- Dutch
- 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 alternation of dative phrases with periphrastic bij-PPs; cf. Van den Toorn (1971). In constructions like these the indirect object functions as an inalienable possessor of some other noun phrase in the clause (the possessee). The possessee normally occurs as the complement of some complementive locational PP. Typical examples are given in (367a&b), in which the dative and the bij-PP function as possessors of the nominal part of the PP headed by the preposition op. Example (367c) further shows that the indirect objects can readily be omitted, in which case the intended possessive meaning can simply be expressed by means of an NP-internal possessor in the form of a genitive noun phrase, a possessive pronoun or (not shown) a postnominal van-PP.
a. | Marie zet | Peter/hem | het kind | op de knie. | possessive dative | |
Marie puts | Peter/him | the child | onto the knee |
b. | Marie zet | het kind | bij Peter/hem | op de knie. | possessive bij-PP | |
Marie puts | the child | with Peter/him | on the knee |
c. | Marie zet | het kind | op Peters/zijn knie. | NP-internal possessor | |
Marie puts | the child | onto Peterʼs/his knee | |||
'Marie puts the child on Peterʼs/his knee.' |
Although standard speakers normally accept all forms in (367), they may differ in their actual preference. The main division line seems to be between the (a&b)-examples and the (c)-example; the latter is acceptable to all speakers whereas the former are sometimes considered marked. It further seems that speakers vary with respect to the question as to whether the (a)-example with a dative noun phrase is to be preferred over the (b)-example with a bij-phrase, or vice versa. Finally, speakers’ judgments may vary from construction to construction. In what follows we will abstract away from these issues, which we leave for future research.
It is important to note that the possessive dative/bij-PP and the NP-internal possessor are normally not mutually exclusive in Standard Dutch: example (368) shows that they can be simultaneously expressed despite the fact that this seems to introduce a certain amount of redundancy.
a. | Marie zet | Peter/hem | het kind | op zijn knie. | |
Marie puts | Peter/him | the child | on his knee |
b. | Marie zet | het kind | bij Peter/hem | op zijn knie. | |
Marie puts | the child | with Peter/him | on his knee | ||
'Marie puts the child on Peterʼs/his knee.' |
In the discussion that follows, we will ignore this remarkable fact, which has led Janssen (1976) to the conclusion that there is in fact no category of possessive dative; he claims that we are simply dealing with recipients and that their possessive interpretation is due to extra-linguistic factors. We will not follow this suggestion given that there is no independent evidence for claiming that the verb zetten'to put' in the examples above selects a recipient, whereas there is evidence that the dative/bij-PP is licensed by virtue of its relationship with the possessee; see also Van Bree (1981) and Schermer-Vermeer (1991/1996). The examples in (369), for instance, show that the verb zetten cannot be combined with a dative when the complementive does not contain a noun phrase that can be inalienably possessed. See Subsection IV for more extensive discussion.
a. | Marie zet | (*Peter/*hem) | het kind | op de tafel. | |
Marie puts | Peter/him | the child | on the table |
b. | Marie zet | (*Peter/*hem) | het kind | hier. | |
Marie puts | Peter/him | the child | here |
Although the following subsections will focus on constructions with a possessive dative/bij-PP, we will occasionally also discuss the corresponding constructions with an NP-internal possessor. Subsections I and II start with a discussion of a number of characteristic properties of the dative and the periphrastic bij-PP. Section III continues with a discussion of the locational PP that contains the possessee. Subsection IV focuses more specifically on the relation between the possessive bij-phrase and the locational PP and will show that the two form a constituent. Subsection V provides a discussion of the verb types that allow the dative/PP alternation. Although the nominal possessor is normally assigned dative case, Subsection VI shows that there are some special cases in which an accusative or nominative possessor can be used; this subsection also discusses a number of cases which only seemingly involve a nominative possessor.
This subsection discusses a number of characteristic properties of the dative possessor and contrasts these with the properties of the periphrastic bij-phrase and the NP-internal possessor.
