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2.2.3.2.Inf-nominalizations

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This section discusses complementation of inf-nominalizations, which come in two types: bare-inf nominalizations like (226a), which are not preceded by a determiner, and det-inf nominalizations like (226b), which can be introduced by a variety of determiners. Section 1.3.1.2 has shown that there are only few restrictions on inf-nominalization; it is the most productive process of deriving nouns from verbs and accepts virtually any type of input verb.

226

a.	Wandelen	van zieken	moet	worden	aangemoedigd.
	walk	of sick	must	be	encouraged
	'Walking of sick people must be encouraged.'

b.	Het wandelen	van zieken	moet	worden	aangemoedigd.
	the walk	of sick	must	be	encouraged
	'The walking of sick people must be encouraged.'

This section is organized as follows. Subsection I starts by presenting some general principles regarding the complementation of inf-nouns. Subsection II will be concerned with complementation of the most common types of inf-nouns. The discussion will be concluded in Subsection III by applying the adjunct/complement tests from Section 2.2.1 to the inherited arguments of the verbs that are realized as PPs within the noun phrase in order to show that they indeed function as complements.

I. General principles of inf-nominalization
II. Complementation
III. Application of the complement/adjunct test

[+] I. General principles of inf-nominalization

This subsection discusses the characteristics of complementation shared by all types of inf-nouns in order to simplify the discussion of complementation which follows in Subsection II.

[+] A. Choice of determiner

The examples in (227) show that in det-inf nominalizations the determiner position can be filled by the definite article het, the demonstrative determiner dit'this' or dat'that', or a genitive noun phrase/possessive pronoun. Schoorlemmer (2001) distinguishes two types of inf-nominalization, the plain type in (227a&a') and the expressive type in (227b).

227

a.	Het	klagen	over het weer	is irritant.
	the	complain	about the weather	is annoying
	'The complaining about the weather is annoying.'

a'.	??Mijn vaders/?Zijn/(?)Dit	klagen	over het weer	is irritant.
	my fatherʼs/his/this	complain	about the weather	is annoying
	'My fatherʼs/His complaining about the weather is annoying.'

b.	Dat	klagen	over het weer	is irritant.
	that	complain	about the weather	is annoying
	'That/this complaining about the weather is annoying.'

Expressive inf-nominalizations like (227b) often sound more natural than plain inf-nominalizations. They contain the (expressive) expressive demonstrative pronoun dat'that', and are characterized by the fact that they always convey a negative judgment, which is often reinforced by the use of an attributive adjective expressing frequency and/or value judgment. Some examples are given in (228).

228

a.	Dat	eeuwige/voortdurende	hoesten	van hem	werkt	me op de zenuwen.
	that	eternal/continuous	cough	of him	works	me on the nerves
	'That eternal/continuous coughing of his gets on my nerves.'

b.	Dat	afschuwelijke	hoesten	van hem	werkt	me op de zenuwen.
	that	terrible	cough	of him	works	me on the nerves
	'That terrible coughing of his gets on my nerves.'

Plain and expressive inf-nominalizations differ in that the latter refer to ongoing events, whereas the former may also refer to past, completed events. This is shown by the contrast given in (229a). Furthermore, the contrast in (229b) shows that certain combinations of prenominal theme-NP and attributive adjective are perfectly acceptable in the expressive type but less so in the plain type.

229

a.	het/*dat	nooit meer	gebeld hebben	van Tanja
	the/that	never again	called have	of Tanja
	'Tanjaʼs never having called us again'

b.	dat/??het	afschuwelijke	overlast	veroorzaken	van jou
	that/the	terrible	trouble	cause	of you
	'that terrible causing of trouble by you'

Another important difference concerning complementation is that transitive expressive inf-nominalizations can be followed by two van-phrases expressing, respectively, the theme and the agent, whereas this is impossible with plain inf-nominalizations. Note that example (230b) is acceptable if the agent is expressed by means of an agentive door-phrase.

230

a.	dat	eeuwige	treiteren	van hondenTheme	van	jullieAgent
	that	eternal	pester	of dogs	of	you
	'that eternal pestering of dogs by you'

b.		het	eeuwige	treiteren	van hondenTheme	*van/door	jullieAgent
		the	eternal	pester	of dogs	of/by	you

In other respects, the two subtypes behave very much as one group, especially in comparison with the category of bare-inf nominalizations. Since including the distinction between expressive and plain inf-nominalizations in our discussion of inf-nominalizations may cause unnecessary confusion, the subsequent treatment of det-inf nominalizations will be restricted to one (the most appropriate) form only.

[+] B. The genitive noun phrase/possessive pronoun

Example (227a'), repeated here in slightly different form as (231a), shows that the agent argument can be expressed by means of a genitive noun phrase or possessive pronoun. The examples in (231b&c) show that this is never possible with the theme argument. In this respect, inf-nominalizations differ from many other nominalizations where this is easily possible.

231

a.	??Mijn vaders/?ZijnAgent	klagen	over het weer	is irritant.
	my fatherʼs/his	complain	about the weather	is annoying
	'My fatherʼs/His complaining about the weather is annoying.'

b.	*	Mijn vaders/ZijnTheme	behandelen	(door de arts)	kost	veel tijd.
		my fatherʼs/his	treat	by the doctor	takes	much time
		Intended reading: 'My fatherʼs treatment by the doctor takes much time.'

c.	*	Peters/ZijnTheme	voorstellen	aan SinterklaasRecipient
		Peterʼs/his	introduce	to Santa Claus
		Intended reading: 'the introduction of Peter to Santa Claus'

[+] C. Specificity of the postnominal van-PP and the prenominal NPTheme

The most natural use of bare-inf nominalizations seems to be a generic one, in the sense that they have a preference for determinerless (generic or nonspecific) arguments. This is especially the case if the postnominal van-PP corresponds to the subject of the corresponding verbal construction, that is, if the input verb is intransitive like wandelen'to walk' in (232a) or unaccusative like opstijgen'to take off' in (232b).

232

a.	Wandelen	van	(de/deze)	ziekenAgent	moet	worden	aangemoedigd.
	walk	of	the/these	sick	must	be	encouraged
	'Sick peopleʼs walking (in the park) ought to be encouraged.'

b.	Opstijgen	van	(de/deze)	vliegtuigenTheme	maakt	te veel lawaai.
	take.off	of	the/these	planes	makes	too much noise
	'Taking off of (the/these) planes makes too much noise.'

The results are better, although still marked, with the postnominal van-PP and the prenominal noun phrase in (233), which correspond to the theme argument/direct object of the corresponding verbal construction. Section 1.3.1.2, sub IID, has shown that realization of the theme as a prenominal noun phrase is always preferred with bare-inf nominalizations, but this is not indicated by the judgments given in (233), which only aim at expressing the effect of adding the relevant determiner. When not directly relevant for the discussion, the effect of the manner of realization of the theme argument in bare-inf nominalizations is also ignored in the examples given later in this subsection.

233

a.	Opbergen	van	(?de/?die/?mijn)	mappenTheme	kost	veel tijd.
	put.away	of	the/those/my	files	costs	much time
	'Putting away of (the/those/my) files took a lot of time.'

b.	(?De/?Die/?Mijn)	mappenTheme	opbergen	kost	veel tijd.
	the/those/my	files	put.away	costs	much time
	'Putting away (the/those/my) files took a lot of time.'

The acceptability of sentences such as (233) varies with the degree of genericity. This is shown by the fact illustrated by the examples in (234) that the choice between past and present tense affects the acceptability of the examples, which is of course due to the fact that the present tense makes a generic reading more readily available.

234

a.		Maken	van deze somTheme	*was/??is	lastig.
		make	of this sum	was/is	difficult

b.		Behandelen	van JanTheme	*kostte/??kost	veel tijd.
		treat	of Jan	took/takes	much time

The use of a binominal construction involving a kind-noun like soort/type in the examples in (235) also improves the result due to the fact that these noun phrases, despite their definiteness, may trigger a generic reading.

235

a.	?	Maken	van dit soort sommenTheme	is lastig.
		make	of this kind of sums	is difficult
		'Doing this kind of sums is difficult.'

b.	?	Behandelen	van dit type patiëntTheme	kost	veel tijd.
		treat	of this type of patient	takes	much time
		'Treating this patient takes a lot of time.'

The examples in (236) show that det-inf nominalizations also seem to have a preference for nonspecific arguments that correspond to the subject of the corresponding verbal construction, although the effect is less strong than with bare-inf nominalizations.

236

a.	Het wandelen	van	(?de/?deze)	ziekenAgent	moet	worden	aangemoedigd.
	the walk	of	the/these	sick	must	be	encouraged
	'The walking of the/these sick people ought to be encouraged.'

b.	Het opstijgen	van	(??de/?deze)	vliegtuigenTheme	maakt	te veel lawaai.
	the take.off	of	the/these	planes	makes	too much noise
	'The taking off of the/these planes makes too much noise.'

If the postverbal van-PP corresponds to the object of the corresponding verbal construction, this preference disappears: example (237a) shows that in this case specific and nonspecific arguments give rise to equally acceptable results. However, if the object of the corresponding verbal construction is expressed by means of a prenominal noun phrase, as in (237b), the preference for a nonspecific argument reappears. Section 1.3.1.2, sub IID, has shown that realization of the theme as a postnominal van-PP is always preferred with det-inf nominalizations, but this is not indicated by the judgments given in (237), which only aim to express the effect of adding the relevant determiner. When not directly relevant for the discussion, the effect of the manner of realization of the theme in det-inf nominalizations is also ignored in the examples given later in this subsection.

237

a.	Het opbergen	van	(de/die/mijn)	mappenTheme	kost	veel tijd.
	the put.away	of	the/those/my	files	costs	much time
	'This putting away of (the/those/my) files took a lot of time.'

b.	Het	(?de/?die/?mijn)	mappenTheme	opbergen	kost	veel tijd.
	the	the/those/my	files	put.away	costs	much time
	'Putting away (the/those/my) files took a lot of time.'

The examples in (238) show that the degraded status of (237b) is not due to the sequence of two determiners because it also arises with specific noun phrases that appear without a determiner, like proper nouns. This is illustrated in (238) by means of the proper noun Peter.

238

a.	Het behandelen	van patiënten/PeterTheme	door de artsAgent	kost	veel tijd.
	the treat	of patients/Peter	by the doctor	takes	much time
	'The treating of patients/Peter by the doctor takes much time.'

b.	Het	patiënten/*PeterTheme	behandelen	door de artsAgent	kost	veel tijd.
	the	patients/Peter	treat	by the doctor	takes	much time
	'The treating of patients/Peter by the doctor takes much time.'

The specificity effect also arises with inf-nominalizations of ditransitive verbs: (239a&a') and (239b) show this for respectively the theme and the recipient argument of a bare-inf nominalization.

239

a.	Winnaars	(?de) prijzen	uitreiken	is een feestelijke gelegenheid.
	winners	the prizes	present	is a festive occasion
	'Presenting winners with prizes is a festive occasion.'

a'.		(*?De) prijzen	uitreiken	aan de winnaars	is een feestelijke gelegenheid.
		the prizes	present	to the winners	is a festive occasion

b.		(??De) winnaars	prijzen	uitreiken	is een feestelijke gelegenheid.
		the winners	prizes	present	is a festive occasion

Examples (240a&a') and (240b) present the corresponding det-inf nominalizations, and example (240c) shows that realizing the theme and recipient arguments as specific postnominal PPs gives rise to a fully acceptable result.

