- 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 is devoted to inherently reflexive verbs, that is, fixed collocations of verbs and simplex reflexives like the third person pronoun zich. Prototypical examples are the collocations zich schamen'to be ashamed' and zich vergissen'to be mistaken' in the primeless examples in (549). The primed examples show that in these prototypical cases the reflexive pronoun cannot be replaced by any other element: replacement of zich by a complex reflexive like zichzelf'himself' or a referential expression like Marie gives rise to an ungrammatical result.
a. | Jan schaamt | zich. | |
Jan shames | refl | ||
'Jan is ashamed.' |
b. | Jan vergist | zich. | |
Jan mistakes | refl | ||
'Jan is mistaken.' |
a'. | * | Jan schaamt | zichzelf/Marie. |
Jan shames | himself/Marie |
b'. | * | Jan vergist | zichzelf/Marie. |
Jan mistakes | himself/Marie |
Note in passing that examples like Jan schaamt/vergist zich zelf, with contrastive accent on zelf, are possible. Such cases do not involve the complex reflexive pronoun zichzelf, but the simplex reflexive zich, which is strengthened by the contrastive element zelf'himself', which can also be used with referential noun phrases; see Section N5.2.3.2, sub V for more discussion.
The contrast between the examples in (549) and (550) show that the selectional properties of inherently reflexive verbs crucially differ from verbs taking a nominal or prepositional complement.
a. | Jan zag | zichzelf/Marie/*zich | op televisie. | |
Jan saw | himself/Marie/refl | on television |
b. | Jan gaf | zichzelf/Marie/*zich | graag | cadeautjes. | |
Jan gave | himself/Marie/refl | gladly | presents |
c. | Jan wachtte | op zichzelf/Marie/*zich. | |
Jan waited | for himself/Marie/refl |
The impossibility of using a simplex reflexive in object position or as part of a PP-complement might suggest that simplex reflexives cannot be used in argument position, but the examples in (551) show that this is wrong; zich clearly functions as an argument in these examples, given that it is used in the same function and position as the referential noun phrase Marie.
a. | Jan gooide [SC | zich/Marie | in het water]. | |
Jan threw | refl/Marie | into the water |
b. | De hond | legde [SC | het bot | naast | zich/Marie]. | |
the dog | put | the bone | next.to | refl/Marie |
c. | Jan liet [Clause | mij | op zich/Marie | schieten]. | |
Jan let | me | at refl/Marie | shoot | ||
'Jan let me shoot at him/Marie.' |
The contrast between the examples in (550) and (551) can be accounted for if we assume that simplex reflexives can be used in argument position as long as they are not bound by a co-argument. We will refer to this generalization as the no co-argument restriction on binding of simplex reflexives; see Section N5.2.1.5, sub III, for a more detailed discussion. The examples in (550) are ungrammatical with zich because zich and its antecedents are both selected (assigned a thematic role) by the main verb. The examples in (551), on the other hand, are acceptable because zich and its antecedent are selected by different lexical heads. In (551a), for example, zich is the external argument of the complementivein het water and is thus not a co-argument of its antecedent Jan, which is the external argument of the verb gooien'to throw'. And in (551b&c), the reflexive zich satisfies the no co-argument restriction because it is selected as the complement of, respectively, an adpositional head of a predicative PP and an embedded main verb.
The observation that simplex reflexives cannot be bound by a co-argument has led to the suggestion that the element zich in inherently reflexive constructions like zich schamen is actually not an argument of the verb, but a reflexivity marker; see Everaert (1986) and Reinhart & Reuland (1993). If so, the no co-argument restriction will be satisfied by definition. That something like this may well be the case might be supported by the fact that the English renderings of the inherently reflexive constructions in (552a&b) do not require the expression of a reflexive; this would follow if the English reflexivity marker is phonetically empty.
a. | Jan wast | zich. | |
Jan washes | refl |
b. | Jan scheert zich. | |
Jan shaves refl |
a'. | Jan is washing. |
b'. | Jan is shaving. |
We conclude these introductory remarks by mentioning two complications in the discussion of inherent reflexivity. The first complication will become immediately apparent when we compare the examples in (552) to those in (553); the fact that verbs wassen/to wash and scheren/to shave can also be combined with a complex reflexive or a referential expression shows that certain verb forms can be used both as an inherently reflexive and as a regular transitive verb.