The distribution of the Standard Dutch possessive dative construction is quite restricted and normally requires the possessee to be embedded in a complementive locational PP, as in (367); if the locational PP has an adverbial function, as in (370), the possessive dative is excluded. This does not hold for the corresponding possessive bij-phrase or the NP-internal possessor, which are perfectly acceptable in such cases.
a. | * | Het kind | sliep | Peter/hem | in de armen. | possessive dative |
the child | slept | Peter/him | in the arms |
b. | Het kind | sliep | bij Peter/hem | in de armen. | possessive bij-PP | |
the child | slept | with Peter/him | in the arms |
c. | Het kind | sliep | in Peters/zijn armen. | NP-internal possessor | |
the child | slept | in Peterʼs/his arms | |||
'The child slept in Peterʼs/his arms.' |
Double object constructions such as (371a), in which the indirect object functions as the possessor of a direct object, are normally excluded in Standard Dutch as well; since the same thing holds for the possessive bij-phrase in (371b), the normal way of expressing the intended meaning is by using an NP-internal possessor, as in (371c). The percentage sign in (371a) is used to indicate that this state of affairs does not hold for all varieties of Dutch–possessive dative constructions such as (371a) are common in many southern and eastern dialects of Dutch; we refer the reader to Van Bree (1981) and Cornips (1994) for a description of the dialect data and also to Barbiers et al. (2005:78) who describe the distribution of this possessive construction with a reflexive indirect object. The number sign in example (371b) indicates that it is marginally acceptable if the bij-phrase functions as an adverbial locational phrase (under this reading, the example is fully acceptable with the direct object zijn handen'his hands'); see Subsection II for a discussion of this adverbial use of the bij-phrase.
a. | % | Hij wast | Peter | de handen. | possessive dative |
he washes | Peter | the hands |
b. | # | Hij wast | bij Peter | de handen. | possessive bij-PP |
he washes | with Peter | the hands |
c. | Hij | wast | Peters | handen. | NP-internal possessor | |
he | washes | Peterʼs | hands | |||
'Heʼs washing Peterʼs hands.' |
There are exceptions to the general rule that an indirect object cannot function as the inalienable possessor of a direct object; the examples in (372), for instance, show that possessive constructions of the type in (371a) are possible in certain idiomatic expressions. Possessive datives in examples of this type normally do not alternate with a possessive bij-PP.
a. | Jan waste | Marie | de oren. | |
Jan washed | Marie | the ears | ||
'Jan told Marie the truth/gave Marie a piece of his mind.' |
b. | Marie drukte/schudde | Peter de hand. | |
Marie pressed/shook | Peter the hand | ||
'Marie shook Peterʼs hand.' |
c. | De graaf | kuste | de gravin | de hand. | |
the count | kissed | the countess | the hand | ||
'The count kissed the countesshand.' |
In other cases, the possessive relation between the indirect and the direct object may be triggered by our knowledge of the world. In (373a), the dative phrase functions as the syntactically encoded possessor of the nominal part of the predicative locational PP op de rug, but the fact that the dative phrase is also construed as the possessor of the direct object de handen is related to our knowledge of the world; see also Schermer-Vermeer (1991:205ff) for a more general discussion. Knowledge of the world may also be relevant for example (373b) with an optional adverbial PP; this example is given as a case of (inalienable) possession in Janssen (1976:43), but we believe that the hotel context evoked by the noun piccolo'bellhop' simply favors the interpretation that the room in question is the room rented by Karel.
a. | De agent | bond | de verdachte | de handen | op de rug. | |
the cop | bound | the suspect | the hands | on the back | ||
'The cop bound the suspectʼs hands on his back.' |
b. | De piccolo | bracht | Karel de krant | (op de kamer). | |
the bellhop | brought | Karel the newspaper | on the room | ||
'The bellhop brought Karel the newspaper in his room.' |
Standard Dutch possessive datives are associated with entities that are inalienably possessed, like body parts or certain pieces of clothing (provided they are actually worn during the event time); the primeless examples in (374) illustrate that the use of possessive datives results in degraded sentences if the possessee is not inalienably possessed. The primed and doubly-primed examples show that possessive datives crucially differ in this respect from periphrastic bij-PPs and NP-internal possessors. The percentage signs in the primeless examples again indicate that these examples are fully acceptable in some southern and eastern varieties of Dutch; cf. Cornips (1994:153).
a. | % | Marie zette | Peter | het kind | in de auto. |
Marie put | Peter | the child | into the car |
a'. | Marie zette | het kind | bij Peter | in de auto. | |
Marie puts | the child | with Peter | into the car |
a''. | Marie zette | het kind | in Peters auto. | |
Marie put | the child | into Peterʼs car | ||
'Marie put the child into Peterʼs car.' |
b. | % | Ze | hebben | Peter | een agent | voor | de deur | gezet. |
they | have | Peter | a cop | in.front.of | the door | put |
b'. | Ze | hebben | een agent | bij Peter | voor | de deur | gezet. | |
they | have | a cop | with Peter | in.front.of | the door | put |
b'. | Ze | hebben | een agent | voor | Peters deur | gezet. | |
they | have | a cop | in.front.of | Peterʼs door | put | ||
'The have put a cop in front of Peterʼs door.' |
Some Standard Dutch examples that may be on the borderline between alienable and inalienable possession are given in (375), in which the possessed entity is a location that is in a sense inherently associated with the possessor.