240

a.	Het winnaars (??de)	prijzen	uitreiken	is een feestelijke gelegenheid.
	winners	the prizes	present	is a festive occasion
	'Presenting winners with prizes is a festive occasion.'

a'.		Het	(*de) prijzen	uitreiken	aan de winnaars	is een feestelijke gelegenheid.
		the	the prizes	present	to the winners	is a festive occasion

b.		Het	(*?de) winnaars	prijzen	uitreiken	is een feestelijke gelegenheid.
		the	the winners	prizes	present	is a festive occasion

c.		Het	uitreiken	van de prijzen	aan de winnaars	is een feestelijke gelegenheid.
		the	present	of the prizes	to the winners	is a festive occasion

[+] D. The agentive door-phrase

Another general principle of inf-nominalizations concerns the position of agentive door-phrases, which may appear in plain inf-nominalizations derived from transitive and ditransitive verbs that can be passivized. Note that Subsection II will show that inf-nominalizations derived from intransitive verbs prefer the realization of the agent as a van-PP, despite the fact that intransitive verbs can also be passivized in Dutch. This is illustrated in example (241).

241

a.	Het	lachen	van/*?door Jan	is gênant.
	that	laugh	of/by Jan	is embarrassing
	'That laughing of Jan is embarrassing.'

b.	Het	treiteren	van kleuters	door/*van Jan	is onaanvaardbaar.
	that	bully	of toddlers	by/of Jan	is unacceptable
	'That bullying of toddlers by Jan is unacceptable.'

c.	Het	geven	van cadeaus	aan kinderen	door/*van Sinterklaas	is traditie.
	the	give	of presents	to children	by/of Santa Claus	is tradition
	'The giving of presents to children by Santa Claus is a tradition.'

The agentive door-phrase typically occurs postnominally, following all other arguments. However, placement in other positions, either postnominally or prenominally, is also possible. The placement possibilities of the door-phrase depend on the form of the inf-nominalization (bare-inf or det-inf) and the position of the theme (postnominal or prenominal). Separate subsections will therefore be devoted to (i) det-inf nominalizations with a postnominal theme, (ii) bare-inf nominalizations with a postnominal theme, and (iii) det-inf and bare-inf nominalizations with the theme in prenominal position. Finally, some attention will be paid to det-inf nominalizations of causative constructions, as these turn out to be much more tolerant with regard to the placement of the door-PP.

[+] 1. det-inf with postnominal theme

Example (242a) provides the typical, unmarked order of constituentsin det-inf nominalizations derived from a transitive verb with a postnominal theme: the door-PP follows the nominalized head and the theme argument realized as a van-PP. Placing the door-PP in some other position within the noun phrase, as in (242b&c), yields a marked result.

242

a.	Het	behandelen	van de patiëntenTheme	door de artsAgent	kost	veel tijd.
	the	treat	of the patients	by the doctor	takes	much time
	'The treatment of the patients by the doctor takes a lot of time.'

Het behandelen door de artsAgent van de patiëntenTheme kost veel tijd.

Het door de artsAgent behandelen van de patiëntenTheme kost veel tijd.

The examples in (243) show, however, that the marked orders may arise under certain conditions. First, (243a) illustrates that the agentive door-PP may precede the theme PP if the latter is sufficiently heavy. Second, (243b) shows that placement of the door-PP in prenominal position is somewhat better in generic contexts; in formal generic contexts, such as (243b'), it is even fully acceptable.

243

a.		Het	behandelen	door de artsAgent	van de patiënt van kamer 114Theme	kost	veel tijd.
		the	treat	by the doctor	of the patient from room 114	takes	much time

b.	?	Het	door artsenAgent	behandelen	van patiëntenTheme	kost	veel tijd.
		the	by doctors	treat	of patients	costs	much time

b'.	Het	door co-assistentenAgent	behandelen	van patiëntenTheme	staat	ter discussie.
	the	by interns	treat	of patients	stands	at discussion
	'The treating of patients by interns is under discussion.'

In the case of a ditransitive example such as (244), too, the door-PP typically follows the complements of the inf-nominalization, the alternative orders exhibiting a varying degree of unacceptability: the orders in (244a&b) both seem acceptable; the orders in (244c&d) are marginal at best, although they may become slightly more acceptable in generic contexts or in the case of heavy-PP shift.

244

a.	Het	uitreiken	van de prijzenTh	aan de winnaarsRec	door de voorzitter	duurde	lang.
	the	present	of the prizes	to the winners	by the chairman	took	long
	'This presenting of the prizes to the winners by the chairman took a long time.'

Het uitreiken van de prijzenTh door de voorzitterAg aan de winnaarsRec duurde lang.

Het uitreiken door de voorzitterAg van de prijzenTh aan de winnaarsRec duurde lang.

Het door de voorzitterAg uitreiken van de prijzenTh aan de winnaarsRec duurde lang.

The fact that the door-phrase seems to prefer a peripheral position in the inf-nominalization may reflect the fact that agents of nominalized constructions are less closely associated with the head than themes or recipients.

[+] 2. Bare-inf with postnominal theme

As was noted in Subsection C above, bare-inf nominalizations with the theme argument in postnominal position are only acceptable on a generic reading. Even so, word order variation is restricted: only the order in (245a), in which the door-phrase follows both the head and the theme argument, is fully acceptable; placing the door-phrase between the noun and the theme, as in (245b), yields a bad result even with a heavy theme; placing the door-phrase in front of the noun, as in (245c), is entirely impossible.

245

a.	Behandelen	van patiënten	(met hardnekkige kwalen)Th	door artsenAg	kost	veel tijd.
	treat	of patients	with persistent ailments	by doctors	takes	much time
	'The treating of patients by inexperienced doctor takes a lot of time.'

Behandelen door artsenAg van patiënten (met hardnekkige kwalen)Th kost veel tijd.

Door artsenAg behandelen van patiënten (met hardnekkige kwalen)Th kost veel tijd.

A similar pattern emerges with bare-inf nominalizations derived from ditransitive verbs. In (246) we give examples with a normal theme and recipient: (246b&c) show that placing the door-phrase in front of the recipient or the theme gives rise to a marginal result, and (246d) shows that placing the door-phrase in front of the noun is impossible.

246

a.	Uitreiken	van prijzenTh	aan winnaarsRec	door voorzittersAg	duurt altijd lang.
	present	of prizes	to winners	by chairmen	takes always long
	'Presenting prizes to winners by chairmen always takes a long time.'

Uitreiken van prijzenTh door voorzittersAg aan winnaarsRec duurt altijd lang.

Uitreiken door voorzittersAg van prijzenTh aan winnaarsRec duurt altijd lang.

Door voorzittersAg uitreiken van prijzenTh aan winnaarsRec duurt altijd lang.

The examples in (247) show that cases with a heavy theme or a heavy recipient argument do not give rise to better results.

247

a.	*	Uitreiken	aan winnaarsRec	door voorzittersAg	van prijzen	voor de leukste	bijdrageTh	duurt	altijd	lang.
		present	to winners	by chairmen	of prizes	for the funniest	contribution	takes	always	long

b.	?	Uitreiken van prijzenTh	door voorzittersAg	aan winnaars	van internationale	wedstrijdenRec	duurt	altijd	lang.
		present of prizes	by chairmen	to winners	of international	competitions	takes	always	long

[+] 3. Det-inf and bare-inf with prenominal theme

If the theme appears prenominally as a noun phrase, as in the transitive constructions in (248) and (249), the distribution of the door-phrase is severely restricted. It can only occur postnominally, and even this leads to a marked result: the (a)-examples are certainly more marked than the corresponding examples in which the theme is expressed by a postnominal van-PP.

248

a.	?	Het	patiëntenTh	behandelen	door artsenAg	kost	veel tijd.
		the	patients	treat	by doctors	takes	much time
		'The treating of patients by doctors takes a lot of time.'

Het door artsenAg patiëntenTh behandelen kost veel tijd.

Het patiëntenTh door artsenAg behandelen kost veel tijd.

249

a.	??	PatiëntenTh	behandelen	door artsenAg	kost	altijd	veel tijd.
		patients	treat	by doctors	takes	always	much time
		'Treating of patients by doctors takes a lot of time.'

Door artsenAg patiëntenTh behandelen kost altijd veel tijd.

PatiëntenTh door artsenAg behandelen kost altijd veel tijd.

more or less the same pattern can be observed in the ditransitive constructions in (250) and (251): the (a)-examples show that expressing the door-phrase with a prenominal theme is somewhat marked compared to constructions in which the theme is expressed by a postnominal van-PP; the (b)-examples show that constructions with both the theme and the door-PP in prenominal position are unacceptable; the (c)-examples, finally, show that constructions with all three arguments in prenominal position are degraded, although they are perhaps marginally possible with det-infs if the indirect object takes the form of an aan-PP.

250

a.	(?)	Het	prijzenTh	uitreiken	aan winnaarsRec	door voorzittersAg	duurt altijd lang.
		the	prizes	present	to winners	by the chairman	takes always long
		'The presenting of prizes to winners by the chairman always takes a long time.'

Het door voorzittersAg prijzenTh uitreiken aan winnaarsRec duurt altijd lang.

b'.

Het prijzenTh door voorzittersAg uitreiken aan winnaarsRec duurt altijd lang.

Het door voorzittersAg prijzenTh aan winnaarsRec uitreiken duurt altijd lang.

c'.

Het door voorzittersAg winnaarsRec prijzenTh uitreiken duurt altijd lang.

251

a.	(?)	PrijzenTh	uitreiken	aan winnaarsRec	door voorzittersAg	duurt altijd	lang.
		prizes	present	to the winners	by the chairman	takes always	long
		'Presenting prizes to winners by chairmen always takes a long time.'

Door voorzittersAg prijzenTh uitreiken aan winnaarsRec duurt altijd lang.

b'.

PrijzenTh door voorzittersAg uitreiken aan winnaarsRec duurt altijd lang.

Door voorzittersAg prijzenTh aan winnaarsRec uitreiken duurt altijd lang.

c'.

Door voorzittersAg winnaarsRec prijzenTh uitreiken duurt altijd lang.

[+] 4. Det-inf nominalizations of causative constructions

Placement of the door-PP in prenominal position is much easier in det-inf nominalizations derived from a causative verb like laten than in the other inf-nominalizations. This is true regardless of the position of the other arguments (prenominal or postnominal). Examples are given in (252).

252

a.	Het	door artsen	laten	behandelen	van patiënten	is erg verstandig.
	the	by doctors	let	treat	of patients	is very wise
	'Having doctors treat patients is very wise.'

b.		Het	door artsen	patiënten	laten	behandelen	is erg verstandig.
		the	by doctors	patients	let	treat	is very wise

If the verb embedded under the causative verb is ditransitive, essentially the same pattern arises as in the case of the transitive verbs in (252). Example (253a) gives an example in which the theme is realized as a postnominal van-PP, and (253b&b') exemplify cases with a prenominal theme.