a. | Jan wast | zichzelf/Marie. | |
Jan washes | refl/Marie |
b. | Jan scheert zichzelf/Peter. | |
Jan shaves himself/Peter |
a'. | Jan is washing himself/Marie. |
b'. | Jan is shaving himself/Peter. |
Another complication is that the term inherent reflexivity is often used as an umbrella term for a large set of verbs and constructions that only have in common that a simplex reflexive must be used; we will discuss this in Subsection I and argue there that many alleged cases of inherent reflexivity are better analyzed as non-inherently reflexive constructions with a simplex reflexive in argument position. After that we can continue in Subsection II, with a more detailed discussion of the genuine cases of inherent reflexivity; this subsection will focus especially on the syntactic function of the simplex reflexive in these constructions, subsection III concludes with a discussion of a number of special cases.
- I. On the notion of inherent reflexivity
- II. The syntactic function of the simplex reflexive
- III. Some special cases
- IV. Summary
The notion of inherent reflexivity is often used as an umbrella term for a set of constructions that share the property that a simplex reflexive is obligatorily used. This subsection shows, however, that a number of cases normally subsumed under inherent reflexivity are in fact constructions in which the simplex reflexive occupies an argument position, and in which the obligatory use of the simplex reflexive is a reflection not of some syntactic property of the construction as such, but of our knowledge of the world.
Consider the examples in (554), which all contain an adjectival complementive. If the simplex reflexive functions as the subject of the complementive, we expect two things: (i) the reflexive is an argument and can therefore be replaced by a referential noun phrase like Marie, and (ii) since the reflexive is an external argument of the adjective, the no co-argument restriction allows it to be bound by the subject of the clause. Example (554a) behaves exactly as predicted, but the examples in (554b&c), which have the exact same structure, are problematic.
a. | Hij | eet [SC | zich/Marie | arm]. | |
he | eats | refl/Marie | poor | ||
'He makes himself/Marie poor by eating so much.' |
b. | Hij | steelt [SC | zich/$Marie | rijk]. | |
he | steals | refl/Marie | rich |
c. | Hij | steelt[SC | $zich/Marie | arm]. | |
he | steals | refl/Marie | poor |
The difference between (554a) and (554b&c) seems natural, however, when we take our knowledge of the world into account. Since one need not necessarily pay for one's own food, eating too much may result in high costs either for oneself or for someone else; this accounts for the fact that (554a) can be either reflexive or non-reflexive. The act of stealing, on the other hand, normally results in profit to oneself and loss to someone else, and this may account for the weirdness of the non-reflexive version of example (554b) and the reflexive version of example (554c). If this account for the distribution of reflexive/referential phrases in (554) is tenable, we can conclude that, from a syntactic point of view, there is nothing interesting going on in these examples.
A similar line of reasoning may account for the "inherently reflexive" nature of the resultative constructions in (555), which all have a more or less idiomatic flavor. The activities denoted by the verbs in (555) may affect the mental or physical state of the person undertaking these actions, but not those of some other person; drinking, for example, does not make somebody else drunk.
a. | Hij | werkt [SC | zich/$Marie | suf]. | |
he | works | refl/Marie | dull | ||
'He works himself to death.' |
b. | Hij | drinkt [SC | zich/$Marie | zat]. | |
he | drinks | refl/Marie | drunk | ||
'He drinks such that he gets very drunk.' |
c. | Hij | schrijft [SC | zich/$Marie | lam]. | |
he | writes | refl/Marie | lame | ||
'He writes until heʼs stiff.' |
d. | Hij | rent [SC | zich/$Marie | rot]. | |
he | runs | refl/Marie | bad | ||
'He runs himself to the ground.' |
Another case involves the verb voelen'to feel' in (556). Since this verb expresses here that the agent performs some introspective activity as the result of which he attributes some property to himself, the subject of the secondary predicate will necessarily be co-referential with the agent.
a. | Jan voelt [SC | zich/$Marie | ziek]. | |
Jan feels | refl/Marie | ill | ||
'Jan is feeling sick.' |
b. | Jan | voelde [SC | zich/$Marie | genoodzaakt | te verdwijnen]. | |
Jan | felt | refl/Marie | obliged | to disappear | ||
'Jan felt obliged to disappear.' |
c. | Jan voelt [SC | zich/$Marie | een held]. | |
Jan feels | refl/Marie | a hero | ||
'Jan is feeling like a hero.' |
More cases that may be susceptible to a similar explanation are given in (557), albeit that the actions denoted by the verbs are less well specified; examples like these can be used if there is a certain amount of shared knowledge between the speaker and the addressee about the actions performed by the agent Jan, if the speaker specifies these actions later in the discourse, or if the precise nature of these actions is not considered important.
