- 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 the uses of the perfect tenses. We will assume that the default interpretation of these tenses is as given as in Figure 26, repeated below for convenience, and that eventuality k can thus precede, follow or overlap with n/n'; in other words, the default interpretation of the present j of eventuality k is identical to the present/past i of the speaker/hearer. The perfect tense thus only differ from the simple tenses discussed in 1.5.4.1 in that eventuality k is presented as completed within j.
We will further argue that the more restricted and more special interpretations of the perfect tenses do not need any special stipulations but follow from the interaction of three types of linguistic information.
a. | Temporal information (tense and adverbial modification) |
b. | Modal information (theory of possible worlds) |
c. | Pragmatic information (Griceʼs maxim of quantity) |
The discussion will mainly focus on the present perfect as we will assume that the argumentation carries over to the past perfect; we will see, however, that the use of the past perfect sometimes triggers some special effects.
- I. Default use
- II. Non-linguistic context: monitoring of k
- III. Adverbial modification and Aktionsart
- IV. Multiple events
- V. Habitual and generic clauses
- VI. Conditionals and hypotheticals
- VII. Conditionals and counterfactuals
- VIII. Denial of the appropriateness of a nominal description
- IX. Conclusion
Perfect tense situations represented by Figure 26 normally arise if the speaker provides a second hand report. When Els promised the speaker yesterday that she would read the paper under discussion today, the speaker may utter example (358) at noon to report this promise, even if Els has not yet completed the reading of the paper, that is, if she is still in the process of reading it or will start reading it later that day.
Els heeft | vandaag | mijn artikel | gelezen. | ||
Els has | today | my paper | read | ||
'Els will have read my paper today.' |
That the present perfect may also refer to eventuality overlapping or following n is an immediate consequence of our claim that Dutch does not express the binary feature ±posterior within its verbal system. This finding also favors the binary tense theory over the Reichenbachian approaches to the verbal tense system given that the latter does not have the means to express it, and must therefore treat such cases as special/unexpected uses of the present perfect.
The choice between the past and present perfect is often related to the temporal location of some other event. Consider the examples in (359): the present tense in example (359a) requires that the exam is part of the present-tense interval (and in fact strongly suggests that it will take place in the non-actualized part of it), whereas (359b) strongly suggests that the exam is part of the past-tense interval preceding speech time n.
a. | Ik | heb | me goed | voorbereid | voor het tentamen. | |
I | have | me well | prepared | for the exam | ||
'Iʼve prepared well for that exam.' |
b. | Ik | had | me goed | voorbereid | voor dat tentamen. | |
I | had | me well | prepared | for that exam | ||
'Iʼve prepared well for that exam.' |
Similarly, an example such as (360a) will be used to inform the addressee that the window in question is still open at the moment of speech, whereas (360b) does not have this implication but will rather be used in, e.g., a story about a break-in that happened in some past-tense interval.
a. | Ik | heb | het raam | niet | gesloten. | |
I | have | the window | not | closed | ||
'I havenʼt closed the window.' |
b. | Ik | had | het raam | niet | gesloten. | |
I | had | the window | not | closed | ||
'I hadnʼt closed the window.' |
The interpretation of example (358) can be restricted by pragmatic considerations. In the context given above the split-off point of the possible worlds precedes present-tense interval i, and therefore also precedes speech time n. However, if the speaker is able to monitor Els' doings during the actualized part of the present-tense interval ia, the split-off point of the possible worlds coincides with n, and in this case example (358) would normally be used to refer to the situation depicted in Figure 29, in which eventuality k precedes n; cf. Verkuyl (2008).
That k normally precedes n in the situation sketched above is illustrated in (361a). Recall that Section 1.5.4.1, sub II, referred to this preferred reading of (361a) in order to account for the fact that the present in (361b) normally cannot be used to refer to some event preceding n.
