptable if the marker beter gezegd, which indicates that we are dealing with a correction, is overtly expressed.
de verstrooide | of *(beter gezegd) | uiterst | slordige | student | ||
the absent.minded | or better said | extremely | careless | student | ||
'the absent-minded or rather extremely careless student' |
The only overt syntactic sign of the distinction between the (a)- and (b)-examples in (161) to (164) is the presence or absence of the second article. Since the article is phonetically empty, ambiguity arises in examples such as (166a), in which we are dealing with an indefinite plural noun phrase: the structure in (166b) expresses that we are dealing with cars that are both cheap and economical, whereas the structure in (166b') expresses that we are dealing with cars, some of which are cheap and some of which are economical.
a. | dat | Jan goedkope | en | zuinige | autoʼs | verkoopt. | |
that | Jan cheap | and | economical | cars | sells | ||
'that Jan sells cheap and economical cars.' |
b. | dat Jan [NP ∅ [AP goedkope en zuinige] autoʼs] verkoopt. |
b'. | dat Jan [NP [NP ∅ goedkope autoʼs] en [NP ∅ zuinige autoʼs]] verkoopt. |
Example (157) in Section 5.5, sub I, has already shown that not all attributively used adjectives can be coordinated. The constraints on coordination seem to be semantic in nature and involve the distinction between the adjective types in (167); see Section 1.3 for a discussion of the semantic and syntactic motivation for making these distinctions.
a. | Set-denoting adjectives: brutaal'cheeky', aardig'nice', etc. |
b. | Relational adjectives: Amerikaans'American', wekelijks'weekly', etc. |
c. | Evaluative adjectives: drommels'damned' |
d. | Residual adjectives: vermeend'alleged/supposed' |
The examples above have already shown that set-denoting adjectives can be coordinated without any problem. It is not possible, however, to coordinate a set-denoting adjective and an adjective from one of the other adjective classes. This is illustrated in (168): (168a) involves coordination of a set-denoting and a relational (geographical) adjective, (168b) coordination of a set-denoting and an evaluative adjective, and (168c) coordination of a set-denoting and a modal adjective. The unacceptability of these examples suggests that coordinated adjectives must belong to the same class.
a. | * | een | brutale | maar | Amerikaanse | jongen |
a | cheeky | but | American | boy |
b. | * | een | brutale | en | drommelse | jongen |
a | cheeky | and | damned | boy |
c. | * | een | gevaarlijke | en | vermeende | misdadiger |
a | dangerous | and | supposed | criminal |
It is not immediately clear whether it is possible to coordinate relational adjectives. An example such as (169a) seems acceptable but still seems somewhat marked compared to the backward conjunction-reduction construction in (169a'). Insofar as the examples are indeed both acceptable, they should still differ in the number of sets involved (one in (169a), but two in (169a')), but it is hard to test this prediction. The plural counterpart of these examples in (169b) is of course compatible with both analyses, and therefore does not shed new light on the issue.
a. | ? | de | Nederlandse | en | Belgische | afgevaardigden |
the | Dutch | and | Belgian | representatives |
a'. | de | Nederlandse | en | de | Belgische | afgevaardigden | |
the | Dutch | and | the | Belgian | representatives |
b. | Nederlandse | en | Belgische | afgevaardigden | |
Dutch | and | Belgian | representatives |
Given the difficulty in interpreting these examples it might be better to restrict ourselves to cases in which the noun is singular, as in (170a&b). Although examples such as (170a) can readily be found on the internet, we judge them at least marked compared to backward conjunction-reduction constructions such as (170b).
a. | ? | de | Nederlandse | en | Belgische | afvaardiging |
the | Dutch | and | Belgian | delegation |
b. | de | Nederlandse | en | de | Belgische | afvaardiging | |
the | Dutch | and | the | Belgian | delegation |
The contrast we feel in (170) may have a morphological basis and be due to the fact that the intended reading of (170a) can be more readily obtained by using the adjectival compound Nederlands-Belgisch: De Nederlands-Belgische afvaardiging. This is even clearer in examples such as (171): coordination, as in (171a), gives rise to a clearly degraded result and the only way to express the intended interpretation “a tour both in America and in Europe" is by using the compound Amerikaans-Europees in (171b). For completeness’ sake, note that the compound status is clear from the fact illustrated in (171b') that the attributive e ending cannot be assigned to the first member of the adjective pair.