253

a.	Het	door de voorzitter	laten	uitreiken	van de prijzen	aan de winnaars	bleek	geen goed idee.
	the	by the chairman	let	present	of the prizes	to the winners	proved	no good idea
	'Having the chairman present the prizes to the winners wasnʼt a good idea.'

b.		Het	door de voorzitter	prijzen	laten	uitreiken	aan de winnaars ...
		the	by the chairman	prizes	let	present	to the winners

b'.		Het	door de voorzitter	prijzen	aan de winnaars	laten	uitreiken ...
		the	by the chairman	prizes	to the winners	let	present

The crucial difference with the other cases is that the door-phrase in these examples does not correspond to an argument of the nominalized causative verb laten, but to the subject of the verbs behandelen'to treat' and uitreiken'present' embedded under the causative verb. Note that the subject of the embedded verb can also be realized in the verbal causative construction, as is shown by (254b): the phrases between angle brackets indicate the alternative realizations of the agent argument of the infinitival clause.

254

a.		Zij	laten	<de dokter>	de patiënten <door de dokter>	behandelen.
		they	let	the doctor	the patients	treat

b.	Zij	laten	<de voorzitter>	de prijzen <door de voorzitter>	aan de winnaars	uitreiken.
	they	let	the chairman	the prizes	to the winner	present
	'They let the chairman present the prizes to the winners.'

The door-PP in (252) and (253) must precede the other arguments in prenominal position, which, just like the door-PP, are not arguments of the causative verb, but of the verb embedded under it. This is illustrated in the (a)-examples of (255) and (256). In postnominal position the door-phrase must follow the theme and preferably precedes the recipient, just as in the verbal construction in (254b). This is illustrated in the (b)-examples of (255) and (256).

255

Het <door artsen> patiënten <??door artsen> laten behandelen is erg verstandig.

Het laten behandelen <??door artsen> van patiënten <door artsen> is erg verstandig.

256

a.	Het	door de voorzitter	prijzen	aan de winnaars	laten	uitreiken	bleek ...
	the	by the chairman	prices	to the winners	let	present	proved
	'Having the prices being presented to the winners by the chairman was ...'

a'.

Het prijzen door de voorzitter aan de winnaars laten uitreiken bleek ...

a'.

Het prijzen aan de winnaars door de voorzitter laten uitreiken bleek ...

Het laten uitreiken door de voorzitter van prijzen aan de winnaars bleek ...

b'.

Het laten uitreiken van prijzen door de voorzitter aan de winnaars bleek ...

b''.

Het laten uitreiken van prijzen aan de winnaars door de voorzitter bleek ...

The examples in (257) show that the agent of the embedded verb can also be realized in the form of a noun phrase. This possibility is related to the fact that the agent can be assigned accusative case in the verbal causative construction: the agentive noun phrases de dokter or de voorzitter in (254) can only be replaced by the object pronoun hem'him'. In (257), the agent must precede the other arguments in prenominal position: placing the agent after the theme (or the recipient) will give rise to an unacceptable result.

257

a.	Het	artsen	patiënten	laten	behandelen	is erg verstandig.
	the	doctors	patients	let	treat	is very wise
	'Having doctors treat patients is very wise.'

b.	Het	de voorzitter	de prijzen	laten	uitreiken	aan de winnaars	bleek ...
	the	the chairman	the prizes	let	present	to the winners	proved
	'Having the chairman present the prizes to the winners was ...'

b'.

Het de voorzitter de prijzen aan de winnaars laten uitreiken bleek ...

Example (258a) finally shows that door-PPs are excluded with det-inf nominalizations if the embedded verb is intransitive. This is clearly related to the fact that their subject cannot be realized as a door-phrase in the verbal construction either; see Section V5.2.3.4, sub V, for discussion.

258

a.	*	Het	<door Peter>	laten	wachten <door Peter>.
		the	by Peter	let	wait

b.		Jan laat	(door)	Peter wachten.
		Jan let	by	Peter wait

[+] II. Complementation

The previous subsection has discussed some general considerations concerning complementation of inf-nominalizations. This subsection continues by giving a more detailed discussion of complementation of the types of inf-nominalizations illustrated in (259). These examples involve bare-inf nouns; the corresponding examples with det-inf nouns will be given later in this subsection.

259

a.	Wandelen	van zieken	moet	worden	aangemoedigd.	intransitive
	walk	of sick	must	be	encouraged
	'Walking of sick people must be encouraged.'

b.	Vallen	kan pijnlijk	zijn.	unaccusative
	fall	can painful	be
	'Falling can be painful.'

c.	Een goede baan	vinden	is moeilijk.	transitive
	a good job	find	is difficult
	'Finding a good job is difficult.'

d.	Kinderen	cadeaus	geven	is leuk.	ditransitive
	children	presents	give	is nice
	'Giving presents to children is nice.'

e.	Jagen	op groot wild	roept	veel protesten	op.	PP-theme
	hunt	on big game	calls	many protests	up
	'Hunting big game evokes a lot of protest.'

f.	De deur	rood	schilderen	bleek	niet	zoʼn goed idee.	complementive
	the door	red	paint	proved	not	such a good idea
	'Painting the door red didnʼt really turn out to be a good idea.'

[+] A. Inf-nominalization of intransitive verbs

The agent argument of inf-nominalizations derived from intransitive verbs is normally only optionally expressed. If it is expressed it can take the form of a postnominal van-PP, or, in the case of det-inf nominalizations, the form of a prenominal genitive noun phrase or possessive pronoun.

260

a.	Wandelen	(van zieken)	moet	worden	aangemoedigd.
	walk	of sickpl	must	be	encouraged
	'Walking of sick people ought to be encouraged.'

b.	Onrustig slapen	(van patiënten)	is de oorzaak van het probleem.
	unquiet sleep	of patients	is the cause of the problem
	'Unquiet sleeping (of patients) is the cause of the problem.'

261

a.	Het	wandelen	(van zieken)	moet	worden	aangemoedigd.
	the	walk	of sickpl	must	be	encouraged
	'The walking (of sick people) ought to be encouraged.'

a'.		(Jans/Zijn)	wandelen in het park	moet	worden	aangemoedigd.
		Janʼs/His	walk in the park	must	be	encouraged

b.	Het	onrustige slapen	(van patiënten)	is de oorzaak van het probleem.
	the	unquiet sleep	of patients	is the cause of the problem
	'The restless sleeping (of patients) is the cause of the problem.'

b'.		(Peters/Zijn)	onrustige slapen	is de oorzaak van het probleem.
		Peterʼs/his	unquiet sleep	is the cause of the problem

That both the postnominal van-PP and the genitive noun phrase/possessive pronoun indeed express the agent argument of the inf-nouns is shown by the fact illustrated by (262) that they cannot co-occur; like their intransitive verbal base, inf-nouns can assign each semantic function only once.

262

a.	*	Jans	wandelen	van de zieken
		Janʼs	walk	of the sick

b.	*	hun	onrustige	slapen	van de patiënten
		their	unquiet	sleep	of the patients

The agents of the inf-nominalization in the primed examples of (263) cannot appear in the form of a door-PP, unlike the agents in the corresponding (impersonal) passive constructions in the primeless examples.

263

a.	Er	wordt	door de zieken	veel	in het park gewandeld.
	there	is	by the sick	much	in the park walked
	'There is much walking by sick people in the park.'

a'.	*	het	wandelen	door de zieken	in het park
		the	walk	by the sick people	in the park

b.	Er	werd	door de studenten	om het grapje	gelachen.
	there	was	by the students	about the joke	laughed
	'The students laughed about the joke.'

b'.	*	het lachen	door de studenten	om het grapje
		the laugh	by the students	about the joke

[+] B. Inf-nominalization of unaccusative verbs

The subject of an unaccusative verb is a theme, which can be expressed by means of a postnominal van-PPin the corresponding bare-inf nominalizations. The result is, however, always marked.

264

a.	??	Vallen	van bladeren	maakt	me neerslachtig.
		fall	of leaves	makes	me depressed
		'The falling of leaves depresses me.'

b.	??	(Plotseling)	verschijnen	van gasten	schikt	me niet.
		sudden	appear	guests	suits	me not
		'The sudden appearing of guests doesnʼt suit me.'

Det-inf nominalizations based on unaccusative verbs can readily be expressed by means of a postnominal van-PP. However, it is not possible to realize them prenominally as a genitive noun phrase or possessive pronoun. The unacceptability of (265a') is not really surprising, since possessive pronouns normally do not refer to inanimate entities. The construction is, however, also marginal if the pronoun refers to a human entity; the marginality of (266b) clearly illustrates this restriction.

265

a.	Het	vallen	van de bladeren	maakt	me neerslachtig.
	the	fall	of the leaves	makes	me depressed
	'The falling of the leaves depresses me.'

b.	*	Hun	vallen	maakt	me neerslachtig.
		their	falling	makes	me depressed

266

a.	Het	(plotselinge)	verschijnen	van die gasten	schikte	me niet.
	the	sudden	appear	of those guests	suited	me not
	'The sudden appearing of those guests didnʼt suit me.'

b.	??	Zijn/Jans	(plotselinge)	verschijnen	schikte	me niet.
		his/Jans	sudden	appear	suited	me not

Since the input unaccusative verb cannot be passivized, it is not surprising that the preposition van can never be replaced by the preposition door. This is illustrated for the (a)-examples above in (267).

267

Het vallen door de bladeren maakt mij neerslachtig.

a'.

Vallen door de bladeren maakt mij neerslachtig.

Het (plotselinge) verschijnen door die gasten schikte mij niet.

b'.

(Plotseling) verschijnen door die gasten schikte mij niet.

[+] C. Inf-nominalization of transitive verbs

With inf-nominalizations based on transitive verbs, the picture becomes somewhat more complicated. Since cases in which none of the arguments are expressed are only possible under special circumstances, which will be discussed in Subsection III, we will focus here on the three remaining possibilities: cases in which only the theme is realized, cases in which both the agent and the theme are expressed, and cases in which only the agent is expressed. We will discuss them in the given order.

[+] 1. Inf-nominalizations with only the theme argument expressed

If in a transitive inf-nominalization only one argument is expressed, this argument must be the theme. In bare-inf nominalizations the theme argument is normally realized as a prenominal noun phrase. Alternatively, it can surface postnominally as a van-PP, although this leads to a somewhat marked result (just as in the case of bare-inf nominalizations derived from unaccusative verbs).

268

a.		SommenTheme	maken	is saai.
		sums	make	is boring

a'.	?	Maken	van sommenTheme	is saai.
		make	of sums	is boring

b'.		PatiëntenTheme	behandelen	kost	veel tijd.
		patients	treat	takes	much time

b'.	?	Behandelen	van patiëntenTheme	kost	veel tijd.
		treat	of patients	takes	much time

The theme argument of a bare-inf nominalization is preferably nonspecific; using a specific argument in (268) will normally degrade the results; cf. Subsection IC. Note, however, that this is not a restriction on complementation as such, but rather due to the semantics of the complete construction. This can be illustrated by the fact that the bare-inf nominalizations in the primeless examples in (269) are only marked compared to those in (268a&b). Furthermore, they are best in the present tense, which may be due to the fact that this favors a generic interpretation of these sentences. The primed examples in (269), finally, show that a contrastive reading may render such generic sentences even fully acceptable.