a. | Jan heeft | vandaag | gewerkt. | k precedes n | |
Jan has | today | worked | |||
'Jan has worked today.' |
b. | Jan | werkt | vandaag. | k follows or overlaps with n | |
Jan | works | today | |||
'Jan will work today.' |
Examples such as (362a), in which the completion of eventuality k is situated in the non-actualized part i◊ of the present might help us to understand better how the more restricted interpretation in Figure 29 arises. As will be discussed more extensively in Subsection III, temporal adverbial phrases may restrict the precise location of eventuality k within interval j; the temporal adverbial phrase om drie uur indicates that the completion of the eventuality of Marie reading the speaker's paper will take place before 3:00 p.m.; see also Janssen (1989). The reason why example (362b) normally does not refer to eventualities following n in the situation sketched in Figure 29 may be that the relevant point of time at which eventuality k must be completed is taken to be speech time n by default; making this point of time explicit by, e.g., adding the adverb nu'now' is only possible if the speaker intends to emphasize that the relevant evaluation time is the speech time.
a. | Marie heeft | mijn artikel | om drie uur | zeker | gelezen. | |
Marie has | my article | at 3:00 p.m. | certainly | read | ||
'Marie will have read my article by 3:00 p.m.' |
b. | Marie heeft | mijn artikel | gelezen. | |
Marie has | my article | read | ||
'Marie has read my article.' |
Although an account along these lines seems plausible, the examples in (363) show that it cannot be the whole story. In these examples, the adverb vandaag'today' again modifies j and the adverbial phrase tot drie uur'until 3:00 p.m.' restricts the location of eventuality k to some subinterval of j preceding 3:00 p.m. The comments between square brackets indicate, however, that even in situations where the speaker is able to monitor eventuality k, present-perfect examples such as (363a) are normally used if k is completed before speech time n, whereas simple present examples such as (363b) are normally used if k will be competed after n.
a. | Vandaag | heeft | Jan tot drie uur | gewerkt. | n > 3:00 p.m. | |
today | has | Jan until 3:00 p.m. | worked | |||
'Today, Jan has worked until three p.m.' |
b. | Vandaag | werkt | Jan | tot drie uur. | n < 3:00 p.m. | |
today | works | Jan | until 3:00 p.m. | |||
'Today, Jan will work until 3:00 p.m.' |
The fact that (363a) cannot have a future interpretation suggests that something is still missing. The following subsection tries to fill this gap by showing that Aktionsart may also restrict the temporal interpretation of the perfect tenses.
As in the case of the simple tenses, the temporal interpretation of the perfect tenses can be restricted by means of adverbial modification. It seems, however, that the situation is somewhat more complicated given that Aktionsart may likewise constrain the interpretation of the perfect tenses: more specifically, atelic predicates differ from telic ones in that they only allow a future interpretation of the perfect under very strict conditions.
The interpretation of example (358) can also be restricted by grammatical means, more specifically, by the addition of temporal adverbial phrases. If we assume that the examples in (364) are uttered at noon, example (364a) expresses that Els has finished reading the paper in the morning (before speech time n), and (364b) that Els will finish reading the paper in the afternoon (after speech time n).
a. | Els heeft | vanmorgen | mijn artikel | gelezen. | |
Els has | this.morning | my paper | read | ||
'Els has read my paper this morning.' |
b. | Els heeft | vanmiddag | mijn artikel | gelezen. | |
Els has | this.afternoon | my paper | read | ||
'Els will have read my paper by this afternoon.' |
Given that the perfect tense focuses on the termination point of the event, it is immaterial for the truth of example (364b) whether the eventuality denoted by the lexical projection of the main verb overlaps or follows speech time n. This means that the adverbial phrase vanmiddag'this afternoon' is compatible both with eventualities that overlap and eventualities that follow n. Example (364b) can thus refer to the situation in Figure 30.
The effect of adding temporal adverbial phrases is thus that time interval j, which must include the termination point of the eventuality denoted by the lexical projection of the main verb, is restricted to a subpart of i that may be situated in the actualized part of the present/past time interval, as in (364a), or in its non-actualized part, as in (364b).
Temporal adverbial phrases do not, however, necessarily restrict temporal interval j, but may also modify the event time interval k. The latter can be observed in example (365), in which vanmiddag'this afternoon' modifies j and the adverbial PP voor het college'before the course' modifies k, with the result that the termination point of event time interval k must be located within the time interval j denoted by vanmiddag and must precede the moment in time where the nominal complement of the preposition voor is situated.
