- 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
The term apposition is normally used for nominal modifiers of a noun phrase, such as the ones given in italics in the (a)-example in (169). Here, we will extend this notion in order to include the postnominal adjectival modifiers in the (b)-examples; see also Quirk (1985) and Heringa (2012),
a. | Jan/Hij, | de bankdirecteur, | komt | vandaag | langs. | |
Jan/he | the bank manager | comes | today | by | ||
'Jan, the bank manager, will drop in today.' |
a'. | Mijn zuster | Els is ziek. | |
my sister | Els is ill |
b. | Jan, | zo dronken | als een tempelier, | zwalkte | gisteren | over straat. | |
Jan | as drunk | as a templar | wandered | yesterday | over the.street | ||
'Jan, as drunk as a fiddler, wandered about the streets, yesterday.' |
b'. | Studieboeken over taalkunde | geschikt voor eerstejaars | zijn | moeilijk | te vinden. | |
textbooks on linguistics | suitable for first-year.students | are | hard | to find |
The fact that the subject and the appositive occur in clause-initial position shows that they form a constituent; cf. the constituency test. Since appositive adjectives resemble attributive adjectives in this respect, we will compare these two uses of the adjective in Subsection I. The appositive constructions in the primeless and primed examples of (169) differ in interpretation: just like relative clauses, appositives allow a restrictive and a non-restrictive interpretation. This will be discussed for the appositive adjectives in Subsection II. Finally, we will discuss some differences between appositive and supplementive adjectives in Subsection III. Nominal appositives are discussed in Section N3.1.3.
Since both appositive and attributive adjectives are part of the noun phrase they modify, more has to be said about the similarities and differences between them. Occasionally, it has been suggested that the attributive and appositive constructions are alternative realizations of the same underlying construction; see Alexiadou et al. (2007: Part III, chapter 1) for a detailed discussion and references. The following subsections will show, however, that there are various problems with this suggestion.
The first difference involves the size of the AP in question. Appositives are mostly complex APs, for instance, an adjective with a prepositional complement, like verliefd'in love' in (170a). If the complement is omitted, as in (170a'), the appositive construction normally degrades, although it remains possible if the adjective is emphatically or contrastively stressed; cf, subsection II. The (b)-examples show that a complement is possible but not required in the case of an attributively used adjective. A second difference involves word order. Although example (170c) shows that the PP-complement of the adjective verliefd may either precede or follow the complementive adjective, the PP-complement must precede the adjective if the AP is used attributively, as in (170b); cf. the discussion of the Head-final Filter on attributive adjectives in Section 5.3, sub IB. With the appositively used adjective in (170a), on the other hand, both orders are possible.
a. | De man, | <op zijn vrouw> | verliefd <op zijn vrouw>, | kocht | bloemen. | |
the man | with his wife | in.love | bought | flowers |
a'. | ? | De man, verliefd, kocht bloemen. |
b. | De | <op zijn vrouw> | verliefde <*op zijn vrouw> | man kocht | bloemen. | |
the | with his wife | in.love | man bought | flowers |
b'. | De verliefde man kocht bloemen. |
c. | dat | de man <op zijn vrouw> | verliefd <op zijn vrouw> | is. | |
that | the man with his wife | in.love | is |
The examples in (171) show that “heavy" APs with a complex modifier like zo ... dat ...'so ... that ...' can also be used as appositives.
a. | Het meisje, | zo | blij | dat ze straalde, | nam | de prijs | in ontvangst. | |
the girl | so | happy | that she beamed | took | the prize | in receipt | ||
'The/A girl, beaming with joy, received the prize.' |
a'. | ? | Het meisje, blij,nam de prijs in ontvangst. |
b. | Er | lag een jas, | zo vies | dat niemand | hem | aan durfde te raken, | op de grond. | |
there | lay a coat | so dirty | that nobody | him | prt. dared to touch | on the floor |
b'. | ? | Er lag een jas, vies, op de grond. |
If we are dealing with comparison, the adjective can optionally be accompanied by a dan/als/van-phrase, which must follow the adjective in predicative constructions; cf. (172).