269

a.		Deze sommenTheme	maken	?is/??was	lastig.
		these sums	make	is/was	difficult

a'.	Deze sommen	maken	is lastiger	dan	de afwas	doen.
	these sums	make	is more difficult	than	the dishes	do
	'Making these sums is more difficult than doing the dishes.'

b.		De koninginTheme	behandelen	?kost/??kostte	veel tijd.
		the queen	treat	takes/took	much time

b'.	De koninginTheme	behandelen	kost	meer tijd	dan	een normale patiënt	behandelen.
	the queen	treat	takes	much time	than	a regular patient	treat
	'Treating the queen takes more time than treating a regular patient.'

In det-inf nominalizations the preferred pattern is just the opposite of that in bare-inf nominalizations: expressing the theme by means of a prenominal noun phrase is possible, but using a postnominal van-PP is the preferred way of expressing the theme.

270

a.	Het	altijd	maar	sommenTheme	maken	is saai.
	the	always	prt	sums	make	is boring
	'The always making of sums is boring.'

a'.	Het	maken	van die sommenTheme	is saai.
	the	make	of those sums	is boring
	'The making of these sums is boring.'

b.	?	Het	patiëntenTheme	behandelen	kost	veel tijd.
		the	those patients	treat	takes	much time
		'The treating of (these) patients takes a lot of time.'

b'.	Het	behandelen	van die patiëntenTheme	kost	veel tijd.
	the	treat	of those patients	takes	much time
	'The treating of these patients takes a lot of time.'

Furthermore, example (271) shows that the prenominal theme only allows a generic interpretation; cf. Subsection IC. The judgments on these examples contrast sharply with those on the det-inf constructions with a postnominal theme in (270a'&b').

271

a.	*	Het	deze sommenTheme	maken	was lastig.
		the	these sums	make	was difficult

b.	*	Het	de koninginTheme	behandelen	maakte	hem	beroemd.
		the	the queen	treat	made	him	famous

In generic contexts the result of using a prenominal theme gives rise to a less degraded result, but still the use of a postnominal van-PP is much preferred.

272

a.	Het	eten	van een appeltje	in de pauze	is een goede gewoonte.
	the	eat	of an appledim	in the break	is a good habit
	'The eating of an apple during the break is a good habit.'

a'.

?Het een appeltje eten in de pauze is een goede gewoonte.

b.	Het	opeten	van je appeltje	in de pauze	is een goede gewoonte.
	the	eat.up	of your appledim	in the break	is a good habit
	'The eating of your apple during the break is a good habit.'

b'.

Het je appeltje opeten in de pauze is een goede gewoonte.

When not directly relevant, the effect of the manner of realization of the theme in inf-nominalizations will be ignored in the examples discussed later in this section; we will simply concentrate on the effect of adding more arguments to the construction.

[+] 2. Inf-nominalizations with both the agent and the theme argument expressed

Example (273) shows that the agent argument of bare-inf nouns can be added in the form of a door-PP, which must follow the nominalized head and the theme argument realized as a van-PP; cf. Subsection ID.

273

a.	Treiteren	van peutersTheme	door grote jongensAgent	is onaanvaardbaar.
	bully	of toddlers	by big boys	is unacceptable
	'Bullying of toddlers by big boys is unacceptable.'

a'.

Treiteren door grote jongensAgent van peutersTheme is onaanvaardbaar.

b.	Behandelen	van dit soort patiëntenTheme	door onervaren artsenAgent	kan lang duren.
	treat	of this sort of patients	by inexperienced doctors	can long take
	'Treatment of such patients by inexperienced doctors can take a long time.'

b'.

Behandelen door onervaren artsenAgent van dit soort patiëntenTheme kan ...

However, if the theme argument is realized as a prenominal noun phrase, the addition of a door-PP gives rise to a degraded result, regardless of the position of the door-phrase; the examples in (274) only illustrate the case in which the door-phrase appears postnominally.

274

a.	??	PeutersTheme	treiteren	door grote jongensAgent	is onaanvaardbaar.
		toddlers	bully	by big boys	is unacceptable

b.	??	PatiëntenTheme	behandelen	door onervaren artsenAgent	kan lang duren.
		patients	treat	by inexperienced doctors	can long take

Adding the agent argument in the form of a door-PP is also possible with det-inf nominalizations. Example (275a) shows that this door-PP must also follow the nominalized head and the theme argument realized as a van-PP; cf. Subsection ID.

275

a.	Het treiteren	van peutersTheme	door grote jongensAgent	is onaanvaardbaar.
	the bully	of toddlers	by big boys	is unacceptable
	'The bullying of toddlers by big boys is unacceptable.'

a'.

Het treiteren door grote jongensAgent van peutersTheme is onaanvaardbaar.

b.	Het behandelen	van patiëntenTheme	door de artsAgent	kost	veel tijd.
	the treat	of patients	by the doctor	takes	much time
	'The treating of patients by the doctor takes a lot of time.'

b'.

Het behandelen door de artsAgent van patiëntenTheme kost veel tijd.

As in the case of bare-inf nominalizations, the addition of a door-PP gives rise to a degraded result in cases such as (276), in which the theme argument is realized as a prenominal noun phrase. Placing the door-phrase in prenominal position seems to deteriorate the examples even further.

276

a.	??	Het	peutersTheme	treiteren	door grote jongensAgent	is onaanvaardbaar.
		that	toddlers	bully	by big boys	is unacceptable

b.	*?	Het patiëntenTheme	behandelen	door de artsAgent	kost	veel tijd.
		that patients	treat	by the doctor	takes	much time

The agent of det-inf nominalizations can also take the form of a genitive noun phrase or a possessive pronoun provided that the theme appears as a van-PP, as in the primeless examples in (277); if the theme is realized as a prenominal noun phrase, as in the primeless examples, the result is seriously degraded.

277

a.	Jans/ZijnAgent	treiteren	van peutersTheme	is onaanvaardbaar.
	Janʼs/his	bully	of toddlers	is unacceptable
	'Janʼs bullying of toddlers is unacceptable.'

a'.	*?	Jans/ZijnAgent	peutersTheme	treiteren	is onaanvaardbaar.
		Janʼs/his	toddlers	bully	is unacceptable

b.	Peters/??ZijnAgent	behandelen	van de patiëntTheme	kost	veel tijd.
	Peterʼs/their	treat	of the patient	takes	much time
	'Peterʼs/Their treatment of the patient takes a lot of time.'

b'.	*?	Peters/HunAgent	patiëntenTheme	behandelen	kost	veel tijd.
		Peterʼs/their	patient	treat	takes	much time

[+] 3. Inf-nominalizations with only the agent argument expressed

The examples in (278) show that det-inf nominalizations with transitive base verbs require the presence of a theme argument, regardless of whether an agent argument is present.

278

a.	*	Het treiteren	(door die grote jongensAgent)	is onaanvaardbaar.
		the bully	by big boys	is unacceptable

b.	*	Het behandelen	(door de artsAgent)	kost	veel tijd.
		the treat	by the doctor	takes	much time

For some speakers, however, example (278a) improves if the agent is expressed by means of a van-PP, as in (279a'). This may be due to the fact that in such cases the verb is derived from the pseudo-intransitive (generic) verb in (279a). If the verb does not readily allow such a generic reading, as is the case with behandelen'to treat' in (279b), the corresponding inf-nominalization is also unacceptable if the theme is not expressed. In what follows we will, for the sake of simplicity, ignore the pseudo-intransitive use of nominalizations.

279

a.	Die	jongens	treiteren	graag.
	those	boys	bully	gladly
	'Those boys like bullying.'

a'.	*?	Dat	treiteren	van die jongensAg	is onaanvaardbaar.
		this	bullying	of those boys	is unacceptable

b.	??	Die arts	behandelt	vakkundiger	dan	de meesten.
		that doctor	treats	more.competently	than	the most

b'.	*	Het	behandelen	van die artsAg	is vakkundiger	dan	dat van de meesten.
		the	treating	of that doctor	is more.competent	than	that of the most

Unlike with det-inf nominalizations, in bare-inf nominalizations the theme argument can often be left unexpressed in the presence of an agentive door-phrase. The examples in (280) show that this is even possible in the presence of a specific agent argument, although similar constructions with a nonspecific agent are noticeably better. Note that in these sentences the implied theme argument is either generic or contextually determined. With regard to sentence (280b), it also needs to be mentioned that the implied theme argument is not so much the patient, but rather the ailment treated.

280

a.	Treiteren	door (??die) grote jongensAgent	is onaanvaardbaar.
	bully	by those big boys	is unacceptable
	'Bullying by (those) big boys is unacceptable.'

b.	Behandelen	door een/??de artsAgent	kost	veel tijd.
	treat	by a/the doctor	takes	much time
	'Treatment by a/the doctor takes a lot of time.'

[+] D. Inf-nominalization of ditransitive verbs

This subsection considers inf-nominalizations derived from ditransitive verbs like geven'to give', schenken'to donate', overdragen'to hand over', verschaffen'to provide', uitreiken'to present' (verbs of transfer) and meedelen'to announce', zeggen'to say', beloven'to promise', leren'to teach' (verbs of communication). As in the verbal domain, it is possible with inf-nominalizations to express all three arguments. In actual practice, however, such occurrences are very rare. More often one (typically the agent) or two (the agent and the recipient) of the arguments are left unexpressed. We will start by discussing those cases in which only the theme is expressed. This is followed by a discussion of those cases in which either the agent or the recipient is expressed. We conclude by giving some examples in which all arguments are realized.

[+] 1. Ditransitive inf-nominalizations with the theme argument expressed

The (a)-examples in (281) show that, as in the case of bare-inf nominalizations derived from transitive verbs, bare-inf nominalizations derived from ditransitive verbs prefer the theme to be realized as a prenominal noun phrase; realizing the theme as a postnominal van-PP is possible but marked. And, again, bare-inf nominalizations are not acceptable with specific themes. This is shown by the (b)-examples in (281).

281

a.	??	Geven	van cadeaus	op 5 december	is een oude traditie.
		give	of presents	on 5 December	is an old tradition

a'.	Cadeaus	geven	op 5 december	is een oude traditie.
	presents	give	on 5 December	is an old tradition
	'Giving presents on 5 December is an old tradition.'

b.	*	Uitreiken	van de prijzen	duurde	lang.
		present	of the prizes	took	long

b'.	*	De prijzen	uitreiken	duurde	lang.
		the prizes	present	took	long

The examples in (282) show that the theme argument of det-inf nominalizations preferably takes the form of a van-PP following the head; realizing the theme in the form of a noun phrase preceding the head is also acceptable, provided that we are dealing with a generic context; prenominal definite themes give rise to a severely degraded result.

282

a.	Dat	geven	van cadeaus	op 5 december	is een oude traditie.
	that	give	of presents	on 5 December	is an old tradition
	'That giving of presents on 5 December is an old tradition.'

a'.	?	Dat	cadeaus	geven	op 5 december	is een oude traditie.
		that	presents	give	on 5 December	is an old tradition
		'That giving of presents on 5 December is an old tradition.'

b.	Dat	uitreiken	van de prijzen	duurde	lang.
	that	present	of the prizes	took	long
	'That presenting of the prizes took a long time.'

b'.	Dat	?(*de) prijzen	uitreiken	duurde	lang.
	that	the prizes	present	took	long
	'That presenting of the prizes took a long time.'