Ik | heb | vanmiddag | je artikel | voor het college | gelezen. | ||
I | have | this.afternoon | your paper | before the course | read | ||
'This afternoon, Iʼll have read your paper before the course starts.' |
In (365) the modifier of j precedes the modifier of k and it seems that this is the normal state of affairs (in the middle field of the clause at least). In fact, it seems that the two also have different locations with respect to the modal adverb; the examples in (366) show that the adverbial modifiers of interval j normally precede modal adverbs like waarschijnlijk'probably', whereas modifiers of the event time interval k must follow them.
a. | Jan was gisteren/vandaag | waarschijnlijk | om 10 uur | vertrokken. | |
Jan was yesterday/today | probably | at 10 oʼclock | left | ||
'Jan had probably left at 10 oʼclock yesterday/today.' |
b. | Jan is morgen | waarschijnlijk | om 10 uur | al | vertrokken. | |
Jan is tomorrow | probably | at 10 oʼclock | already | left | ||
'Jan will probably already have left at 10 oʼclock tomorrow.' |
That the modifier of k must follow the modal adverbs can also be supported by the two examples in (367): in (367a) the adverbial phrase om tien uur precedes the modal adverb and the most conspicuous reading is that the leaving event took place before 10 o'clock; the adverbial phrase thus indicates the end of time interval j within which the eventuality must be completed; in (367b), on the other hand, the adverbial phrase om tien uur follows the modal adverb and the most conspicuous reading is that the leaving event took place at 10 a.m. Note that English does not have similar means to distinguish the two readings; the translations of the examples in (367a&b) are truly ambiguous; cf. Comrie (1985:66).
a. | Jan was om 10 uur | waarschijnlijk | al | vertrokken. | |
Jan was at 10 oʼclock | probably | already | left | ||
'Jan had probably already left at 10 oʼclock.' |
b. | Jan was waarschijnlijk | al | om 10 uur | vertrokken. | |
Jan was probably | already | at 10 oʼclock | left | ||
'Jan had probably already left at 10 oʼclock.' |
It seems that adverbial modification of k in present-perfect examples with a future reading must result in placement of the termination point in between speech time n and the time (interval) referred to by the adverbial phrase. If we maintain that the sentences are uttered at noon, this will become clear from the contrast between the fully acceptable example in (365) and the infelicitous, or at least marked, example in (368); the semantic difference is that whereas the modifier voor het college in (365) places the completion of k between noon and the course that will be given later that afternoon, the modifier na het college'after the course' in (368) places it after the course (and hence also after speech time n).
# | Ik | heb | vanmiddag | je artikel | na het college | gelezen. | |
I | have | this.afternoon | my paper | after the course | read | ||
'This afternoon, Iʼll have read your paper after the course.' |
That the future completion of k must be situated between n and some point referred to by the adverbial phrase that modifies k is even clearer if the modifier refers to a single point in time: the adverbial phrase om 3 uur in (369) refers to the ultimate time at which the eventuality denoted by the lexical projection of the main verb must have been completed.
Vanmiddag | heeft | het peloton | om 3 uur | de finish | bereikt. | ||
this.afternoon | has | the peloton | at 3 oʼclock | the finish | reached | ||
'The peloton will reach the finish this afternoon at 3 oʼclock.' |
Similar restrictions do not occur if the completion of eventuality k precedes speech time n. If uttered at noon, the sentences in (370) are equally acceptable, despite the fact that the event time interval is only situated between breakfast and the time of utterance in (370b).
a. | Ik | heb | vanmorgen | je artikel | voor het ontbijt | gelezen. | |
I | have | this.morning | your paper | before breakfast | read | ||
'This morning, I read your paper before breakfast.' |
b. | Ik | heb | vanmorgen | je artikel | na het ontbijt | gelezen. | |
I | have | this.morning | your paper | after breakfast | read | ||
'This morning, I read your paper after breakfast.' |
In past perfect constructions such as (371), we seem to find just the same facts, although judgments are a bit more delicate. If eventuality k is placed after n' the adverbial phrase must refer to some time after the completion of the event, as in (371a), which is equally acceptable as its present time counterpart in (370a). Example (371b) violates this restriction and is therefore marked and certainly less preferred than its present-tense counterpart in (370b).