a. | Jan toonde [SC | zich/$Marie | bereid | weg | te gaan]. | |
Jan showed | refl/Marie | willing | away | to go | ||
'Jan made it clear that he was willing to leave.' |
b. | Jan maakte [SC | zich/$Marie | druk | over zijn werk]. | |
Jan made | refl/Marie | busy | about his work | ||
'Jan bothered about his work.' |
c. | Jan maakte [SC | zich/$Marie | uit de voeten]. | |
Jan made | refl/Marie | from the feet | ||
'Jan fled.' |
d. | Jan toonde [SC | zich/$Marie | een slecht verliezer]. | |
Jan showed | refl/Marie | a bad loser | ||
'Jan turned out to be a bad loser.' |
The examples in (555)-(557) are "inherently reflexive" constructions of the same syntactic type; they all involve cases in which the simplex reflexive functions as the subject of an embedded predicate. Another syntactic type is illustrated by the more or less idiomatic examples in (558); in these examples the simplex reflexive also satisfies the no co-argument restriction on binding given that it is the complement of a complementive PP and thus not a co-argument of its antecedent, which functions as the external argument of the main verb.
a. | Marie heeft [SC | dat leven | achter | zich] | gelaten. | |
Marie has | that life | behind | refl | let | ||
'Marie has passed that stage of her life.' |
b. | Marie neemt [SC | de verantwoordelijkheid | op zich]. | |
Marie takes | the responsibility | on refl | ||
'Marie takes on the responsibility.' |
c. | Zij | schoven [SC | de verantwoordelijkheid | van zich] | af. | |
they | shoved | the responsibility | from refl | prt. | ||
'They denied responsibility.' |
Given that the no co-argument restriction correctly allows zich to appear in the constructions in (555)-(558), and since we can give a pragmatic explanation for the fact that use of a referential noun phrase is not acceptable in these examples, we may conclude that they are not very interesting from a syntactic point of view; we may in fact conclude from our discussion that, syntactically speaking, they are not even inherently reflexive constructions.
If we adopt a strictly syntactic view regarding the notion of inherent reflexivity, and thus eliminate constructions of the type discussed in the previous subsection from our domain of inquiry, we may provisionally assume that simplex reflexives are not arguments in inherently reflexive constructions. This suggests that they are not needed in order to perform some semantic function, but rather to perform one or more syntactic functions. This subsection addresses the question of what these syntactic functions may be.
Noun phrases must be assigned case by a case-assigner. In a transitive construction such as (559a), the subject and the direct object are assigned nominative and accusative case by what we have called tense and the verb, respectively. Example (559b) further shows that the direct object of the active construction becomes a derived DO-subject in a passive construction such as (559b). This is normally accounted for by assuming that passive participles are not able to assign accusative case to their internal argument, which therefore must be assigned nominative case by tense, which furthermore implies that the subject of the active construction is suppressed; see Section 3.2.1 for more details.
a. | Zij | slaat | hem. | |
she | hits | him |
b. | Hij | wordt | geslagen. | |
he | is | hit |
Section 2.1 has argued that DO-subjects occur not only in passive constructions, but also with unaccusative verbs; such verbs are not able to assign accusative case to their internal argument either, which therefore has to be assigned nominative case by tense. This can be illustrated by means of the causative-inchoative alternation in (560): if the verb breken selects the auxiliary hebben'to have', as in (560a), it is a transitive verb and thus able to assign accusative case to its internal argument, but if it selects the auxiliary zijn'to be', as in (560b), it is an unaccusative verb so that accusative case is no longer available and the internal argument of (560a) must surface as the subject of the construction (and the subject of the corresponding transitive construction cannot be expressed).
a. | Jan breekt | het glas. | |
Jan breaks | the glass |
b. | Het glas | breekt. | |
the glass | breaks |
a'. | Jan heeft/*is | het glas | gebroken. | |
Jan has/is | the glass | broken |
b'. | Het glas | is/*heeft | gebroken. | |
the glass | is/has | broken |
The examples in (561) show that a word-for-word translation of example (560b) into a language like French or Italian results in an ungrammatical construction; in order to obtain an acceptable result, the simplex reflexive se/si must be added. Burzio (1986: Section 1.5) claims that the simplex reflexive marks the subject of the construction as a derived DO-subject; see also Dobrovie-Sorin (2006) for a recent survey of the relevant literature.