[+] 2. Inf-nominalizations with the agent and the theme argument expressed

In det-inf nominalizations, the agent can be expressed as a second argument in the form of a door-PP. Example (283a) shows that the agentive door-PP follows both the head noun and the postverbal theme argument. If the theme argument takes the form of a prenominal noun phrase, as in (283b), the agentive door-PP may occur in postnominal position.

283

a.	Dat geven	van (de) cadeausTheme	door SinterklaasAgent	is een oude traditie.
	that give	of the presents	by Santa Claus	is an old tradition
	'That giving of the presents by Santa Claus is an old tradition.'

b.	?	Dat	cadeausTheme	geven	door SinterklaasAgent	is een oude traditie.
		that	presents	give	by Santa Claus	is an old tradition

The examples in (284) show, however, that bare-infnominalizations cannot realize the agent, no matter the form of the theme or the word order.

284

a.	*	Geven	van cadeausTheme	door SinterklaasAgent	is een oude traditie.
		give	of presents	by Santa Claus	is an old tradition

b.	*	CadeausTheme	geven	door SinterklaasAgent	is een oude traditie.
		presents	give	by Santa Claus	is an old tradition

Although this is less preferred, in det-inf nominalizations the agent can also be realized by means of a genitive phrase or a possessive pronoun if the theme is realized as a postnominal van-PP, as in (285a). This gives rise to a less felicitous result, however, if the theme is realized as a prenominal noun phrase, as in (285b), which may be due to the fact that the intended reading is blocked by the more prominent reading in which the possessive pronoun is construed as the possessor of theme cadeaus.

285

a.	?	Zijn	geven	van (de) cadeausTheme	is een oude traditie.
		his	give	of the presents	is an old tradition
		'His giving of the presents by Santa Claus is an old tradition.'

b.	#	Zijn	cadeausTheme	geven	is een oude traditie.
		that	presents	give	is an old tradition

[+] 3. Inf-nominalizations with the theme and the recipient argument expressed

Example (286) shows that in clauses with ditransitive verbs, the recipient either appears as an aan-PP following the theme or as a dative noun phrase preceding the theme, as in (286b). The word order is normally as indicated, although placement of the aan-PP in front of the theme is possible if the recipient is assigned contrastive accent.

286

a.	dat	Sinterklaas	de cadeaus	aan de kinderen	heeft	gegeven.
	that	Santa Claus	the presents	to the children	has	given
	'that Santa Claus has given the presents to the children.'

b.	dat	Sinterklaas	de kinderen	de cadeaus	heeft gegeven.
	that	Santa Claus	the children	the presents	has given
	'that Santa Claus has given the children the presents.'

In inf-nominalizations the recipient can also be realized either as a noun phrase or an aan-PP: the former must precede the inf-noun, whereas the latter can either precede of follow it. First consider the case of bare-inf nominalizations. The primeless examples in (287) show that both the theme and the recipient can be realized as prenominal noun phrases, provided that they are both indefinite. Nevertheless, there seems to be some preference to realize the recipient as an aan-PP following the theme, as in the primed examples. Placing the aan-PP in front of the theme is possible, provided that it is given contrastive accent.

287

a.	?	KinderenRec	cadeausTheme	geven	is een oude traditie.
		children	presents	give	is an old tradition
		'Giving presents to children is an old tradition.'

a'.	CadeausTheme	< aan kinderenRec>	geven <aan kinderenRec>	is traditie.
	presents	to children	give	is tradition
	'Giving presents to children is a tradition.'

b.	?	WinnaarsRec	prijzenTheme	uitreiken	duurt	altijd	lang.
		winners	prizes	present	takes	always	long
		'Presenting prizes to winners always takes a long time.'

b'.	PrijzenTheme	<aan winnaarsRec>	uitreiken <aan winnaarsRec>	duurt	lang.
	prizes	to winners	present	takes	long
	'Presenting prizes to winners always takes a long time.'

If the theme argument is expressed as a postnominal van-PP, the recipient cannot be realized as a prenominal noun phrase; the primeless examples in (287) are ungrammatical. The primed examples show that expressing the recipient as an aan-PP is possible, provided that it follows the van-PP. As usual, examples such as (288b') are marked compared to examples such as (287b') with a prenominal theme.

288

a.	*	KinderenRec	geven	van cadeausTheme	is een oude traditie.
		children	give	of present	is an old tradition

a'.	?	Geven	van cadeausTheme	aan kinderenRec	is een oude traditie.
		give	of presents	to children	is an old tradition
		'Giving of presents to children is an old tradition.'

b.	*	WinnaarsRec	uitreiken	van de prijzenTheme	duurde	lang.
		winners	present	of the prizes	took	long
		'This presenting of the prizes to the winners took a long time.'

b'.	Uitreiken	van prijzenTheme	aan de winnaarsRec	duurt	lang.
	present	of prizes	to the winners	takes	long
	'This presenting of the prizes to the winners takes a long time.'

In det-inf nominalizations, the form of the recipient is related to the form of the theme in the same way as in bare-inf nominalizations. The examples in (289) show that the recipient must be realized as a postnominal aan-PP if the theme is a postnominal van-PP. The word order is rigid in this case: the aan-PP must follow both the noun and the postnominal van-PP.

289

a.	*	Dat	kinderenRec	geven	van cadeausTheme	is een oude traditie.
		that	children	give	of presents	is an old tradition

a'.	Dat	geven	van cadeausTheme	aan de kinderenRec	is een oude traditie.
	that	give	of presents	to the children	is an old tradition
	'This giving of the presents to the children is an old tradition.'

b.	*	Dat	winnaarsRec	uitreiken	van de prijzenTheme	duurde	lang.
		that	winners	present	of the prizes	took	long

b'.	Dat	uitreiken	van de prijzenTheme	aan de winnaarsRec	duurde	lang.
	that	present	of the prizes	to the winners	took	long
	'This presenting of the prizes to the winners took long.'

If the theme is realized as a prenominal noun phrase, the recipient can be expressed either by means of an aan-PP or a prenominal noun phrase. Again, there seems to be some preference for the former. Note that if the aan-PP occurs in prenominal position it is normally nonspecific, just like the prenominal theme; this restriction does not hold for the postnominal aan-PP. Thus, replacing the nonspecific recipient aan kinderen by the specific recipient aan de kinderen is easily possible in (290a''), but gives rise to a marked result in (290a'). Finally, note that placing the aan-PP in front of the prenominal theme is possible, provided that it is given contrastive accent.

290

a.	?	Het	kinderenRec	cadeausTheme	geven	is een oude traditie.
		the	children	presents	give	is an old tradition
		'The giving of presents to children is an old tradition.'

a'.		Het	cadeausTheme	aan (?de) kinderenRec	geven	is een oude traditie.
		the	presents	to the children	give	is an old tradition

a''.		Het	cadeausTheme	geven	aan (de) kinderenRec	is een oude traditie.
		the	presents	give	to the children	is an old tradition

b.	?	Dat winnaarsRec	prijzenTheme	uitreiken	duurt	altijd	lang.
		that winners	prizes	present	takes	always	long
		'That presenting of prizes to winners always takes a long time.'

b'.		Dat	prijzenTheme	aan (?de) winnaarsRec	uitreiken	duurt	lang.
		that	prizes	to the winners	present	takes	long

b''.		Dat	prijzenTheme	uitreiken	aan (de) winnaarsRec	duurt	lang.
		that	prizes	present	to the winners	takes	long

[+] 4. Ditransitiveinf-nominalizations with all three arguments expressed

If all three arguments are expressed, there are many conceivable combinations, but given the earlier discussion we expect only a few to be acceptable, and even these will rarely be encountered (except perhaps in written, formal language). This is especially true for bare-inf nominalizations: since we have seen in Subsection 2, that agentive door-PPs give rise to a severely degraded result in these constructions, we expect expression of all three arguments to be impossible. The examples in (291) show that this expectation is indeed borne out.

291

a.	*	KinderenRec	cadeausTheme	geven	door SinterklaasAgent	is een oude traditie.
		children	presents	give	by Santa Claus	is an old tradition
		'The giving of presents to children by Santa Claus is an old tradition.'

b.	*	CadeausTheme	geven	aan kinderenRec	door SinterklaasAgent	is ...
		presents	give	to children	by Santa Claus	is ...

b'.	*	Geven	van cadeausTheme	aan kinderenRec	door SinterklaasAgent	is ...
		give	of presents	to children	by Santa Claus	is ...

This leaves us with det-inf nominalizations. We have seen in Subsection 2 that the door-PP must follow the postnominal van-PP expressing the theme, and in Subsection 3 we have seen that the same thing holds for the aan-PP expressing the recipient. We therefore correctly predict that the same thing holds for cases in which all arguments are expressed. The examples in (292) show that the preferred order is indeed the one in which the recipient precedes the agent.

292

a.	Dat	geven	van cadeausTheme	aan kinderenRec	door SinterklaasAgent	is ...
	that	give	of presents	to children	by Santa Claus	is ...
	'This giving of presents to children by Santa Claus is an old tradition.'

b.	??	Dat	geven	van cadeausTheme	door SinterklaasAgent	aan kinderenRec	is ...
		that	give	of presents	by Santa Claus	to children	is ...

We have also seen in Subsection 3 that if the theme is realized as a prenominal noun phrase, the recipient can be realized either as a (pre- or postnominal) aan-PP or as a prenominal noun phrase. Since the agentive door-PP must be postnominal, this correctly predicts the following orders to be possible. All examples are somewhat marked, just like the corresponding examples without the recipient given in Subsection C.

293

a.	?	Dat	kinderenRec	cadeausTheme	geven	door SinterklaasAgent	is ...
		that	children	presents	give	by Santa Claus	is ...
		'That giving of presents to children by Santa Claus is an old tradition.'

b.	?	Dat	cadeausTheme	geven	aan kinderenRec	door SinterklaasAgent	is ...
		that	presents	give	to children	by Santa Claus	is ...
		'That giving of presents to children by Santa Claus is an old tradition.'

b'.	?	Dat	cadeausTheme	aan kinderenRec	geven	door SinterklaasAgent	is ...
		that	presents	to children	give	by Santa Claus	is ...

The examples in (292) and (293) exhaust the options; all other orders lead to a severe decrease in acceptability. Realizing the agent as a genitive noun phrase or a possessive pronoun seems possible, although it does gives rise to a somewhat marked result. The intended reading of (294b&c) seems to be hampered by the more prominent reading in which the possessive pronoun is construed as the possessor of the presents/children.

294

a.	?	Zijn	geven	van cadeausTheme	aan kinderenRec	is een oude traditie.
		his	give	of presents	to children	is an old tradition
		'His giving of presents to children is an old tradition.'

b.	#	Zijn	cadeausTheme	<aan kinderenRec>	geven <aan kinderenRec>	is ...
		his	presents	to children	give	is ...
		'His giving presents to children is an old tradition.'

c.	#	Zijn	kinderenRec	cadeausTheme	geven	is een oude traditie.
		his	children	presents	give	is an old tradition
		'His giving presents to children is an old tradition.'