a. | Ik | had vanmorgen | je artikel | voor het ontbijt | gelezen. | |
I | had this.morning | your paper | before breakfast | read | ||
'This morning, Iʼd read your paper before breakfast.' |
b. | ? | Ik | had vanmorgen | je artikel | na het ontbijt | gelezen. |
I | had this.morning | your paper | after breakfast | read | ||
'This morning, I read your paper after breakfast.' |
Example (371b) is perhaps not as bad as one might expect, but this may be due to the fact that vanmorgen can in principle also be read as a modifier of the past-tense interval. The examples in (372) show that in that case the examples are fully acceptable (provided that the adverbial phrase refers to an eventuality preceding n').
a. | Ik | had gisteren | je artikel | voor het ontbijt | gelezen. | |
I | had yesterday | your paper | before breakfast | read | ||
'Yesterday, Iʼd read your paper before breakfast.' |
b. | Ik | had | gisteren | je artikel | na het ontbijt | gelezen. | |
I | have | yesterday | your paper | after breakfast | read | ||
'Yesterday, I read your paper after breakfast.' |
Modification of the time interval j by means of a time adverbial referring to some time interval following n is not always successful in triggering a future reading on perfect-tense constructions. The examples in (373) show that Aktionsart may affect the result: atelic predicates like the state ziek zijn'to be ill' or the activity aan zijn dissertatie werken'to work on his thesis' normally resist a future interpretation.
a. | Jan is | vorige week | ziek | geweest. | state | |
Jan is | last week | ill | been | |||
'Jan was ill last week.' |
a'. | * | Jan is volgende week | ziek | geweest. |
Jan is next week | ill | been |
b. | Jan heeft | vanmorgen | aan zijn dissertatie | gewerkt. | activity | |
Jan has | this.morning | on his dissertation | worked | |||
'Jan has worked on his PhD thesis all morning.' |
b'. | ?? | Jan heeft | morgen | aan zijn dissertatie | gewerkt. |
Jan has | tomorrow | on his dissertation | worked |
The unacceptability of the primed examples seems to be related to the fact discussed in Section 1.5.1, sub IB2, that the perfect has different implication for eventuality k with telic and atelic predicates; we illustrate this difference again in (374) for activities and accomplishments.
a. | Jan heeft | vanmorgen | aan zijn dissertatie | gewerkt. | =(373a); activity | |
Jan has | this.morning | on his dissertation | worked | |||
'Jan has worked on his PhD thesis all morning.' |
b. | Jan heeft | de brief | vanmorgen | geschreven. | accomplishment | |
Jan has | the letter | this.morning | written | |||
'Jan has written the letter this morning.' |
Although the examples in (374) both present the eventualities expressed by the projection of the main verb as discrete, bounded units that are completed at or before speech time n, they differ with respect to whether the eventualities in question can be continued or resumed after n. This option seems natural for the activity in (374a), as is clear from the fact that this example can readily be followed by ... en hij zal daar vanmiddag mee doorgaan'... and he will continue doing that in the afternoon'. The accomplishment in (374b), on the other hand, seems to imply that the eventuality has reached its implied endpoint and therefore cannot be continued after speech time n.
Atelic and telic predicates also differ if it comes to modification by the accented adverb nu'now', which expresses that the state of completeness is achieved at the very moment of speech; atelic predicates allow this use of nu only if a durative adverbial phrase like een uur'for an hour' is added; see Janssen (1983) and the references cited there.
a. | Jan heeft | nu | *(een uur) | aan zijn dissertatie | gewerkt. | activity | |
Jan has | nu | one hour | on his dissertation | worked | |||
'Jan has worked on his PhD thesis for an hour ... now.' |
b. | Jan heeft | de brief | nu | geschreven. | accomplishment | |
Jan has | the letter | now | written | |||
'Jan has written the letter ... now.' |
Janssen suggests that this is due to the fact that the moment at which atelic predicates can be considered "completed" is not conspicuous enough to be pointed at by means of accented nu'now'; we are normally only able to pass judgment on this after some time has elapsed unless the rightward boundary is explicitly indicated by, e.g., a durative adverbial phrase. This inconspicuousness of the end point of atelic eventualities is of course related to the fact that they can in principle be extended indefinitely, and is probably also the reason why speakers will refrain from using the perfect if it comes to future atelic eventualities; like in example (375a), the speaker will use the perfect only if the extent of the atelic predicate is explicitly bounded by means of a durative adverbial phrase. In other cases, the speaker will resort to the simple present to locate atelic eventualities in the non-actualized part of the present.