a. | * | Le verre | brise. |
the glass | breaks |
b. | * | Il vetro | rompe. |
the glass | breaks |
a'. | Le verre | se | brise. | |
the glass | refl | breaks | ||
'The glass breaks' |
b'. | Il vetro | si | rompe. | |
the glass | refl | breaks | ||
'The glass breaks.' |
Although the Standard Dutch simplex reflexive cannot be used in the same way as the Romance reflexive markers se/si, it is worthwhile to note that Heerlen Dutch, a variety of Dutch spoken in Limburg, does employ the simplex reflexive in the same way as French and Italian; cf. Cornips (1994) and Cornips & Hulk (1996).
a. | Het glas | breekt | zich. | Heerlen Dutch | |
the glass | breaks | refl | |||
'The glass breaks.' |
b. | Het glas | heeft/*is | zich | gebroken. | Heerlen Dutch | |
the glass | has/is | refl | broken | |||
'The glass breaks/has broken.' |
For completeness' sake, note that Heerlen Dutch also has examples like Jan brak zich het glas, but in these examples the reflexive functions as a possessor (Jan broke his glass) or a benefactive (Jan broke the glass for himself); see also Subsection III.
It is important to note that the Heerlen Dutch example in (562b) differs from Standard Dutch (560b) in that the verb does not select the auxiliary zijn, but hebben, which suggests that the verb retains its ability to assign accusative case. If this is really the case, we need to explain why the internal argument cannot be assigned accusative case, that is, why we are dealing with a DO-subject in (562). Burzio (1986: Section 1.5) and Everaert (1986) have argued that in inherently reflexive constructions like (561) and (562), the non-argument se/zich marks not only the presence of a DO-subject, but in fact forces the suppression of the regular subject of the corresponding transitive construction. The argument goes as follows. Since simplex reflexives can be used as arguments, they are ordinary noun phrases that must be assigned (accusative) case. Since verbs can assign accusative case to a single argument only, this means that the internal arguments in (561) and (562) can no longer be marked with accusative case, and hence must be assigned nominative case, as a result of which the subject of the corresponding transitive construction is suppressed (just like in passive constructions).
When we now return to inherent reflexivity, the case absorption approach predicts that there are no inherently reflexive verbs taking a direct object, and it seems indeed to be the case that the vast majority of inherently reflexive verbs do not select a DP- but a PP-complement (if any). A representative sample of inherently reflexive PO-verbs is given in (563).
Inherently reflexive PO-verbs: zich aansluiten bij'to join with', zich abonneren op'to subscribe to', zich afkeren van'to turn away from', zich bekommeren om'to worry about', zich beklagen over'to complain about', zich beperken tot'to confine oneself to', zich beraden op'to consider'zich bezinnen op'to reflect on', zich bemoeien met'to meddle in/with', zich inlaten met'to meddle in', zich keren tegen'to turn against', zich mengen in'to interfere in', zich neerleggen bij'to come to terms with', zich ontdoen van'to dispose of', zich schamen over/voor'to be ashamed about', zich schikken in'to reconcile oneself to', zich vergissen in'to be mistaken', zich vergapen aan'to gaze admiringly at', zich verontschuldigen voor'to apologize for', zich verzetten tegen'to resist', zich wagen aan'to venture in to'Inherently reflexive PO-verbs: zich aansluiten bij'to join with', zich abonneren op'to subscribe to', zich afkeren van'to turn away from', zich bekommeren om'to worry about', zich beklagen over'to complain about', zich beperken tot'to confine oneself to', zich beraden op'to consider'zich bezinnen op'to reflect on', zich bemoeien met'to meddle in/with', zich inlaten met'to meddle in', zich keren tegen'to turn against', zich mengen in'to interfere in', zich neerleggen bij'to come to terms with', zich ontdoen van'to dispose of', zich schamen over/voor'to be ashamed about', zich schikken in'to reconcile oneself to', zich vergissen in'to be mistaken', zich vergapen aan'to gaze admiringly at', zich verontschuldigen voor'to apologize for', zich verzetten tegen'to resist', zich wagen aan'to venture in to' |
There are a number of apparent counterexamples to the claim that inherently reflexive verbs do not take a direct object. Examples are: zich iets aantrekken van'to care about something', zich iets aanwennen'to make a habit of something', zich iets afwennen'to cure of', zich iets afvragen'to ask whether ...', zich iets herinneren'to remember something', zich iets permitteren'to afford something', zich iets toeëigenen'to take possession of something', zich iets verwerven'to acquire something', zich iets voorstellen'to imagine something', zich iets voor de geest roepen'to remember something'. It seems, however, that we are dealing not with accusative but dative reflexives in these cases, which will be discussed separately in Subsection III.