a. | dat | jouw begeleider | zeker niet | <*dan de mijne> | beter <dan de mijne> | is. | |
that | your supervisor | certainly not | than the mine | better | is | ||
'that your supervisor is certainly not better than mine.' |
b. | dat | jouw begeleider | <*van de staf> | het best <van de staf > | is. | |
that | your supervisor | of the staff | the best | is | ||
'that your supervisor is the test of the staff.' |
c. | dat jouw begeleider | <*als de mijne> | even goed <als de mijne> | is. | |
your supervisor | as the mine | as good | is | ||
'that your supervisor is as good as mine.' |
The Head-final Filter on attributive adjectives correctly predicts that such APs modified by a dan/als/van-phrase cannot be used in attributive position. However, there is a “repair" strategy that places the dan/als-phrase after the head noun; see Section 5.3, sub IIA, for further discussion. This is illustrated in the examples in (173).
a. | Een betere begeleider | dan de mijne | bestaat | niet. | |
a better supervisor | than the mine | exists | not | ||
'A better supervisor than mine doesnʼt exist.' |
b. | De beste begeleider van de staf | zorgt | voor de zwakste studenten. | |
the best supervisor of the staff | takes.care | of the weakest students |
c. | Een | even goede begeleider | als de mijne | bestaat niet. | |
an | as good supervisor | as the mine | exists not |
Alternatively, the AP as a whole can be used as an appositive, as shown in (174).
a. | Een begeleider | beter dan de mijne , | bestaat niet. | |
a supervisor | better than the mine | exists not | ||
'A supervisor, better than mine, doesnʼt exist.' |
b. | Deze begeleider, | het best van de staf, | zorgt | voor de zwakste studenten. | |
this supervisor | the best of the staff | takes.care | of the weakest students |
c. | Een begeleider | even goed als de mijne, | bestaat niet. | |
a supervisor | as good as the mine | exists not |
It is important to stress that the dan/als/van-phrases are part of the predicatively used APs in (172), as is clear from the fact, illustrated in (175), that they can be pied-piped by topicalization of the adjective; cf. the constituency test.
a. | Beter dan de mijne | is jouw begeleider | zeker | niet. | |
better than the mine | is your supervisor | certainly | not |
b. | Het beste van de staf | is jouw begeleider | zeker | niet. | |
the best of the staff | is your supervisor | certainly | not |
c. | Even goed als de mijne | is jouw begeleider | zeker | niet. | |
as good as the mine | is your supervisor | certainly | not |
This leads to the conclusion that the dan/als/van-phrases in (173) are also part of the attributive APs, and that their postnominal placement is the result of some movement operation: if we assume that the AP is base-generated in postnominal position, we may derive the attributive construction by leftward movement of the adjective across the noun while stranding the dan/als/van-phrase (alternatively, we may assume that the AP is base-generated in prenominal position and that the dan/als/van-phrase has been moved rightward across the noun, but we will not consider this option here). If so, this makes it possible to assume that the appositive constructions in (174) have the same underlying structure as the attributive ones in (173) by assuming that the Head-final Filter on attributive adjectives functions as a constraint on the postulated movement operation. One might want to claim that the attributive construction is derived by movement of the phrase minimally containing the adjective and its complement and stranding the adjunct als/dan/van-phrase.
a. | [Determiner ... N [AP ... [A PP] dan/als/van...]] | appositive AP |
a'. | * | [Determiner [A PP]i N [AP ... ti dan/als van...]] | attributive AP |
b. | [Determiner ... N [AP... [PP A] dan/als/van...]] | appositive AP |
b'. | [Determiner [PP A]i N [AP ... ti dan/als/van...]] | attributive AP |
The claim that the Head-final Filter blocks the movement in (176a') but not the one in (176b') correctly accounts for the fact that an adjective like gek'fond' in (177a), which must precede its PP-complement, cannot be used attributively; cf. (177b) and Section 5.3, sub IB. The intended meaning of (177b) must therefore be expressed by using the AP as an appositive, as in (177c).
a. | De man | is <*op zijn vrouw> | gek <op zijn vrouw>. | |
the man | is of his wife | fond |
b. | de | gekke | <*op zijn vrouw> | man <*op zijn vrouw> | |
the | fond | of his wife | man |
c. | de man, | gek op zijn vrouw, ... | |
the man | fond of his wife |
Analyses of the sort in (176), of course, raise non-trivial questions concerning the size of the moved phrase, given that it is not the case that all modifiers of the adjective can be stranded. Example (178b), for example, shows that modifier genoeg blocks the attributive use of the modified adjective regardless of whether it is stranded or pied-piped; see Section 5.3, sub IIB, for more detailed and careful discussion. Consequently the only option is to use the AP appositively.
