- 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 a set of special constructions with complementives: Subsection I starts with the absolute met-construction and Subsections II to IV to discuss constructions involving modal verbs, the verb komen'to come' and the verbs hebben/krijgen'to have/get', subsection V concludes with a brief discussion of a number of adjectives that can be used only as complementives.
The absolute met-construction consists of the preposition met'with' followed by a noun phrase and a predicative constituent that enter into a subject-predicate relation. Often, the predicative element consists of a locative PP (cf. Section P2.5), so that it is not surprising that adjectives that express a locational meaning, such as open'open' or dicht'closed', are also quite common in this construction. One example is given in (75b).
a. | [Met | het raam | op een kier] | krijgen | we meer frisse lucht | binnen. | |
with | the window | on a chink | get | we more fresh air | inside | ||
'With the window ajar, weʼll get more fresh air inside.' |
b. | [Met | het raam | open] | krijgen | we meer frisse lucht | binnen. | |
with | the window | open | get | we more fresh air | inside | ||
'With the window open, weʼll get more fresh air inside.' |
The absolute met-construction often expresses a temporary state that is in some way connected to the proposition expressed by the main clause. The examples in (75), for example, seem to express a kind of conditional relation: if the window is ajar/open, we will get more fresh air inside. This relation with the event expressed by the main clause need not be conditional in nature: example (76) has a simultaneous reading, that is, it merely expresses that Jan had his window ajar/open while he was sleeping.
dat | Jan [met | zijn raam | open] | sliep. | ||
that | Jan with | his window | open | slept |
This conditional/simultaneous reading seems to correlate with a difference in word order, which is especially clear in embedded contexts. Consider the examples in (77): in (77a), the embedded clause has a conditional reading, and the met-construction precedes the clausal adverb natuurlijk'of course'; in (77b), on the other hand, the clause has a simultaneous reading, and the met-construction must follow the clausal adverb. The primed examples are unacceptable under a neutral intonation pattern; the number sign in (77a') indicates that this example is at least marginally acceptable if the met-phrase is explicitly represented as belonging to the new information of the clause, for example, as an answer to the question: Hoe krijgen we meer frisse lucht binnen?'How do we get more fresh air inside?'.
a. | dat | je | [met het raam open] | natuurlijk | meer frisse lucht | binnen | krijgt. | |
that | one | with the window open | of course | more fresh air | inside | gets | ||
'that one gets more fresh air inside, of course, when the window is open.' |
a'. | # | dat je natuurlijk [met het raam open] meer frisse lucht binnen krijgt. |
b. | dat | Jan | natuurlijk | [met zijn raam open] | slaapt. | |
that | Jan | of course | with his window open | sleeps | ||
'that Jan is of course sleeping while his window is open.' |
b'. | * | dat Jan [met zijn raam open] natuurlijk slaapt. |
The order restriction that is connected to these interpretation differences can be overruled by PP-over-V. The examples in (78) show that the met-PP from both (77a) and (77b) can follow the clausal adverb in main clauses if they are placed after the verbs in clause-final position.
a. | dat je natuurlijk meer frisse lucht binnen krijgt [met het raam open]. |
b. | dat Jan natuurlijk slaapt [met zijn raam open]. |
Topicalization of the absolute met-constructions in clause-initial position gives rise to a weird result in case of the simultaneous reading; the primed examples in (79) are only possible with a marked intonation contour with heavy stress on the PP op een kier or the AP open and a brief intonation break after the complete absolute met-construction. These examples contrast sharply with those in (75), which have a conditional reading.
a. | Jan sliep | vannacht | [met zijn raam op een kier]. | |
Jan slept | tonight | with his window on a chink | ||
'Jan was sleeping last night with his window ajar.' |
a'. | *? | [Met zijn raam op een kier] sliep Jan vannacht. |
b. | Jan sliep | vannacht | [met zijn raam open]. | |
Jan slept | tonight | with his window open | ||
'Jan was sleeping last night with his window open.' |
b'. | *? | [Met zijn raam open] sliep Jan vannacht. |
Given that the absolute met-construction expresses a temporary state, it is not surprising that the adjective in the absolute met-construction must be a stage-level predicate, that is, that individual-level predicates are blocked. This is illustrated in (80).
a. | [Met | Jan ziek] | krijgen | we het werk | nooit | af. | |
with | Jan ill | get | we the work | never | finished | ||
'With Jan being ill, weʼll never finish the work.' |
b. | * | [Met | Jan intelligent] | krijgen | we | het werk | snel | af. |
with | Jan intelligent | get | we | the work | quickly | finished | ||
'With Jan being intelligent, weʼll finish the work quickly.' |
Note that the interpretative differences discussed in this subsection can be found under the same conditions with supplementives; cf. Section 6.3, sub III.