The inchoative constructions in (560b) and (562b) suggest that languages may in principle use two strategies to detransitivize causative verbs such as breken: either the verb is deprived of its capacity to assign accusative case, in which case the verb selects the perfect auxiliary zijn, or accusative case is absorbed by a simplex reflexive. This subsection shows that Standard Dutch in fact uses both strategies.
Although Standard Dutch does not use simplex reflexives to mark causative-inchoative alternations of the type in (560), the examples in (564) and (565) show that there is a comparable alternation in which the simplex reflexive is used to obtain a detransitivizing effect; cf. Everaert (1984:52-3). Given our earlier conclusion on the basis of the Heerlen Dutch examples in (562) that this effect is due to accusative case absorption by the simplex reflexive zich, it does not come as a surprise that the reflexive inchoative construction takes the auxiliary hebben in the perfect tense.
a. | Jan verspreidde | het gerucht. | |
Jan spread | the rumor |
b. | Het gerucht | verspreidde | *(zich). | |
the rumor | spread | refl |
b'. | Het gerucht | heeft | zich | verspreid. | |
the rumor | has | refl | spread |
a. | Hij | vormde | een onderzoeksgroep. | |
he | constituted | a research.team |
b. | Een onderzoeksgroep | vormde | *(zich). | |
a research.team | constituted | refl | ||
'A research team was constituted.' |
b'. | Er | heeft | zich | een onderzoeksgroep | gevormd. | |
there | has | refl | a research.team | constituted |
The assumption that we are dealing with derived DO-subjects in the reflexive inchoative examples is supported by the fact that they are subject to the same selectional restrictions as the direct objects of the corresponding transitive constructions. The object of the transitive verb verspreiden in (566a), for instance, cannot refer to a single concrete entity; it is normally plural, or headed by a collective noun like menigte'crowd' or a propositional noun like gerucht'rumor'. Example (566b) shows that the subject of the corresponding reflexive construction is subject to the exact same restriction.
a. | Jan verspreidde | de menigte/het gerucht/de mannen/*de man. | |
Jan spread | the crowd/the rumor/the men/the man |
b. | De menigte/Het gerucht/De mannen/*De man | verspreidde | zich. | |
the crowd/the rumor/the men/the man | spread | refl |
The causative-inchoative alternations with and without a simplex reflexive certainly cannot be considered as idiosyncratically constrained alternatives, but may reflect some more principled difference between the two constructions. This is clear from the fact illustrated by (567) that they are sometimessimultaneously available.
a. | Eucalypta veranderde | Paulus/zichzelf | in een schildpad. | |
Eucalypta changed | Paulus/herself | into a tortoise |
b. | Eucalypta verandert | zich | per ongeluk | in een schildpad. | |
Eucalypta changes | refl | by accident | into a tortoise |
c. | Paulus verandert | (*zich) | gelukkig | niet | in een schildpad. | |
Paulus changes | refl | happily | not | into a tortoise |
Furthermore, the two inchoative constructions differ in meaning. In the story alluded to (Paulus en het levenswater by Jean Dulieu), the witch Eucalypta by mistake drinks her own transformation draught, which was originally intended for the goblin Paulus. The presence of the simplex reflexive in the inchoative constructions depends on the feature ±control, discussed in Section 1.2.3, sub IIIB: if the subject of the inchoative construction is (in principle) able to control the action, as in (567b), the simplex reflexive is preferably present, but if the subject is not able to control the action, as in (567c), the reflexive must be absent.