[+] E. Inf-nominalizations of verbs selecting a prepositional argument

This subsection discusses inf-nominalizations derived from verbs selecting a PP-complement. We start with those cases in which the argument of the PP has the role of theme. This is followed by some cases in which the argument has some other semantic role.

[+] 1. inf-nominalizations with a theme PP

Inf-nominalizations also inherit PP-themes from their base verb. Examples are such verbs as zoeken naar'to search for' and jagen op'to hunt for', which select their own specific preposition. The inherited PP-themes seem to have the same distribution within the inf-nominalizations as their nominal counterparts. First and foremost, the PP-theme can occur in prenominal position. Second, if it is placed postnominally, it must precede the (optional) agentive door-phrase.

295

a.	Op groot wildTheme	jagen	(door adellijke herenAgent)	is verachtelijk.
	on big game	hunt	by noble gentlemen	is despicable
	'Hunting of big game by noble gentlemen is despicable.'

b.	Jagen	op groot wildTheme	(door adellijke herenAgent)	is verachtelijk.
	hunt	on big game	by noble gentlemen	is despicable
	'Hunting of big game by noble gentlemen is despicable.'

296

a.	Dat op groot wildTheme	jagen	(door adellijke herenAgent)	is verachtelijk.
	that on big game	hunt	by noble gentlemen	is despicable
	'This hunting of big game is despicable.'

b.	Dat	jagen	op groot wildTheme	(door adellijke herenAgent)	is verachtelijk.
	that	hunt	on big game	by noble gentlemen	is despicable
	'This hunting of big game by noble gentlemen is despicable.'

The main difference with inf-nominalizations derived from transitive verbs concerns the selection of the preposition: just like its base verb, the inf-nominalization jagen selects an op-PP and, consequently, the theme argument does not appear as a van-PP. Since the preposition op is selected by the noun, it must of course also be present if the PP is in prenominal position.
In det-inf nominalizations the agent-PP can sometimes take the form of a van-PP, although the result may be considered slightly marked. The availability of this option may be due to the factthatthe theme-PP is not introduced by van in these constructions. Note that the construction in (297b), with the theme realized in postnominal position, is ambiguous: the van-PP can be interpreted either as an agentive complement of the head noun, or as a possessor of the noun phrase groot wild'big game'. For this reason, the preferred order may be the one given in (297c), where only the agentive reading is available.

297

a.	?	Het	op groot wildTheme	jagen	(van adellijke herenAgent)	is verachtelijk.
		the	on big game	hunt	by noble gentlemen	is despicable
		'The hunting of big game by noble gentlemen is despicable.'

b.	??	Het	jagen	op groot wildTheme	(van adellijke herenAgent)	is verachtelijk.
		the	hunt	on big game	of noble gentlemen	is despicable

c.	?	Het	jagen	(van adellijke herenAgent)	op groot wildTheme	is verachtelijk.
		the	hunt	of noble gentlemen	on big game	is despicable

The examples in (298) show that the option of expressing the agent by means of a van-PP is not available in bare-inf constructions. Given that postmodification by means of a van-PP is a property of nouns rather than verbs, this contrast might be due to the fact that bare-inf constructions are more nominal in character than det-inf constructions; cf. Table 17 in Section 1.3.1.6.

298

a.	*	Op groot wildTheme	jagen	(van adellijke herenAgent)	is verachtelijk.
		on big game	hunt	by noble gentlemen	is despicable

b.	*	Jagen	op groot wildTheme	(van adellijke herenAgent)	is verachtelijk.
		hunt	on big game	of noble gentlemen	is despicable

c.	*	Jagen	(van adellijke herenAgent)	op groot wildTheme	is verachtelijk.
		hunt	of noble gentlemen	on big game	is despicable

[+] 2. inf-nominalizations with other complement PPs

The verb aanbevelen'recommend' in (299) selects a voor-PP as its third argument. As with recipient third arguments realized as aan-PPs, inf-nominalizations select the same preposition as the input verb (in this case voor). Examples such as this differ from those with recipient arguments in that the PP-complement does not alternate with a noun phrase.

299

a.	dat	de commissie	(de) bejaardenTh	voor de baan	heeft	aanbevolen.
	that	the committee	the senior citizens	for the job	has	recommended
	'that the committee has recommended (the) elderly people for the job.'

b.	*	dat	de commissie	de baan	(de) bejaardenRec	heeft	aanbevolen.
		that	the committee	the job	the senior citizens	has	recommended
		'that the committee has recommended the job to (the) elderly people.'

Given that (299b) is unacceptable it does not come as a surprise that the inherited PP-complement must also be realized as a voor-PP in the corresponding bare-inf nominalization. Example (300a) shows that with a prenominal theme the voor-PP can be realized either before or after the inf-noun. If the theme is realized as a postnominal van-PP, the voor-PP must also be postnominal and be placed after the van-PP (unless it is assigned contrastive accent, in which case it can marginally be placed between the noun and the van-PP).

300

a.	BejaardenTheme	<voor deze baan>	aanbevelen <voor deze baan>	is slim.
	senior citizens	for this job	recommend	is smart
	'Recommending elderly people for this job is smart.'

b.	?	Aanbevelen	van bejaardenTheme	voor deze baan	is slim.
		recommend	of senior citizens	for this job	is smart

In det-inf nominalizations we find more or less the same pattern, although in this case expression of the theme as a postnominal van-PP is preferred, as always.

301

a.	Het	aanbevelen	van bejaardenTheme	voor deze baan	is slim.
	the	recommend	of senior citizens	for this job	is smart
	'The recommending of elderly people for this job is smart.'

b.	?	Het	bejaardenTheme	<voor deze baan>	aanbevelen <voor deze baan>	is slim.
		the	senior citizens	for this job	recommend	is smart
		'The recommending of elderly people for this job is smart.'

[+] F. Inf-nominalizations taking a complementive

Inf-nominalizations are the only type of nominalization that readily accepts verbs selecting a complementive (predicative complement) as their input. Comparison between bare-inf and det-inf nominalizations reveals an interesting pattern: whereas det-inf nominalizations yield the best results if the logical subject of the complementive appears as a postnominal van-PP, bare-inf nominalizations require the subject to appear as a prenominal noun phrase. In addition, we will discuss an interesting difference between adjectival complementives and complementives introduced by the prepositions tot'to' and als'as'.

[+] 1. inf-nominalizations taking an adjectival complementive

Example (302) shows that complementives must precede and be adjacent to the verbs in clause-final position.

302

a.	Dat	Jan	Marie	<onaardig>	vindt <*onaardig>	komt	voort	uit jaloezie.
	that	Jan	Marie	unkind	considers	comes	prt.	from jealousy
	'That Jan doesnʼt like Marie is the result of jealousy.'

b.	Dat	Jan	de deuren	<rood>	schildert <*rood>	verbaast	ons	zeer.
	that	Jan	the doors	red	paints	surprises	us	much
	'Weʼre surprised that Jan paints the doors red.'

c.	Dat	hij	haar ideeën	<leuk>	vindt <*leuk>	is opmerkelijk.
	that	he	her ideas	nice	considers	is remarkable
	'That he considers her ideas nice is remarkable.'

A similar fact can be found in bare-inf nominalizations: the primeless examples in (303) show that the complementive immediately precedes the derived noun. Furthermore, the subject of the predicate must be realized as a prenominal noun phrase; using a postnominal van-PP, as in the primed examples, leads to an unacceptable result (regardless of the actual placement of the complementive).

303

a.	Marie <onaardig>	vinden <*onaardig>	komt	voort	uit jaloezie.
	Marie unkind	consider	comes	prt.	from jealousy
	'Considering Marie unkind is the result of jealousy.'

a'.

Onaardig vinden van Marie komt voort

uit jaloezie.

b.	Deuren	<rood>	schilderen <*rood>	is een leuke bezigheid.
	doors	red	paint	is a nice pastime
	'Painting the doors red is a nice pastime.'

b'.

Rood schilderen van deuren is een leuke bezigheid.

c'.		Haar ideeën	<leuk>	vinden <*leuk>	is opmerkelijk.
		her ideas	nice	consider	is remarkable

c'.

Leuk vinden van haar ideeën is opmerkelijk.

Det-inf nominalizations also require the complementive to be in prenominal position, but differ from bare-inf nominalizations in that they prefer a postnominal van-PP; realizing the subject as a prenominal noun phrase is at least marginally possible but requires a generic context, as in (304b').

304

a.		Het	<onaardig>	vinden	van Marie	komt	voort	uit jaloezie.
		the	unkind	consider	of Marie	comes	prt.	from jealousy

a'.

Het Marie <onaardig> vinden komt voort uit jaloezie.

b.	?	Het	<rood>	schilderen	van deuren	is een leuke bezigheid.
		the	red	paint	of doors	is a nice pastime

b'.

Het deuren <rood> schilderen is een leuke bezigheid.

c.		Het	<leuk>	vinden	van haar ideeën	is opmerkelijk.
		the	nice	consider	of her ideas	is remarkable

c'.

Het haar ideeën <leuk> vinden is opmerkelijk.

[+] 2. Inf-nominalizations taking complementives introduced by tot and als

Example (305) shows that complementives introduced by a preposition like tot or als differ from the complementives discussesed in the previous subsection in that they can be placed either before or after the deverbal head.

305

a.	Dat	zij	Jan	<tot voorzitter>	benoemden <tot voorzitter>	was verstandig.
	that	they	Jan	to chairman	elected	was wise
	'That they elected Jan chairman was wise.'

b.	Dat	hij	zijn grootste vijand	<als zijn vriend>	beschouwt <als zijn vriend>	is dwaas.
	that	he	his greatest enemy	as his friend	considers	is foolish
	'That he considers his greatest enemy as his friend is foolish.'

In inf-nominalizationswe seem to find the same possibilities: for many speakers the tot/als-phrase can occur either pre- or postnominally; for some speakers, however, placing the tot/als-phrase after the nominal infinitive leads to a somewhat degraded result. In (306), some examples are given of bare-inf nominalizations; as with the adjectival complementives, the subject must be realized as a prenominal noun phrase, regardless of the placement of the tot/als-phrase.

306

a.	Jan	<tot voorzitter>	benoemen <%tot voorzitter>	was een slimme zet.
	Jan	to chairman	appoint	was a smart move
	'Appointing Jan chairman was a smart move.'

a'.

<Tot voorzitter> benoemen van Jan <tot voorzitter> was een slimme zet.

b.	Je grootste vijand	<als je vriend>	beschouwen <%als je vriend>	is dwaas.
	your greatest enemy	as your friend	consider	is foolish
	'Considering your greatest enemy as your friend is foolish.'

b'.

<Als je vriend> beschouwen van je grootste vijand <als je vriend> is dwaas.

Example (307) provides the corresponding det-inf nominalizations, and shows that using a postnominal van-PP is preferred in non-generic contexts like (307a), whereas it is at least possible to use a prenominal noun phrase in generic contexts like (307b). Note that the postnominal tot/als-phrase cannot precede the van-PP: *het benoemen tot voorzitter van Jan; *het beschouwen als je vriend van je grootste vijand.