a. | We bezorgen | <u> | de boodschappen | <bij u> | thuis. | |
we deliver | you | the shopping | with you | home | ||
'We deliver your shopping at your home.' |
b. | Jan bracht | <Peter> | het boek | <bij Peter> | op het werk. | |
Jan brought | Peter | the book | with Peter | at the work | ||
'Jan brought the book at Peterʼs office.' |
Note in passing that it has been claimed that dative objects cannot be interpreted as inalienable possessors if the possessed noun phrase is modified by a non-restrictive modifier; cf. Vergnaud & Zubizarreta (1992:603) and references cited there. The examples in (376) show, however, that this does not hold for Dutch: the dative phrase can be interpreted as the possessor, regardless of whether the modifier of the possessee is restrictive or non-restrictive.
a. | Marie zette | Peter | het kind | op de gewonde knie. | restrictive | |
Marie put | Peter | the child | onto the wounded knee | |||
'Marie put the child on Peterʼs wounded knee.' |
b. | Marie trok | Jan een haar | uit | de grijze baard | non-restrictive | |
Marie pulled | Jan a hair | out.of | the grey beard | |||
'Peter pulled a hair out of Janʼs grey beard.' |
The examples in (377) show that dative possessors differ from their corresponding possessive bij-phrases and NP-internal possessors in that they must be animate.
a. | Marie zet | Peter/hem | de kinderen | op de knie. | possessive dative | |
Marie puts | Peter/him | the children | onto the knee |
a'. | Marie zet | de kinderen | bij Peter/hem | op de knie. | possessive bij-PP | |
Marie puts | the children | with Peter/him | on the knee |
a''. | Marie zet | de kinderen | op Peters/zijn knie. | NP-internal possessor | |
Marie put | the children | onto Peterʼs/his knee | |||
'Marie puts the children on Peterʼs/his knee.' |
b. | * | Jan zette | het huis | een antenne | op het dak. | possessive dative |
Jan put | the house | an antenna | on the roof |
b'. | Jan zette | een antenne | bij het huis | op het dak. | possessive bij-PP | |
Jan put | an antenna | with the house | on the roof |
b''. | Jan zette | een antenne | op het dak van het huis. | NP-internal possessor | |
Jan put | an antenna | on the roof of the house |
The set of examples in (378) simply illustrates the same point.
a. | Peter plakte | Marie | een briefje | op het voorhoofd. | possessive dative | |
Peter stuck | Marie | a note | on the forehead |
a'. | Peter plakte | een briefje | bij Marie | op het voorhoofd. | possessive bij-PP | |
Peter stuck | a note | with Marie | on the forehead |
a''. | Peter plakte | een briefje | op het voorhoofd van Marie. | NP-internal poss. | |
Peter stuck | a note | on the forehead of Marie |
b. | * | Peter plakte | de auto | een briefje | op de voorruit. | possessive dative |
Peter stuck | the car | a note | on the windscreen |
b'. | Peter plakte | een briefje | bij de auto | op de voorruit. | possessive bij-PP | |
Peter stuck | a note | with the car | on the windscreen |
b''. | Peter plakte | een briefje | op de voorruit van de auto. | NP-internal poss. | |
Peter stuck | a note | on the windscreen of the car |
Subsection I has already shown that possessive bij-phrases differ from possessive datives in three ways: they can also be used (i) if the possessee is part of an adverbial phrase, (ii) in contexts that do not involve inalienable possession, and (iii) if they are inanimate. This subsection therefore confines itself to showing how the possessive bij-phrase can be distinguished from bij-phrases with other syntactic functions.
The examples in (379) show that bij-phrases are not only used to express possession but can also be used as locational adverbial phrases or complementives. The actual function of the bij-phrase will often be clear from its locational or possessive meaning, but can sometimes also be made visible by replacing the bij-phrase by an adverbial pro-form like hier'here' or daar'there'; this is possible with adverbial phrases and complementives, but not with possessive bij-phrases.