a. | De mand | is <*genoeg> | groot | <genoeg> | om | een kip | in te houden. | |
the basket | is | big | enough | comp | a chicken | in to keep | ||
'The basket is big enough to keep a chicken in.' |
b. | * | een | groot | <genoeg> | mand <genoeg> | om | een kip | in te houden |
a | big | enough | basket | comp | a chicken | in to keep |
c. | een mand | groot genoeg | om | een kip | in te houden | |
a basket | big enough | comp | a chicken | in to keep |
Similarly, the (a)-examples in (179) and (180) show that attributive use of adjectives with a clausal complement is also blocked; cf. Section 5.3, sub IB2. This holds regardless of whether (the stranded part of) the anticipatory PP precedes or follows the adjective. Note in passing that the corresponding appositive constructions are again acceptable, but require that the anticipatory PP be unsplit, as will be clear from the degraded status of (179c).
a. | * | de | er | ziek(e) | van | jongen | dat | jij | steeds | zeurt |
the | there | fed.up | with | boy | that | you | continually | nag |
b. | de jongen, ziek ervan dat jij steeds zeurt, ... |
c. | ? | de jongen, er ziek van dat jij steeds zeurt, ... |
a. | * | de | er | tegen | gekante | jongen | dat | Marie | uitgenodigd | wordt |
the | there | against | opposed | boy | that | Marie | invited | is |
b. | de jongen, ertegen gekant dat Marie uitgenodigd wordt, ... |
We will put these problems aside, however, given that the hypothesis that attributives and appositives have the same underlying structure and that the choice between them is subject to additional constraints like the Head-final Filter on attributive adjectives encounters a number of additional problems that are perhaps even more problematic.
The hypothesis that attributives and appositives have the same underlying structure meets with various problems. A first problem is that appositives and attributives differ in that only the former can modify pronouns and proper nouns. Some acceptable examples involving appositives are given in (181). Note that examples like een bange Jan or een tevreden Marie are possible; the presence of the indefinite article suggests, however, that the proper nouns are used here as common nouns.
a. | Hij/Jan, | bang voor regen, | nam | een paraplu | mee. | |
he/Jan | afraid for rain | took | an umbrella | with (him) |
b. | Zij/Marie, | tevreden over het resultaat, | gaf | de student | een tien. | |
she/Marie | satisfied with the result | gave | the student | an A |
The second problem is more semantic in nature. Consider the examples in (170a&b), repeated in a slightly different form as (182a&b). Section 1.3.2 has shown that the noun phrase in (182a) refers to the intersection of the set denoted by the noun man and the set denoted by the AP op zijn vrouw verliefd. In addition, the definite determiner indicates that this intersection has one member. The noun phrase in (182b), on the other hand, refers to a known male person in the domain of discourse, about whom it is claimed that he is in love with his wife; in this respect the appositive behaves like the non-restrictive relative clause in (182c). The fact that (182a) and (182b) differ in interpretation in this way seems inconsistent with the claim that they both have the same underlying structure.
a. | de | op zijn vrouw | verliefde | man | |
the | with his wife | in.love | man |
b. | de man, | op zijn vrouw | verliefd, ... | |
the man | with his wife | in.love |
c. | de man, | die | op zijn vrouw | verliefd | is, ... | |
the man | who | with his wife | in.love | is |
Another difference in meaning can be made clear by means of the examples in (183) and (184). Example (183a) is ambiguous between a “one-set" reading, according to which the cars that sold well have the property of being both old and cheap, and a “two-set" reading, according to which both the old and the cheap cars sold well. The attributive construction in (183b), on the other hand, only has the “one-set" reading.
a. | De autoʼs, | oud en goedkoop, | werden | goed | verkocht. | |
the cars | old and cheap | were | well | sold | ||
'The cars, old and cheap, sold well.' |
b. | De oude en goedkope autoʼs | werden | goed | verkocht. | |
the old and cheap cars | were | well | sold | ||
'The old and cheap cars sold well.' |
This difference between the appositive and attributive constructions can be more clearly demonstrated by means of the examples in (184), in which the antonymous adjectives oud'old' and nieuw'new' block the “one-set" reading due to the fact that this reading would give rise to a contradiction. As expected, the appositive construction in (183a) now only allows the “two-set" reading, according to which both the old and the new cars sold well, whereas the corresponding attributive construction in (183b) is unacceptable due to the fact that it only allows the semantically anomalous interpretation that all cars that sold well are both old and new.