The same condition may apply to the examples in (568): the use of the simplex reflexive in examples such as (568b) is preferred by many speakers because the subject of the clause is taken as the instigator of the event denoted by the verb, but disfavored in examples such as (568c) because the subject is typically taken as a patient. Judgments are subtle, however, and there are speakers that report example (568c) as fully grammatical with zich; cf. Everaert (1986:84). Some of our informants share this judgment but claim that the use of zich creates a "spooky" effect in the sense that it feels as if the curtain acts like an animate being, which would of course be in line with our suggestion above.
a. | Jan bewoog | zijn arm/het gordijn. | |
Jan moved | his arm/the curtain |
b. | Jan bewoog | (zich). | |
Jan moved | refl |
c. | Het gordijn | bewoog | (%zich). | |
the curtain | moved | refl |
However, there are also reflexive inchoative constructions such as (569b), in which the proposed semantic effect is clearly absent; despite the fact that the referent of the subject is not able to control the event, the reflexive must be realized in this example. It therefore remains an open question as to whether the semantic contrast between the (b)- and (c)-examples in (567) and (568) is really related to the absence or presence of the reflexive.
a. | Jan heeft | het bad | met water | gevuld. | |
Jan has | the bath | with water | filled |
b. | Het bad | heeft | *(zich) | met water | gevuld. | |
the bath | has | refl | with water | filled | ||
'The bath has filled with water.' |
We will nevertheless take the fact that the (b)- and (c)-examples in (567) and (568) differ in the way they do as evidence for the claim that the two types of inchoative constructions are different. Cross-linguistically, there also seem to be two strategies for obtaining a causative-inchoative alternation. The first way is referred to by Schäfer (2008:120) as anticausativization and involves some detransitivization morpheme, which is normally reflexive in nature. The second way is referred to as causativization, and involves some morpheme that introduces a causer argument. This element may be overt, but Pesetsky (1995) has provided evidence that this morpheme can also remain phonologically empty.
a. | Anticausativization: transitive → monadic |
b. | Causativization: monadic → transitive |
The case absorption hypothesis proposed in Subsection A in fact amounts to saying that the reflexive inchoative construction is derived by anticausativization: the reflexive absorbs the accusative case of the verb, as a result of which the theme argument must be promoted to subject and the external argument of the verb can no longer be expressed. Since Section 3.2.3 will show that non-reflexive inchoatives are always regular unaccusative verbs, we may assume that they can be the input to a morphological process with a phonologically empty morpheme that adds an external causer argument to the argument structure of the input verb.
An advantage of this approach is that it makes it possible to account for the fact that the two inchoative constructions may occur side by side without the need to postulate idiosyncratic constraints on the processes involved. The examples in (567), for example, can be accounted for by assuming that the verb veranderen is stored in the lexicon as an unaccusative verb, as in (567c). This verb can be the input of the causativization process, which derives the transitive version of the verb in (567a). This derived transitive verb can subsequently be used as the input for the anticausativization process that derives the inherently reflexive verb in (567b). Of course, this proposal does not imply that reflexive and non-reflexive inchoative verbs always co-exist; the fact that verspreiden'to spread' in (564)/(566) cannot be used as a non-reflexive inchoative verb could be accounted for by assuming that the inherently reflexive verb is stored as a lexical verb in the lexicon.
For completeness' sake, we may note that the difference between Standard and Heerlen Dutch in (571) may simply reflect a lexical difference between the two languages; whereas breken'to break' is stored as an unaccusative verb in Standard Dutch, it is stored as a transitive verb in Heerlen Dutch.
a. | Het glas | breekt. | Standard Dutch | |
the glass | breaks |
b. | Het glas | breekt | zich. | Heerlen Dutch | |
the glass | breaks | refl |
French and Italian, which also use the reflexive form in cases like these, can be taken to be similar to Heerlen Dutch but we should point out that these languages constitute a potential problem for the proposal outlined above. The problem is that the French and Italian inchoative construction in (561) takes the auxiliary être/essere'to be' rather than avoir/avere'to have' in the perfect tense, as is shown by the French perfect-tense example Le verre sʼest brisé'the glass has broken'. Although this is not the place to solve this problem, we want to suggest that this difference is related to the fact that se differs from (Heerlen) Dutch zich in that it cannot be used in argument position or to the fact that it cliticizes to the verb; this may void the need for case assignment, which may be empirically supported by the existence of so-called clitic doubling constructions in which a clitic doubles a syntactically present argument; see Anagnostopoulou (2006) for a recent overview. If so, the role of Romance si/se cannot be case absorption but must be something else; see Dobrovie-Sorin (2006) for relevant discussion.
Many causative psych-verbs ha