a. | *? | de | Amerikaanse | en | Europese | tournee |
the | American | and | European | tour |
b. | de Amerikaans-Europese tournee |
b'. | * | de Amerikaanse-Europese tournee |
In other cases the impossibility of having coordinated relational adjectives may have a semantic basis: the degraded status of the examples in (172) can probably be attributed to the fact that the coordinated adjectives are from different semantic subclasses: (172a) involves coordination of a time and a geographical adjective, (172b) coordination of a “movement/trend" and a geographical adjective, and (172c) coordination of a substance and a geographical adjective.
a. | * | de | wekelijkse | en | Amerikaanse | krant |
the | weekly | and | American | paper |
b. | * | de kapitalistische | en | Amerikaans | economie |
the capitalist | and | American | economy |
c. | * | een | aardewerk | en | Marokkaanse | schaal |
an | earthenware | and | Moroccan | dish |
The evaluative adjectives in (173a) and the modal adjectives in (173b) are also difficult to coordinate, which may be due to the small number of adjectives that belong to these classes. The unacceptability of (173c) can again be attributed to the fact that it involves coordination of adjectives that belong to different semantic classes: vermeend is a modal and drommels is an evaluative adjective.
a. | *? | de | drommelse | en | verrekte | jongen |
the | devilish | and | damned | boy |
b. | *? | Jans | eventuele | en | vermeende | vertrek |
Janʼs | possible | and | alleged | departure |
c. | * | de | vermeende | en | drommelse | misdadiger |
the | supposed | and | devilish | criminal |
Whereas coordination requires that the adjectives belong to the same class, stacking of adjectives from the different semantic classes in (167) is possible. The following subsections discuss the possible combinations.
If a set-denoting and a relational adjective co-occur, the latter is closer to the head noun than the former. This is illustrated in (174) for geographical, “Movement/trend", time, and substance adjectives.
a. | die | leuke | Amerikaanse | jongen | |
that | nice | American | boy |
a'. | * | die Amerikaanse leuke jongen |
b. | die | belangrijke | Elizabethaanse | toneelschrijver | |
that | important | Elizabethan | playwright |
b'. | * | die Elizabethaanse belangrijke toneelschrijver |
c. | die | belangrijke | jaarlijkse | bijeenkomst | |
that | important | annual | meeting |
c'. | * | die jaarlijkse belangrijke bijeenkomst |
d. | die | mooie | houten | doos | |
that | beautiful | wooden | box |
d'. | * | die houten mooie doos |
When the examples in (174) are pronounced with a flat intonation pattern, the interpretation proceeds such that the relational adjective first selects a subset of the set denoted by the noun, and that, subsequently, the set-denoting adjective selects a subset of the set denoted by the combination of the relational adjective and the noun. Example (174a), for example, refers to an American boy that is nice, but not to a nice boy that is an American. When we want to express the latter meaning, an intonational contour with contrastive accent on the relational adjective is needed: die leuke Amerikàànse jongen. In this connection, it can be noted that the primed examples in (174) improve slightly if the relational adjective is assigned contrastive accent, e.g., ??die Amerikàànse leuke jongen.
If an evaluative/modal and a set-denoting adjective co-occur, the former must precede the latter.
a. | die | verrekte | rode | autoʼs | |
those | damned | red | cars |
c. | die | verdomde | grote | autoʼs | |
those | damned | big | cars |
a'. | * | die rode verrekte autoʼs |
c'. | * | die grote verdomde autoʼs |
b. | die | vervloekte | vierkante | doos | |
that | damned | square | box |
d. | die | verrekte | moeilijke | som | |
that | damned | difficult | calculation |
b'. | * | die vierkante vervloekte doos |
d'. | * | die moeilijke verrekte som |
If an evaluative/modal and a relational adjective co-occur, the former must precede the latter. Of course, this does not come as a surprise given the orders established in Subsections A and B above.