Consider the examples in (81a-c), which involve modal verbs moeten'must', mogen'may', kunnen'may/can' and the negative polarity verb hoeven'need' followed by an adjective; cf. Barbiers (1995). Example (81d) shows that similar constructions can occasionally arise with a participle instead of an adjective.
a. | De fles | moet/mag/kan | leeg. | |
the bottle | must/may/can | empty | ||
'The bottle must/may/can be emptied.' |
b. | Het raam | moet/mag/kan | open. | |
the window | must/may/can | open | ||
'The window must/may/can be opened.' |
c. | Het raam | hoeft | niet | dicht. | |
the window | need | not | closed | ||
'This window need not be closed.' |
d. | Deze band | moet/kan | nog | geplakt. | |
this tire | must/can | still | glued | ||
'This flat tire must/can still be repaired.' |
The fact that the examples in (81) must be translated by means of a passive construction in English perhaps suggests that these examples involve a verbal complement to the modal verb, the verbal part of which is deleted, that is, that these examples are be derived from the passive resultative construction in (82) by deletion of the italicized part.
a. | De fles | moet/mag/kan | leeg | gemaakt | worden. | |
the bottle | must/may/can | empty | made | be |
b. | Het raam | moet/mag/kan | open | gemaakt | worden. | |
the window | must/may/can | open | made | be |
c. | Het raam | hoeft | niet | dicht | gemaakt | te worden. | |
the window | need | not | closed | made | to be |
d. | Deze band | moet/kan | nog | geplakt | worden. | |
this tire | must/can | still | glued | be |
There is reason, however, to reject this proposal. Given that passive constructions may always contain a passive door-phrase, the deletion analysis predicts that this phrase is also possible if the verbal part is not present. The examples in (83) show that this prediction is wrong.
a. | De fles | moet/mag/kan | door ons | leeg | *(gemaakt | worden). | |
the bottle | must/may/can | by us | empty | made | be |
b. | Het raam | moet/mag/kan | door ons | open | *(gemaakt | worden). | |
the window | must/may/can | by us | open | made | be |
c. | Het raam | hoeft | niet | door Peter | dicht | *(gemaakt | te worden). | |
the window | need | not | by Peter | closed | made | to be |
d. | Deze band | moet/kan | nog | door Peter | geplakt | *(worden). | |
this tire | must/can | still | by Peter | glued | be |
As in the case of the resultative construction, only stage-level adjectives can be used. If the adjective A is used, the construction expresses that the subject of the adjective is not yet A, but must/may/can attain the state of being A. For instance, the expression De fles moet/mag/kan leeg expresses that the bottle is not empty yet, but must/may/can attain the state of being empty.
In addition to the requirement of not denoting a permanent property, it has been claimed that the adjective A in the modal construction must be an absolute adjective which implies a continuous scale from “not A" to “A"; in other words, modification by an approximative or absolute modifier such as half'half', bijna'almost', helemaal'completely', etc. must be possible; cf. Sections 3.2, sub II, and III.
a. | De fles | is half/bijna/helemaal | leeg. | |
the bottle | is half/almost/completely | empty |
a'. | De fles | moet/mag/kan | leeg. | |
the bottle | must/may/can | empty |
b. | De deur | is half/bijna/helemaal | open. | |
the door | is half/almost/completely | open |
b'. | De deur | moet/mag/kan | open. | |
the door | must/may/can | open |
This restriction accounts for the fact that typical scalar adjectives like bang'afraid' or beschikbaar'available' in (84) do not occur in this construction. Observe that the primed examples in (85) become perfectly acceptable if the verbal string gemaakt worden'be made' is added; this shows again that the modal constructions are not derived from the passivized resultative construction by deletion of the non-modal verbal part of the verbal sequence. For completeness’ sake, note that (85b) is grammatical with bijna interpreted as a temporal adverb, which is, of course, irrelevant here.
a. | * | Jan is half/bijna/helemaal | bang. |
Jan is half/almost/completely | afraid |
a'. | Jan moet/mag/kan | bang | *(gemaakt | worden). | |
Jan must/may/can | afraid | made | be |
b. | * | Het boek | is half/bijna/helemaal | beschikbaar. |
the book | is half/almost/completely | available |
b'. | Het boek | moet/mag/kan | beschikbaar | *(gemaakt | worden). | |
the book | must/may/can | available | made | be |
Comparatives are also possible in this construction, whereas superlatives yield a degraded result. Probably, this is again related to the fact that the adjective must imply a continuous scale: the superlative does not satisfy this condition as it refers to the endpoint of the scale.
a. | Deze fles | moet/mag/kan | leger. | |
this bottle | must/may/can | emptier |
b. | ?? | Deze fles | moet/mag/kan | het leegst. |
this bottle | must/may/can | the emptiest |
This subsection on the komen + adjective construction relies heavily on the discussion of this construction found in Paardekooper (1986:203ff.), although it also adds a number of new observations.