a. | De autoʼs, | oud en nieuw, | werden | goed | verkocht. | |
the cars | old and new | were | well | sold | ||
'The cars, (both) old and new, sold well.' |
b. | * | De oude en nieuwe autoʼs | werden | goed | verkocht. |
the old and new cars | were | well | sold | ||
'The old and new cars sold well.' |
Note that, in this case, the relative clauses in (185) pattern like the attributive construction, due to the fact that the relative pronoun acts as the logical subject of the complete coordinated predicative APs.
a. | De autoʼs, | die oud en goedkoop waren, | werden | goed | verkocht. | |
the cars | which old and cheap were | were | well | sold | ||
'The cars, which were old and cheap, sold well.' |
b. | * | De autoʼs, | die oud en nieuw waren, | werden | goed | verkocht. |
the cars | which old and new were | were | well | sold | ||
'The cars, which were old and new, sold well.' |
A third difference is illustrated by means of the examples in (186) and (187), which contain an attributively used comparative. In the attributive constructions in (186), the comparative can be complemented by the dan-phrase dan ik (heb)'than I (have)', whereas complementation with dan het mijne (is)'than mine (is)' is excluded.
a. | Jan heeft | een groter huis | dan | ik | (heb). | |
Jan has | a bigger house | than | I | have | ||
'Jan has a bigger house than I (have).' |
b. | * | Jan heeft | een groter huis | dan | het mijne | (is). |
Jan has | a bigger house | than | the mine | is |
If the appositive and the attributive have a common source, we expect the same thing to be the case in the corresponding appositive construction. Example (187) shows, however, that this expectation is not borne out. Complementation with dan het mijne (is) becomes fully acceptable, whereas complementation with dan ik heb becomes unacceptable. Note that example (187a) is grammatical without the verb hebben'to have', but that this leads to the pragmatically odd interpretation “Jan has a house that is bigger than I am", which is not available in (186a).
a. | Jan heeft | een huis | groter | dan | ik | %(*?heb). | |
Jan has | a house | bigger | than | I | have |
b. | Jan heeft | een huis | groter | dan | het mijne | (is). | |
Jan has | a house | bigger | than | the mine | is | ||
'Jan has a house bigger than mine (is).' |
In these comparative constructions, relative clauses again behave like appositives, not attributives. This is illustrated in (188).
a. | % | Jan heeft | een huis | dat | groter | is dan | ik. |
Jan has | a house | that | bigger | is than | I |
b. | Jan heeft | een huis | dat | groter | is dan | het mijne. | |
Jan has | a house | that | bigger | is than | the mine | ||
'Jan has a house that is bigger than mine.' |
The general picture that seems to emerge from the discussion in the previous subsections is that appositive constructions are used if the attributive use of the AP is blocked for some reason. At first sight, this seems to provide support for the claim that the appositive and attributive construction are alternative realizations of the same underlying structure. The last subsection has shown, however, that there are various problems both of a semantic and a syntactic nature for proposals of this sort. We have furthermore seen that appositives resemble non-restrictive relative clauses in various respects, which suggest that the apposition is propositional in nature; an analysis that emphasizes the propositional nature of the apposition can be found in Heringa (2012).
Subsection I has shown that the function of the appositive in (182b) is comparable to that of a non-restrictive relative clause. However, if the appositive modifies a nonspecific indefinite noun phrase, as in (178c) and (187a&b), it is perfectly compatible with a restrictive interpretation. That a restrictive interpretation is possible becomes even clearer when we consider transitive verbs with an intentional interpretation in the sense that they do not presuppose the existence of the direct object. A clear example of such a verb is zoeken'search for': although a philosopher may be searching for the meaning of life, this does not presuppose that there really is such a thing as the meaning of life. In the contexts of these intentional verbs, a restrictive interpretation of appositives is highly favored.
a. | Jan zoekt | naar | een studieboek over taalkunde | geschikt voor eerstejaars. | |
Jan looks | for | a textbook on linguistics | suitable for first-year.students |
b. | Marie verlangt | naar een plek | ver van | de moderne samenleving. | |
Marie longs | for a place | far from | the modern society |
In these restrictive uses of the appositive, there is no intonation break between the noun and the appositive, although an intonation break may occur between the full noun phrase and the finite verb in second position. In the non-restrictive uses, on the other hand, such intonation breaks are required. The examples in (190) show that restrictive appositives and restricted relative clauses again behave alike in this respect; as in the examples above, the intonation breaks are indicated by commas.