307

a.	Het	<tot voorzitter>	benoemen	van Jan <%tot voorzitter>	was verstandig.
	the	to chairman	appoint	of Jan	was wise
	'Appointing Jan chairman was wise.'

a'.

Het Jan <tot voorzitter> benoemen <tot voorzitter> was verstandig.

b.	Het	<als je vriend>	beschouwen	van je grootste vijand <%als je vriend>	is dwaas.
	the	as your friend	consider	of your greatest enemy	is foolish
	'Considering your worst enemy as your friend is foolish.'

b'.

Het je grootste vijand <als je vriend> beschouwen <als je vriend> is dwaas.

To conclude, note that even those speakers that object to the postnominal placement of the tot/als-phrase in the examples above accept it in the case of a more complex tot/als-PP. In those cases, the postnominal position is perfectly acceptable, and perhaps even preferable.

308

a.	(?)	Jan	tot voorzitter van de vereniging	benoemen	is verstandig.
		Jan	to chairman of the association	appoint	is wise
		'Appointing Jan chairman of the association is wise.'

a'.

Jan benoemen tot voorzitter van de vereniging is verstandig.

b.	(?)	Het	tot voorzitter van de vereniging	benoemen	van Jan	is verstandig.
		the	to chairman of the association	appoint	of Jan	is wise

b'.

Het benoemen van Jan tot voorzitter van de vereniging is verstandig.

[+] G. Conclusion

The previous subsections have shown that in both det-inf and bare-inf nominalizations the arguments of the input verb function are inherited by the derived nominal. It has further investigated how these arguments can be realized in the pertinent inf-nominalizations. Here we will summarize the main findings.

[+] 1. Inf-nominalizations derived from intransitive verbs

The agent argument of intransitive verbs is optionally expressed in the form of a postnominal van-PP. Alternatively, the agent can be expressed by means of a genitive noun phrase or possessive pronoun. The most common patterns are therefore as given in (309).

309

bare-inf	N (+ van-PPAgent)	wandelen (van zieken) ‘walking of sick people’
det-inf	det + N (+ van-PPAgent)	het wandelen (van de zieken) ‘the walking (of the sick)’
	(NPs/pronounAgent) + N	(zijn/Jans) wandelen ‘Janʼs walking’

[+] 2. Inf-nominalizations derived from monadic unaccusative verbs

In det-inf nominalizations, the theme argument of unaccusative verbs is optionally expressed in the form of a postnominal van-PP. This option is, however, not readily available in bare-inf nominalizations. Expressing the theme by means of a genitive noun phrase or possessive pronoun gives rise to a marginal result.

310

bare-inf	N + van-PPTheme	??vallen van bladeren ‘falling of leaves’
det-inf	det + N + van-PPTheme	het vallen van de bladeren ‘the falling of the leaves’
	NPs/pronounTheme + N	?hun vallen ‘their falling’

[+] 3. Inf-nominalizations derived from monotransitive verbs

With inf-nominalizations derived from transitive verbs, the theme argument is obligatorily present (if it has specific reference). The theme may precede the derived noun, in which case it is assigned accusative case and appears in the form of a noun phrase, or it may follow the head, in which case it appears as a van-PP. The use of a prenominal noun phrase is the preferred option in bare-inf nominalizations, whereas the use of a postnominal van-PP is the preferred option in det-inf nominalizations. The theme argument of bare-inf nominalizations is normally nonspecific. This also holds for the prenominal noun phrase (but not the postnominal van-PP) in det-inf nominalizations. The theme argument cannot be expressed by means of a genitive noun phrase or a possessive pronoun.

311

bare-inf	NPTheme + N	patiënten behandelen ‘treating patients’
	N + van-PPTheme	?behandelen van patiënten ‘treating of patients’
det-inf	det + N + van-PPTheme	het treiteren van de kleuters ‘the bullying of the toddlers’
	det + NPTheme + N	?het kleuters treiteren ‘the bullying of toddlers’

[+] 4. Inf-nominalizations derived from ditransitive verbs

With inf-nominalizations derived from ditransitive verbs, recipients can be optionally expressed either by means of a prenominal noun phrase or by a (pre- or postnominal) aan-PP: the former requires that the theme is also expressed by means of a prenominal noun phrase, whereas the latter can be used both with a prenominal NP-theme and with a postnominal van-PP. The prenominal NP-recipient must precede the NP-theme, whereas the aan-PP normally follows the theme (regardless of whether the theme is realized as a noun phrase or a van-PP). The arguments of bare-inf nominalizations are normally nonspecific. This also holds for the prenominal noun phrases (but not the postnominal PPs) in det-inf nominalizations.

312

bare-inf	(NPRec +) NPTheme + N	(kinderen) cadeaus geven ‘giving (children) presents’
	NPTheme(+ aan-PPRec) + N	cadeaus (aan kinderen) geven ‘giving presents (to children)’
	NPTheme + N (+ aan-PPRec)	cadeaus geven (aan kinderen) ‘giving presents (to children)’
	N + van-PPTheme (+ aan-PPRec)	?geven van cadeaus (aan kinderen) ‘giving of the presents (to children)’
det-inf	det + N + van-PPTheme (+ aan-PPRec)	het geven van de cadeaus (aan de kinderen) ‘the giving of the presents (to the children)’
	det (+ NPRec)+ NPTheme+ N	?het (kinderen) cadeaus geven ‘the giving of presents (to children)’

[+] 5. Inf-nominalizations derived from verbs selecting a PP-complement

Inf-nominalizations derived from verbs with a PP-argument take a PP with the same preposition. The PP may appear either pre- or postnominally, just like it can appear pre- or postverbally in the corresponding verbal constructions.

313

bare-inf	N + PPTheme	jagen op herten ‘hunting deer’
	PPTheme+ N	op herten jagen ‘hunting deer’
det-inf	det + N + PPTheme	het jagen op herten ‘the hunting of deer’
	det + PPTheme+ N	het op herten jagen ‘the hunting of deer’

[+] 6. Inf-nominalizations derived from verbs selecting a complementive

Inf-nominalizations derived from verbs involving a complementive reveal an interesting opposition between det-inf and bare-inf nominalizations: whereas det-inf nominalizations prefer the theme argument to appear postnominally in the form of a van-PP, bare-inf nominalizations require the theme argument to appear as a prenominal noun phrase. The complementive must appear prenominally. just as it must be preverbally in the corresponding verbal constructions.

314

bare-inf	NP + pred + N	Marie aardig vinden ‘liking Marie’
det-inf	det + pred + N + van-PP	het aardig vinden van Marie ‘liking Marie’
	det + NP+ pred + N	?het Marie aardig vinden ‘liking Marie’

[+] 7. The distribution of agentive van- and door-phrases

The form of the agent argument depends on the adicity of the base verb. If the input verb is intransitive or unaccusative, the agent typically appears postnominally as a van-PP; see Subsection 1. In all other cases the agent typically appears as an optional door-phrase following all other arguments. Agentive door-phrasesonly occur in det-inf nominalizations: bare-inf nominalizations with an agentive door-phraseare always degraded. In det-inf nominalizations the agent may also be realized as a genitive noun phrase or possessive pronoun.

315

bare-inf	NP + N	boeken lezen (*door Jan) ‘reading books’
det-inf	det + N + van-PP (+ door-PP)	het lezen van boeken door Jan ‘the reading of books by Jan’
	det + N + van-PP + aan-PP (+ door-PP)	het geven van boeken aan Marie door Jan ‘the presenting of books to Marie by Jan’

[+] III. Application of the complement/adjunct test

The preceding subsection has shown that inf-nominalizations typically combine with noun phrases or PPs that correspond to the arguments of the input verb. However, since in many cases complements and adjuncts are not formally distinguished within the noun phrase, it is conceivable that some of these PPs are adjuncts. This subsection will therefore apply the tests provided in Section 2.2.1 for distinguishing between PP-complement and PP-adjuncts to inf-nominalizations to determine the status (as complement or adjunct) of the PPs accompanying these nominalizations. Of course, the tests are not readily applicable to bare-inf nominalizations, given thatthis construction prefers realization of the theme as a prenominal noun phrase, which is clearly an argument of the derived noun. The discussion will therefore mainly focus on det-inf nominalizations. The results of these tests indicate that the PPs in question should be regarded as complements of the noun.

[+] A. Obligatoriness of PP

It is normally assumed that bare-inf and det-inf nominalizations both inherit the argument structure of the input verb: they resemble the corresponding verbal constructions with regard to the number of arguments and their thematic functions. Nevertheless, there is an important difference: whereas in the verbal constructions the subject is required, explicit mention of this same element is not required in the nominal constructions. Consequently, the inf-nominalizations in (316), which are derived from an unaccusative or an intransitive verb, do not require the presence of any PP, or may be modified by an adjunct only. Note that leaving out the argument is not semantically innocuous but results in a generic interpretation.

316

a.	(Dat)	vallen	(met de fiets)	kan	erg pijnlijk	zijn.
	the	fall	with the bike	can	very painful	be
	'Falling with your bike can be very painful.'

b.	(Dat)	slapen	(in een waterbed)	is niet	gezond.
	that	sleep	in a waterbed	is not	healthy
	'(This) sleeping in a waterbed isnʼt healthy.'

In inf-nominalizations derived from a transitive verb, the theme must normally be present; dropping the theme argument is only marginally possible if the sentences are given a generic interpretation.

317

a.	Het	verzamelen	*?(van postzegels)	kost	hem	veel geld.
	the	collect	of stamps	costs	him	much money
	'Collecting stamps is costing him a lot of money.'

b.	*?	(Postzegels)	verzamelen	kost	veel geld.
		stamps	collect	costs	much money

Of course if the input verb can be used as a pseudo-intransitive verb like schrijven'to write' or drinken'to drink', the theme does not need to accompany the derived inf-noun. As with the pseudo-intransitive verb, the resulting interpretation of the examples in (318) is that of a habitual activity; cf. Section 2.2.3.1 (and see also Groefsema, 1995, for semantic and syntactic constraints on the use of implicit arguments). Note that using det-inf nominalizations with non-expressive determiners like het normally gives rise to an unacceptable result; the expressive demonstrative determiner dat can be used provided that the context permits a pejorative interpretation, as in (318b').

318

a.	Schrijven	is een leuk beroep.
	write	is a nice occupation
	'Writing is a nice occupation.'

a'.	*	Het schrijven	is een leuk beroep.
		the write	is a nice occupation

b.	Drinken	is ongezond.
	drink	is unhealthy
	'Drinking is unhealthy.'

b'.		Dat/*Het drinken is ongezond.
		that/the drink is unhealthy

The theme is also normally present if the input verb is ditransitive. It can only be left out in obvious (and contrastive) generic statements, like the ones in (319). Again, such constructions are more common with bare-inf than with det-inf nominalizations, which is clear from the fact that (319a&b) will become unacceptable if we add the determiner het to the inf-nominalizations. Example (319a') shows, however, that det-inf nominalizations occasionally also allow the theme to be absent in generic contexts.