In the komen + adjective constructions in (87), the adjective nat'wet' is predicated of, respectively, the noun phrases jij'you' and de badkamer'the bathroom'. This construction is of a very limited type: it only occurs in interrogative clauses like (87) in which a cause is questioned and yes-no questions like (88) that contain a causative door-phrase.
a. | Hoe | kom | jij | zo nat? | |
how | come | you | so wet | ||
'How come you are so wet?' |
b. | Waardoor | komt | de badkamer | zo nat? | |
by.what | comes | the bathroom | so wet | ||
'How come the bathroom is so wet?' |
a. | Kom | jij | *(door de regen) | zo nat? | |
come | you | by the rain | so wet |
b. | Komt | die badkamer | *(door dat lek) | zo nat? | |
comes | the bathroom | by that leak | so wet |
The examples in (89) show that the komen + adjective construction is also possible in embedded interrogatives and in interrogatives with main clause order. Note that the interrogative meaning of (89b) is triggered by the adverb immers/toch; the negative element niet'not' must be present.
a. | Ik | vraag | me | af | hoe | jij | zo nat | komt. | |
I | wonder | refl | prt. | how | you | so wet | comes |
b. | Door zoʼn klein beetje regen | kom | je | toch/immers | niet | zo nat? | |
by such.a little bit rain | come | you | prt | not | so wet |
The examples in (90) show that the construction is excluded in declaratives and in interrogatives that question something other than a cause. Note, however, that for some unknown reason (90a) becomes perfectly acceptable in syntactic frame (90a').
a. | * | Jij | komt | door de regen | zo nat. |
you | come | by the rain | so wet |
a'. | Ik | weet | het | al: | jij | komt | door de regen | zo nat. | |
I | know | it | already | you | come | by the rain | so wet | ||
'I know it already: itʼs the rain that made you so wet.' |
b. | * | Wie | komt | door de regen | zo nat? |
who | comes | by the rain | so wet |
The examples in (91) show that the deictic element zo is normally required in such constructions. This element zo may modify the complementive adjective, but it may also modify some other element: in (92), for example, zo is used to modify an adverbial phrase.
a. | Hoe | kom | jij | *(zo) | nat? | |
how | come | you | so | wet |
b. | Waardoor | komt | de badkamer | *(zo) | nat? | |
by.what | comes | the bathroom | so | wet |
c. | Kom | jij | door de regen | *(zo) | nat? | |
come | you | by the rain | so | wet |
d. | Komt | die badkamer | door dat lek | *(zo) | nat? | |
comes | the bathroom | by that leak | so | wet |
a. | Hoe | kom | jij | zo plotseling | nat? | |
how | come | you | so suddenly | wet | ||
'How come you are wet so suddenly?' |
b. | Waardoor | komt | de badkamer | zo plotseling | nat? | |
by.what | comes | the bathroom | so suddenly | wet | ||
'How come the bathroom is wet so suddenly?' |
The examples in (91a&b) without zo can be saved, however, by adding a discourse particle such as nou, which is used to express astonishment. This is illustrated in (93); to our knowledge, examples like these have not been studied so far.
a. | Hoe | kom | jij | nou | nat? | |
how | come | you | prt | wet |
b. | Waardoor | komt | de badkamer | nou | nat? | |
by.what | comes | the bathroom | prt | wet |
The fact that a cause phrase must be present suggests that the use of komen in (87) is related to its use in the examples in (94), which involve a finite clause instead of a complementive adjective. Observe that in these examples, the cause phrase is compulsory as well.
a. | Het | komt | *(door de regen) | dat | jij | zo nat | bent. | |
it | comes | by the rain | that | you | so wet | are |
b. | Het | komt | *(door dat lek) | dat | de badkamer | zo nat | is. | |
it | comes | by that leak | that | the bathroom | so wet | is |
More evidence for the claim that the two uses of komen are related is found in the fact that, in both constructions, komen can only be combined with epistemic modal verbs: deontic modals, like willen with the meaning “to want", are excluded.