a. | Studenten | geschikt | voor deze baan, | zijn uitgenodigd. | restrictive | |
students | fit | for this job | are invited |
a'. | Studenten | die | geschikt | zijn | voor deze baan, | zijn uitgenodigd. | |
students | that | fit | are | for this job | are invited | ||
'Students that are fit for this job are invited.' |
b. | De studenten, | geschikt | voor deze baan, | zijn uitgenodigd. | non-restrictive | |
the students | fit | for this job | are invited |
b'. | De studenten, | die | geschikt | zijn | voor deze baan, | zijn uitgenodigd. | |
the students | that | fit | are | for this job | are invited | ||
'The students, who are fit for this job, are invited.' |
Observe that only the restrictive appositives alternate with the attributive construction: (189a), for instance, has the near-synonymous paraphrase in (191a), whereas (191b), if acceptable at all, is not an appropriate paraphrase of (190b).
a. | Jan zoekt naar | een geschikt studieboek over taalkunde | voor eerstejaars. | |
Jan looks for | a suitable textbook on linguistics | for first-year.students |
b. | ?? | De | geschikte | studenten | voor de baan | zijn uitgenodigd. |
the | fit | students | for the job | are invited |
Restrictive appositives are also quite acceptable with indefinite noun phrases if the AP is heavy, that is, if the adjective is modified by a complex modifier like zo ... dat ..., which, as we have seen in Section 3.1.3, sub IB, also allows the split attributive pattern in the primed examples.
a. | een | vergadering | zo saai | [dat | ik | ervan | in slaap | viel] | |
a | meeting | so boring | that | I | thereof | in sleep | fell |
a'. | een zo saaie vergadering [dat ik ervan in slaap viel] |
b. | een meisje | zo vrolijk | dat | iedereen | haar | mag | |
a girl | so cheerful | that | everybody | her | likes | ||
'a girl so cheerful that everybody likes her' |
b'. | een zo vrolijk meisje dat iedereen haar mag |
If the antecedent is a definite DP or a proper noun, restrictive appositives only occur in emphatic, usually contrastive, contexts. Some examples are given in (193). In these cases, the postmodifying adjectives do not serve to restrict the referent set of the modified noun phrase, but instead indicate the circumstances under which the predication of the main clause holds. In (193b), for instance, the referent of Jan is uniquely indentified, and what the adjective serves to express is that an angry Jan is to be preferred over a sad Jan.
a. | Deze jongen | jaloers | is tot | alles | in staat. | emphatic | |
this boy | jealous | is to | everything | capable | |||
'This boy jealous is capable of everything.' |
b. | Jan kwaad | is te verkiezen | boven | Jan verdrietig. | contrastive | |
Jan angry | is to prefer | above | Jan sad | |||
'Jan angry is preferable to Jan sad.' |
The fact that these examples are necessarily restrictive also accounts for the fact that such constructions allow stage-level adjectives only, as shown by the semantic anomaly of the examples in (194).
a. | * | Deze jongen | intelligent | kan | nog | een eind | komen. |
this boy | intelligent | can | yet | an end | come |
b. | * | Jan klein van stuk | zou | veel minder indrukwekkend | zijn. |
Jan small of piece | would | much less impressive | be | ||
'Jan small would be much less impressive.' |
Since they can both occupy a position in the middle field of the clause, appositives and supplementives can be easily confused. Non-restrictive appositives can be relatively easily distinguished from supplementives because the former, but not the latter, must be preceded and followed by a brief intonation break; cf, subsection II. For example, (195a) contains a non-restrictive appositive, whereas (195b) contains a supplementive adjective. Note that (195b) cannot be interpreted with the AP as a restrictive appositive phrase because proper nouns generally do not allow restrictive modifiers.
a. | Gisteren | zwalkte | Jan, | zo dronken | als een tempelier, | over straat. | |
yesterday | wandered | Jan | as drunk | as a templar | over street | ||
'Yesterday, Jan, as drunk as a fiddler, wandered about the streets.' |
b. | Gisteren | zwalkte | Jan zo dronken | als een tempelier | over straat. | |
yesterday | wandered | Jan as drunk | as a templar | over street | ||
'Yesterday, Jan wandered about the streets as drunk as a fiddler.' |
In (195a) the AP is an adjunct of the noun phrase Jan, whereas it is an independent constituent in (195b). This can also be made clear by means of the constituency test: the fact that the string Jan, zo dronken als een tempelier can be placed in clause-initial position as a whole shows that it must be a single constituent, whereas the fact that the string Jan zo dronken als een tempelier (i.e., the phrase without the intonation break between Jan and the AP) cannot occupy this position suggests that Jan and dronken als een tempelier are separate phrases.