Morgen | heeft | Jan | ??(precies een jaar) | aan zijn dissertatie | gewerkt. | ||
tomorrow | has | Jan | exactly one year | on his thesis | worked | ||
'Tomorrow Jan has worked on his thesis for a full year.' |
For the examples so far, we tacitly assumed that the eventuality denoted by the lexical projection of the main verb occurs only once. Although this may be the default interpretation, the examples in (377) show that this is not necessary: example (377a) expresses that in the actualized part of the present-tense interval i denoted by vandaag'today', the speaker has eaten three times before speech time n. Similarly, the frequency adverb vaak'often' in (377b) expresses that within the actualized part of the tense interval i denoted by the adverbial phrase dit jaar'this year' there have been many occurrences of the eventuality denoted by the phrase naar de bioscoop gaan'go to the cinema'.
a. | Ik | heb | vandaag | drie maaltijden | gegeten: | ontbijt, | lunch en avondeten. | |
I | have | today | three meals | eaten | breakfast | lunch and supper | ||
'Iʼve eaten three times today: breakfast, lunch and supper.' |
b. | Ik | ben | dit jaar | vaak | naar de bioscoop | geweest. | |
I | am | this year | often | to the cinema | been | ||
'Iʼve often been to the cinema this year.' |
As expected, the default interpretation of examples such as (377) is that the eventualities precede speech time n. This default reading can, however, readily be cancelled. An example such as Als ik vanavond naar bed ga, heb ik drie maaltijden gegeten: ontbijt, lunch and avondeten'When I go to bed tonight, I will have eaten three meals: breakfast, lunch and supper' can readily be uttered at dawn or noon by, e.g., someone with an eating disorder who wants to express his good intentions.
The fact that the present/past-tense interval can contain multiple occurrences of the eventuality denoted by the lexical projection of the main verb is exploited to the full in habitual constructions such as (378). These examples differ from the simple present examples in (346) in that they tend to situate the habit in the actualized part of the present-tense interval ia; for example, there is a strong tendency to interpret example (378b) such that Jan has quit smoking. It is, however, certainly not necessary to interpret perfect habituals in this way, as will be clear from the fact that example (378a) can readily be followed by ... en hij zal dat wel blijven doen'... and he will continue to do so'.
a. | Jan is | (altijd) | met de bus | naar zijn werk | gegaan. | |
Jan has | always | with the bus | to his work | gone | ||
'Jan has (always) gone to his work by bus.' |
b. | Jan heeft | (vroeger) | gerookt. | |
Jan has | in.the.past | smoked | ||
'Jan has smoked in the past/used to be a smoker.' |
In contrast to the present-tense examples in (356), it does not seem possible to interpret the perfect-tense examples in (379) generically: the examples in (379a&b) are only acceptable if the subject refers to a (set of) unidentified individual(s); example (379c) can at best give rise to the semantically incoherent interpretation that a specific whale has become a fish.
a. | # | Een echte heer | is hoffelijk | geweest. |
a true gent | is courteous | been | ||
'A true gent has been courteous.' |
b. | # | Echte heren | zijn | hoffelijk | geweest. |
true gents | are | courteous | been |
c. | * | De walvis | is een zoogdier | geweest. |
the whale | is a mammal | been |
Present perfect-tense clauses introduced by als'when' seem to allow both a conditional and a hypothetical reading, just like the simple present examples in (348) from Section 1.5.4.1. The conditional reading, which is illustrated in (380a&b), is again the default one. These examples involve identical strings but are given different glosses in order to express that a teacher could say this sentence either to his pupils in general to indicate that those who have fulfilled the condition expressed by the antecedent of the sentence may leave, or to a specific student if he does not know whether this student has fulfilled the condition.
a. | Als | je | je spullen | op | geruimd | hebt, | mag | je | weg. | |
when | one | his things | away | cleared | has | be.allowed | one | go.away | ||
'When one has put away his things, one may go.' |
b. | Als | je | je spullen | op | geruimd | hebt, | mag | je | weg. | |
when | you | your things | away | cleared | has | be.allowed | you | go.away | ||
'If youʼve put away your things, you may go.' |
The hypothetical reading of this sentence arises if the discourse participants know that the antecedent is not fulfilled in the actualized part of the present-tense interval, e.g., if the teacher addresses a specific pupil of whom he knows that he did not yet clear away his things; see the gloss and rendering of (381).