a. | Hoe | kan | de badkamer/Jan | zo nat | komen? | |
how | can | the bathroom/Jan | so wet | come | ||
'How is it possible that the bathroom/Jan is so wet?' |
a'. | Hoe | kan | het | komen | dat | de badkamer/Jan | zo nat | is? | |
how | can | it | come | that | the bathroom/Jan | so wet | is | ||
'How is it possible that the bathroom/Jan is so wet?' |
b. | * | Hoe | wil | Jan zo nat | komen? |
how | wants | Jan so wet | come |
b'. | * | Hoe | wil | het | komen | dat | Jan zo nat | is? |
how | wants | it | come | that | Jan so wet | is |
That the two uses of komen are related is also clear from the fact that the examples in (87) and (88) are near-synonymous with those in (96) and (97). Observe that in (94) to (97), het'it' is an anticipatory pronoun introducing the embedded finite clause. This is clear from the fact that it must be dropped if the finite clause is preposed: compare (94a) to Dat jij zo nat bent, komt door de regen.
a. | Hoe | komt | het | dat | jij | zo nat | bent? | |
how | comes | it | that | you | so wet | are |
b. | Waardoor | komt | het | dat | de badkamer | zo nat | is? | |
by.what | comes | it | that | the bathroom | so wet | is |
a. | Komt | het | door de regen | dat | jij | zo nat | bent? | |
comes | it | by the rain | that | you | so wet | are |
b. | Komt | het | door dat lek | dat | de badkamer | zo nat | is? | |
comes | it | by that leak | that | the bathroom | so wet | is |
The (a)-examples in (98) show, however, that the komen + adjective and the komen + clause constructions differ in that only the latter is compatible with sentence negation. The (b)-examples show that if negation has a more limited scope, as in the case of adjectives prefixed with on-, both constructions are equally fine.
a. | * | Hoe | kom | jij | niet | zo nat | als de anderen? |
how | come | you | not | as wet | as the others |
a'. | Hoe | komt | het | dat | jij | niet | zo nat | bent | als de anderen? | |
how | comes | it | that | you | not | as wet | are | as the others | ||
'How come that you arenʼt as wet as the others.' |
b. | Hoe | kom | jij | zo onbetrouwbaar? | |
how | come | you | so unreliable |
b'. | Hoe | komt | het | dat | jij | zo onbetrouwbaar | bent? | |
how | comes | it | that | you | so unreliable | are | ||
'How come that youʼre so unreliable?' |
Paardekooper (1986) has suggested that the examples in (87) and (88) are “derived from" the infinitival counterparts of the examples in (96) and (97) by replacing the infinitival copula te zijn'to be' by a “null sign". Although this suggestion might be on the right track, it should be noted that, contrary to what Paardekooper claims, the overt realization of te zijn does not give rise to a very felicitous result according to most speakers of Dutch.
a. | Hoe | kom | jij | zo nat | (*te zijn)? | |
how | come | you | so wet | to be |
b. | Waardoor | komt | de badkamer | zo nat | (*te zijn)? | |
by.what | comes | the bathroom | so wet | to be |
The modification possibilities of the adjective in the komen + adjective construction depend on what the element zo modifies. When it modifies some constituent unrelated to the adjective, as in (100), the possibilities are rather limited: (100a) shows that amplifiers like erg'very' or verschrikkelijk'terribly' and downtoners like vrij'rather' are not possible then, and (100b&c) show that comparative/superlative forms and adjectives preceded by te'too' are also excluded. Note that the clausal constructions in (101) are less deviant or even completely acceptable.
a. | * | Hoe | kom | jij | zo plotseling | erg/verschrikkelijk/vrij | klein? |
how | come | you | so suddenly | very/terribly/rather | small |
b. | * | Hoe | kom | jij | zo plotseling | veel kleiner/het kleinst? |
how | come | you | so suddenly | much smaller/the smallest |
c. | * | Hoe | kom | jij | zo plotseling | een stuk | te klein? |
how | come | you | so suddenly | a lot | too small |
a. | ?? | Hoe | komt | het | dat | jij | zo plotseling | erg/verschrikkelijk/vrij | klein | bent? |
how | comes | it | that | you | so suddenly | very/terribly/rather | small | are |
b. | Hoe | komt | het | dat | jij | zo plotseling | veel kleiner/het kleinst | bent? | |
how | comes | it | that | you | so suddenly | much smaller/the smallest | are | ||
'How come you are so suddenly much smaller/the smallest?' |
c. | Hoe | komt | het | dat | jij | zo plotseling | een stuk | te klein | bent? | |
how | comes | it | that | you | so suddenly | a lot | too small | are | ||
'How come youʼre so suddenly much too small?' |
If the element zo modifies the modifier of the adjective, as in (102a), amplifiers like erg'very' or verschrikkelijk'terribly' become possible in the komen + adjective construction; downtoners like vrij'rather', on the other hand, remain ungrammatical, probably because they cannot be modified by