a. | die | verdomde | Amerikaanse | auto | |
that | damned | American | car |
c. | dat | vervloekte | jaarlijkse | bal | |
that | damned | annual | ball |
a'. | * | die Amerikaanse verdomde auto |
c'. | * | dat jaarlijkse vervloekte bal |
b. | die | verrekte | freudiaanse | opvatting | |
that | damned | Freudian | belief |
d. | die | verrekte | metalen | lamp | |
that | damned | metal | lamp |
b'. | * | de freudiaanse verrekte opvatting |
d'. | * | die metalen verrekte lamp |
Stacking of two or more types of relational adjectives is also possible. We will illustrate this on the basis of the four main subcategories distinguished in Section 1.3.3. In general, all combinations are possible in all orders. Here, we restrict ourselves to the stacking of two relational adjectives. Here, we restrict ourselves to the stacking of two relational adjectives. The expected orders are given in table (177), which must be read such that the adjective type given in the header of the row precedes the adjective type given in the header of the column. The numbers refer to the examples following the table.
geographical | “movement/trend" | time | substance | |
geographical | — | (178a) | (178b) | (178c) |
“movement/trend" | (178a') | — | (178d) | (178e) |
time | (178b') | (178d') | — | (178f) |
substance | (178c') | (178e') | (178f') | — |
a. | dat | Engelse | impressionistische | schilderij | |
that | English | impressionist | painting |
a'. | dat impressionistische Engelse schilderij |
b. | die | Engelse | zestiende-eeuwse | toneelschrijver | |
that | English | sixteenth.century | playwright |
b'. | die zestiende-eeuwse Engelse toneelschrijver |
c. | dat | Franse | bronzen | beeld | |
that | French | bronze | statue |
c'. | dat bronzen Franse beeld |
d. | die | impressionistische | negentiende-eeuwse | schilder | |
that | impressionist | nineteenth.century | painter |
d'. | die negentiende-eeuwse impressionistische schilder |
e. | die | expressionistische | bronzen | beelden | |
those | expressionist | bronze | statues |
e'. | die bronzen expressionistische beelden |
f. | die | vijftiende-eeuwse | houten | beelden | |
those | fifteenth.century | wooden | statues |
f'. | die houten vijftiende-eeuwse beelden |
If the examples in (178) are pronounced with a flat intonation pattern, the interpretation proceeds in a similar way as in the examples in (174), that is, the relational adjective that is adjacent to the noun first selects a subset of the set denoted by the noun, and the second relational adjective subsequently selects a subset of this subset. Example (178a), for instance, refers to an impressionist painting made by an English artist, whereas example (178a') refers to a painting made by an English artist that is made in the impressionist style. Consequently, the noun phrases are used in different contexts: at an exhibition that displays several impressionist paintings, we would use (178a) rather than (178a') in order to refer to a certain painting; at an exhibition that displays several paintings by English painters, on the other hand, (178a') would be the preferred way of referring to a certain painting.
We observed in our discussion of the examples in (174) that contrastive accent can have a semantic effect similar to that of changing the word order in (178). This use of contrastive accent is also available in (178). Thus, if we stress the adjective impressionistische in (178a), the example receives a interpretation similar to that of (178a') pronounced with a flat intonation contour. Similarly, if we stress Engelse in (178a'), the example receives a interpretation similar to that of (178a) with a flat intonation contour. Occasionally, speakers claim that the primed examples are slightly degraded with contrastive accent on the adjective that is adjacent to the noun, but generally the effect seems rather weak.
Finally, we want to note that for some (but certainly not all) speakers of Dutch, the orders in (178c',e'&f') are degraded; these speakers apparently require the substance adjective to be as close to the head noun as possible. In neutral contexts, this would certainly be preferred.
Stacking of two or more set-denoting adjectives is also possible. Section 1.3.2.2 has shown that several types of set-denoting adjectives can be distinguished on the basis of their semantic properties. Some of these properties are relevant for their linearization in attributive position. First, consider the examples in (179) and (180).
a. | dat | mooie | rode | boek | |
that | beautiful | red | book |
b. | dat | mooie | kleine | boek | |
that | beautiful | little | book |
a'. | ?? | dat rode mooie boek |
b'. | ?? | dat kleine mooie boek |
a. | die | vreemde | ronde | tafel | |