a. | Jan speelt | vandaag | bij zijn tante/daar. | adverbial bij-PP | |
Jan plays | today | at his aunt/there | |||
'Jan is playing today at his auntʼs place.' |
b. | Jan zet | de theepot | bij zijn tante/daar. | complementive bij-PP | |
Jan puts | the tea pot | near his aunt/there | |||
'Jan put the tea pot close to his aunt.' |
c. | Jan legde | de baby | bij zijn tante/*daar | in de armen. | possessive bij-PP | |
Jan put | the baby | with his aunt/there | in the arms | |||
'Jan put the baby in his auntʼs arms.' |
Example (380a) shows that the fact that bij-phrases can have these three functions may lead to a three-way ambiguity. The first reading of this example expresses that Jan put the baby to bed when he was at his aunt’s place; on this reading the bij-phrase functions as an adverbial phrase of place as is also clear from the fact that it can be omitted or replaced by the pro-form daar'there', as in (380b). The second reading expresses that Jan put the baby with his aunt (who happened to be in bed); in this case the bij-phrase functions as the (obligatory) complementive of the locational verb zetten'to put' and the PP in the bed functions as some kind of modifier, which can be omitted or be replaced by the pro-form daar, as in (380b'). The third reading is the possessive one, which requires both PPs to be present and to be realized in their non-pronominalized form, as in (380b'').
a. | Jan stopte | de baby | bij zijn tante | in bed. | |
Jan put | the baby | at/with his aunt | in bed | ||
'Jan put his baby in his auntʼs bed.' |
b. | Jan stopte | de baby | (daar) | in bed. | adverbial bij-PP | |
Jan put | the baby | there | to bed | |||
'Jan put the baby to bed (there).' |
b'. | Jan stopte | de baby | bij zijn tante | (daar). | complementive bij-PP | |
Jan put | the baby | with his aunt | there | |||
'Jan put the baby with his aunt (over there).' |
b''. | Jan stopte | de baby | bij zijn tante/#daar/#Ø | in bed/#daar/#Ø. | poss. bij-PP | |
Jan put | the baby | with his aunt/there/Ø | in bed/there/Ø | |||
'Jan put the baby in his auntʼs bed.' |
The adverbial reading of the bij-phrase can often be eliminated by adding an additional locational adverbial phrase like the pro-form daar in example (381a); as a result, the bij-phrase can only be interpreted as a complementive or a possessor. Example (381b) shows that the first option gives rise to a somewhat marked result, which may be due to the fact that, like spatial adverbial phrases, prepositional complementives can also be replaced by an adverbial pro-form; that the bij-phrase allows a possessive interpretation is clear from the fact illustrated in (381b') that it can be dropped (with the concomitant effect of losing the possessive reading) or replaced by a possessive pronoun.
a. | Jan legde | de baby | daar | bij zijn tante | in bed. | |
Jan put | the baby | there | with his aunt | in bed | ||
'Jan put his baby in his auntʼs bed.' |
b. | (?) | Jan | legde | de baby | daar | bij zijn tante. |
Jan | put | the baby | there | with his aunt |
b'. | Jan legde | de baby | daar | in (haar) bed. | |
Jan put | the baby | there | in her bed |
It is normally not so easy to block the complementive reading of the bij-phrase. Nevertheless, in examples like (382a&b) it is immediately clear that we are not dealing with a complementive given that the primed examples show that the complementive cannot be headed by the preposition bij in the given context. This leaves open, however, the possibility that the bij-phrase has an adverbial function in these cases.
a. | Jan hing de ketting | bij Marie | om de hals. | |
Jan hung the necklace | with Marie | around the neck | ||
'Jan hung the necklace around Marieʼs neck.' |
a'. | Jan hing de ketting | om de/Maries hals. |
a''. | * | Jan hing de ketting | bij Marie. |
b. | De arts | stak | de naald | bij Marie | in de arm. | |
the doctor | put | the needle | with Marie | into the arm | ||
'The doctor put the needle into Marieʼs arm.' |
b'. | De arts stak de naald in de/Maries arm. |
b''. | * | De arts stak de naald bij Marie. |
The discussion above has shown that bij-phrases can be used in at least three different ways, which may cause ambiguity. We will do our best to avoid such ambiguities in the examples below, but where it does arise we will normally ignore it unless we consider it relevant for our discussion.