Als | je | je spullen | op | geruimd | hebt, | mag | je | weg. | ||
as.soon.as | you | your things | away | cleared | has | be.allowed | you | go.away | ||
'As soon as youʼve put away your things, you may go.' |
The fact that contextual information is needed to distinguish the two readings of the antecedent clause Als je je spullen opgeruimd hebt, mag je weg clearly shows that pragmatics is involved. It is, however, possible to favor a certain reading by means of adverbial phrases. As in the present-tense examples, the conditional reading in (380) is favored by adding an adverb like altijd'always' to the consequence: Als je je spullen opgeruimd hebt, mag je altijd weg'if one has put away his things, one may always go'. The same thing holds for the addition of al'already' to the antecedent since this locates the eventuality denoted by the lexical projection of the main verb of the antecedent clause in the actualized part of the present-tense interval and thus blocks the hypothetical reading: Als je je spullen al opgeruimd hebt, mag je weg'If you have already put away your things, you may go'. Addition of straks'later' to the antecedent, on the other hand, will favor the hypothetical reading as it suggests that the speaker knows that the condition is not yet fulfilled at the moment of speech: Als je straks je spullen opgeruimd hebt, mag je weg'If you have put away your things later, you may go'.
Past perfect tense utterances allow both a conditional and a counterfactual reading, just like the simple past examples in (351) from Section 1.5.4.1. The default conditional reading can be found in (382a), which refers to some general rule which was valid in the relevant past-tense interval. The conditional reading is not that easy to get if the pronoun je is interpreted referentially, as in (382b), which seems preferably interpreted counterfactually instead. This preference may again be pragmatic in nature. Given that the eventuality is situated in the past-tense interval, the speaker and the addressee may be expected to know whether or not the condition mentioned in the antecedent is fulfilled.
a. | Als | je | je spullen | op | geruimd | had, | mocht | je | weg. | |
when | one | his things | away | cleared | had | be.allowed | one | go.away | ||
'When one had put away his things, one was allowed to go.' |
b. | Als | je | je spullen | op | geruimd | had, | mocht | je | weg. | |
when | you | your things | away | cleared | had | be.allowed | you | go.away | ||
'If you had put away your things, you were allowed go.' |
It is important to observe that the use of the simple past of the verb mogen'to be allowed' in the consequence does not necessarily imply that the leaving event denoted by the lexical projection of the main verb in the consequence is located before speech time n. In fact, the preferred interpretation of counterfactuals of the form in (382b) is that in possible worlds in which the condition mentioned in the antecedent is fulfilled, the leaving event would coincide with or follow speech time n. This will be clear from the fact that the use of the adverb gisteren'yesterday' is not possible in (383a). This shows again that the past-tense interval can include speech time n and thus overlap with the present-tense interval; see the discussion in Section 1.5.1, sub IC. Note that this restriction on adverbial modification is lifted if the consequence is put in the perfect tense, as in (383b).
Als | je | je spullen | op | geruimd | had, ... | ||
when | you | your things | away | cleared | had | ||
'If youʼd put away your things, ...' |
a. | ... | dan | mocht | je | nu/morgen/*gisteren | naar het feest. | |
... | then | be.allowed | you | now/tomorrow/yesterday | to the party | ||
'... then you were allowed go to the party now/tomorrow.' |
b. | ... | dan | had je | nu/morgen/gisteren | naar het feest | gemogen. | |
... | then | had you | now/tomorrow/yesterday | to the party | been.allowed | ||
'... then you would have been allowed to go to the party now/tomorrow/yesterday.' |
An interesting fact about conditionals and hypotheticals is that the als-phrase alternates with constructions without als, in which the finite verb occupies the first position of the clause: the antecedent in (383) can also have the form Had je je spullen opgeruimd, dan ... With antecedents of this form, counterfactuals are often used to express regret or a wish; for obvious reasons the former reading is probably more likely to arise if the speaker expresses a counterfactual situation that involves himself. The parentheses in these examples indicate that under these readings the consequence is often left implicit.
a. | Ha |