The complementives in the examples discussed so far are all prepositional phrases. The reason is that the examples in (383) show that the use of possessive datives/bij-phrases is impossible if the complementive is postpositional: it seems that in such cases possession can only be expressed by means of an NP-internal possessor.
a. | * | Marie | duwde | Peter | het kind | de armen | in. |
Marie | pushed | Peter | the child | the arms | into |
b. | ?? | Marie | duwde | het kind | bij Peter | de armen | in. |
Marie | pushed | the child | with Peter | the arms | into |
c. | Marie | duwde | het kind | Peters armen | in. | |
Marie | pushed | the child | Peterʼs arms | into |
The same thing might be illustrated by means of the examples in (384) although the case is somewhat obscured by the fact that (384b), which is the postpositional counterpart of example (380a) from Subsection II, does allow an adverbial reading of the bij-phrase; the complementive reading of the bij-PP is also marginally possible if there is a comma intonation between the two PPs, that is, if the postpositional phrase functions as an apposition to the bij-phrase.
a. | * | Jan stopte | zijn tante | de baby | het bed in. |
Jan put | his aunt | the baby | the bed into |
b. | Jan stopte | de baby | bij zijn tante | het bed in. | |
Jan put | the baby | at/with his aunt | the bed into | ||
'At his auntʼs place, Jan put the baby into the bed.' | |||||
'Jan put the baby with his aunt, into the bed.' | |||||
Impossible reading: 'Jan put the baby into his auntʼs bed.' |
Providing reliable judgments may also prove difficult in other cases. The postpositional counterpart of example (382b) in (385b), for instance, is acceptable despite the fact that Subsection II has shown that a complementive reading of the bij-phrase is not possible. It is not clear, however, whether we are dealing with a possessive bij-phrase in this case given that this possessive reading seems less prominent than in other cases: the bij-phrase instead seems to act as a restrictor on the assertion expressed by the remainder of the clause and we may therefore be dealing with a restrictive adverbial phrase. This suggestion seems to be supported by the fact illustrated in (385a) that the bij-phrase does not alternate with the possessive dative.
a. | * | De arts | stak | Marie de naald | de arm | in. |
the doctor | put | Marie the needle | the arm | into |
b. | # | De arts | stak | de naald | bij Marie | de arm | in. |
the doctor | put | the needle | with Marie | the arm | into | ||
Intended reading: 'The doctor put the needle into Marieʼs arm.' |
The discussion of the examples in (384) and (385) shows that we should be careful not to jump to conclusions. Another reason to be careful is that postpositional phrases are possible, and in fact obligatory, in idiomatic constructions like (386a&b). Note in passing that these constructions are unaccusative and that we are thus dealing with nom-dat constructions; see Subsection V for more examples of this type.
a. | Dat gezeur | hangt | Peter/hem | de keel | uit. | |
that nagging | hangs | Peter/him | the throat | out.of | ||
'Heʼs fed up with that nagging.' |
a'. | * | Dat gezeur hangt bij Peter/hem de keel uit. |
a''. | * | Dat gezeur hangt Peters/zijn keel uit. |
b. | Dat gevlei | komt | Peter/hem | de neus uit. | |
the flattery | comes | Peter/him | the nose out.of | ||
'Peter is fed up with that flattery.' |
b'. | * | Dat gevlei komt bij Peter/hem de neus uit. |
b''. | * | Dat gevlei komt Peters/zijn neus uit. |
Setting these idiomatic examples aside, the discussion above nevertheless suggests that possessive datives/bij-phrases cannot be used if the complementive is a postpositional phrase. Since such PPs are always directional, this may lead to the expectation that directional phrases are categorically blocked. The (a)-examples in (387) show that this expectation is not completely borne out: although naar-phrases are inherently directional, it is nevertheless possible to use a possessive dative; constructions with a possessive bij-phrase, on the other hand, are indeed marked.
a. | Jan gooide | Marie een schoen | naar het hoofd. | |
Jan threw | Marie a shoe | to the head |
b. | ?? | Jan gooide | een schoen | bij Marie | naar het hoofd. |
Jan threw | a shoe | with Marie | to the head |
c. | Jan gooide | een schoen | naar Maries hoofd. | |
Jan threw | a shoe | to Marieʼs head | ||
'Jan threw a shoe at Marieʼs head.' |
This subsection discusses the syntactic structure of constructions with a possessive bij-phrase. The fact that possessive bij-phrases are normally optional suggests that analyses according to which the possessive bij-phrase is an internal argument of the verb are not the most obvious ones to pursue: it seems that possessive bij-phrases are instead licensed by being in some relation with the possessee, that is, the nominal part of the locational phrase. Subsection A will support the intuition that possessive bij-phrases are not internal arguments of verbs by showing that they form a constituent with the locational PP: [PPbij-PP loc-PP]. Subsection B continues by investigating the internal organization of this structure and will provisionally conclude that the bij-phrase functions as a(n optional) modifier of the locational PP. Subsection C discusses some potential problems for this proposal and slightly revises the proposal from Subsection B to overcome at least some of them; this revision will also enable us to formally express the aforementioned intuition that the possessive bij