319

a.	Geven	is beter	dan nemen.
	give	is better	than take
	'To give is better than to take.'

a'.	Het	gaat	om	het geven,	niet	om	het krijgen.
	it	goes	about	the give	not	about	the get
	'Itʼs the giving that counts, not the getting.'

b.	Bij hem	is het	alleen	maar	beloven,	maar	nooit	eens	doen.
	with him	is it	only	prt	promise	but	never	prt	do
	'He is always promising things, but never doing them.'

The (a)-examples in (320) show that, just like in the verbal construction, the recipient need not be expressed. If it is expressed, as in the (b)-examples, dropping the theme argument does not give rise to a generic reading but to an ungrammatical result.

320

a.		Het	geven	*?(van cadeaus)	is altijd	leuk.
		the	give	of presents	is always	nice

a'.	??	(Cadeautjes)	geven	is altijd	leuk.
		presents	give	is always	nice

b.		Het geven	*(van het cadeautje)	aan mijn neefje	is leuk.
		the give	of the present	to my nephewdim	is nice

b'.		Mijn neefje	*(cadeautjes)	geven	is leuk.
		my nephew	presents	give	is nice

Finally, (321) shows that, if the input verb selects a PP, this PP is also required by the derived inf-nominalization, unless the implied theme is recoverable from the linguistic or non-linguistic context.

321

		(Het)	zoeken	*(naar een oplossing)	bleef	zonder resultaat.
		the	search	for a solution	remained	without result

[+] B. Occurrence of the PP in postcopular predicative position

Example (322) shows that the van-PP of det-inf nominalizations cannot occur in postcopular position. This is, of course, hardly surprising, because van-PPs in postcopular position are normally interpreted as possessive elements: states of affairs, the denotation of inf-nominalizations, cannot be possessed.

322

a.	*	Het	maken	is van sommen.
		the	make	is of sums

b.	*	Het	behandelen	is van de patiënten.
		the	treat	is of the patients

c.	*	Het	geven	is van de cadeaus	(aan de kinderen).
		the	give	is of the presents	to the children

d.	*	Het	uitreiken	is van de prijzen	(aan de winnaars).
		the	present	is of the prizes	to the winners

Note that if the input verb takes a PP-complement, this PP-complement can sometimes occur in postcopular position (Barbiers 1995). Examples like these suggest the (possible) attainment of some future state, like father being present or there being a solution, which can be made explicit by adding the addition of the time adverb nu'now' or a particle like nog'still'.

323

a.	Het wachten	is nu	op vader.
	the wait	is now	for father
	'We still have to wait for father.'

b.	Het zoeken	is nu	nog	naar een oplossing.
	the search	is now	still	for a solution
	'We still have to search for a solution.'

This is, however, not a general property of inf-nominalizations derived from such verbs. For example, verbs denoting a state and a momentary action or an activity give rise to a distinctly odd result, which may be due to the fact that these constructions cannot be used to express the attainment of some future state.

324

a.	*	Het geloven	is nu	nog	in een vreedzame oplossing.
		the believing	is now	prt	in a peaceful solution

b.	*	Het waarschuwen	is nu	nog	voor zware regenval.
		the warning	is now	prt	for heavy rain

c.	*	Het jagen	is nu	nog	op reeën.
		the hunt	is now	prt	on deer

Furthermore, the construction is only possible with the determiner het; replacing het by some other determiner results in unacceptability. This suggests that the acceptable cases in (323a&b) are more or less idiomatic.

325

a.	*	Mijn/Dat wachten	is nu	op vader.
		my/that wait	is now	for father

b.	*	Mijn/Dat zoeken	is nu	nog	naar een oplossing.
		my/that search	is now	still	for a solution

[+] C. R-pronominalization

Example (326) shows that det-inf nominalizations do allow R-pronominalization. The examples in (326a&b) show that the pronominalized van-PPs expressing the inherited theme must also follow the noun, as is of course expected given that such van-PPs can only occur postnominally. If the PP is inherited directly from the input verb, placement of the pronominal PP in prenominal position is acceptable, although placement of these PPs in postverbal position seems to be preferred (which is clear from the fact that this is by far the dominant order found on the internet). This is illustrated in (326c&d) by means of inf-nominalizations derived from, respectively, jagen (op)'hunt' and genieten (van)'enjoy'.

326

a.	Het	<*ervan>	maken <ervan>	is eenvoudig.
	the	there-of	make	is simple
	'Making it is simple.'

b.	Het	<*ervan>	uitreiken <ervan>	aan de winnaars	duurde	lang.
	the	there-of	present	to the winners	lasted	long
	'Presenting them to the winners took a long time.'

c.	Het	<?erop>	jagen <erop>	moest	verboden	worden.
	the	there-on	hunt	should	prohibited	be
	'Hunting of them should be prohibited.'

d.	Het	<?ervan>	genieten <ervan>	werd	ons	onmogelijk	gemaakt.
	the	there-of	enjoy	was	us	impossible	made
	'Enjoying it was made impossible for us.'

The examples in (327a&b) show that R-pronominalization is impossible in bare-inf nominalizations with postnominal van-PPs expressing the inherited theme, which is of course related to the fact that these PPs are not much favored in this construction anyway. R-pronominalization of inherited PPs, however, is possible: the examples in (327c&d) differ from the ones in (326c&d) in that they seem to prefer placement of pronominalized PP in prenominal position.

327

Maken <ervan> is eenvoudig.

Uitreiken <ervan> aan de winnaars duurde lang.

<Erop> jagen <?erop> moest verboden worden.

<Ervan>

genieten <?ervan> werd ons onmogelijk gemaakt.

For completeness’ sake, example (328) shows that R-pronominalization is impossible with agents and recipients.

328

a.		het overhandigen	van de petitie	aan de regering/*eraan
		the hand.over	of the petition	to the government/there-to

b.		het schenken	van geld	aan de kerk/*eraan
		the donate	of money	to the church/there-to

c.		het opstellen	van een programma	door de partij/*erdoor
		the draft	of a program	by the party/there-by

[+] D. Extraction of PP

Topicalization of the postnominal van-PP yields results that are at best questionable, as shown by example (329a) for inf-nominalizations derived from transitive verbs. It seems, however, that the result improves if the extracted PP is heavy and a modal verb is used, as in (329b).

329

a.	*	Van fruit	wordt	het eten	altijd	gestimuleerd.
		of fruit	is	the eat	always	encouraged

b.	??	Van vers fruit	zou	het eten	altijd	gestimuleerd	moeten	worden.
		of fresh fruit	should	the eat	always	encouraged	must	be
		'The eating of fresh fruit should always be encouraged.'

As is shown in (330), inf-nominalizations derived from ditransitive verbs behave more or less on a par with those derived from transitive verbs in (329), the only difference being that the presence of the recipient blocks topicalization completely. The fact that example (330b) with a heavy van-PP in clause-initial position is fully ungrammatical if the recipient is present suggests that the preposed van-PP is actually not extracted from the noun phrase but generated as an independent restrictive adverbial phrase; if so, the ungrammaticality of (330b) with a recipient would follow from the fact established in Subsection A that overt realization of the recipient aan-PP requires that the theme argument also be overtly realized as a van-PP; see the discussion of example (320).

330

a.	*	Van cadeaus	heb	ik	het geven	(aan kinderen)	altijd	leuk	gevonden.
		of presents	have	I	the give	to children	always	nice	consider

b.	Van onveilige cadeaus	moet	het geven	??(*aan kinderen)	verboden worden.
	of unsafe presents	should	the give	to children	prohibited be
	'The giving of unsafe presents (to children) must be prohibited.'

As is shown by (331a), a similar blocking effect can be evoked by the agentive door-PP. Further, it is interesting to note that the sentence in (331b), without the door-phrase, strongly favors a reading in which the van-PP is interpreted as the agent and the verb treiteren'to bully' is given a generic reading. Since non-realization of the theme normally has this effect, this might again indicate that the preposed van-PP is actually not extracted from the noun phrase but generated as an independent restrictive adverbial phrase.

331

a.	*	Van peuters	heb	ik	het treiteren	door grote jongens	altijd	veracht.
		of toddlers	have	I	the bully	by big boys	always	despised
		Intended reading: 'Iʼve always despised the bullying of toddlers by big boys.'

b.	#	Van peutersTheme	heb	ik	het treiteren	altijd	veracht.
		of toddlers	have	I	the bully	always	despised

Relativization and questioning are possible under more or less the same conditions as topicalization, as will become clear by comparing the examples in (332) with those in (329). We will refrain from giving similar examples with ditransitive verbs since relativization and questioning always give an objectionable result, although we want to note that in this case, too, expression of a recipient aan-PP has a deteriorating effect.

332

a.	*	het fruit	waarvan	het eten	altijd	gestimuleerd	wordt
		the kind	where-of	the eat	always	encouraged	is

a'.	?	het soort fruit	waarvan	het eten	altijd	gestimuleerd	zou moeten worden
		the kind fruit	where-of	the eat	always	encouraged	should must be

b.	*?	Van welk fruit	wordt	het eten	gestimuleerd?
		of which fruit	is	the eat	encouraged

b'.	?	Van welk soort fruit	zou	het eten	gestimuleerd	moeten	worden?
		of which kind fruit	should	the eat	encouraged	must	be

Inf-nominalizations do not readily accept PP-over-V and scrambling. It may perhaps occur in highly contrastive contexts, e.g., when contrastive accent is assigned to the modifier vers'fresh' in the examples in (333).

333

a.		Ik	heb	het eten	aangeraden	*van appels/?van vers fruit.
		I	have	the eat	recommended	of apples/of fresh fruit

b.		Ik	heb	*van appels/??van vers fruit	het eten	aangeraden.
		I	have	of apples/of fresh fruit	the eat	recommended

For completeness’ sake, it can be mentioned that topicalization, relativization and questioning of PPs introduced by prepositions other than van is sometimes marginally possible. Some examples are given in (334); examples (334a&c) are best if the PP is given contrastive tress; the fact that (334b) is more marked might be due to the fact that assigning contractive is not possible in this case. PP-over-V and scrambling of these PPs is impossible, which will go unillustrated here.

334

a.	??	Op groot wild	zou	het jagen	verboden	moeten	worden.
		on big game	should	the hunt	prohibited	must	be
		'The hunting of big game should be prohibited.'

b.	*?	het soort wild	waarop	het jagen	verboden	zou	moeten	worden
		the kind [of] game	where-on	the hunt	prohibited	should	must	be

c.	??	Op welk soort wild	zou	het jagen	verboden	moeten	worden?
		on what [of] kind game	should	the hunt	prohibited	must	be

Topicalization, relativization and questioning of a recipient aan-PP or an agentive door-PP, however, are impossible or at best highly questionable. This is shown in (335) and (336).

335

a.	*?	Aan zieke kinderen	moet	het geven	van cadeaus	gestimuleerd	worden.
		to sick children	must	the give	of presents	encouraged	be
		'To sick children the giving of presents must be encouraged.'

b.	*	zieke kinderen	aan wie	het geven	van cadeaus	gestimuleerd moet worden
		the kind children	to whom	the give	of presents	encouraged must be

c.	*?	Aan wie	moet	het geven	van cadeaus	gestimuleerd	worden?
		to whom	must	the give	of presents	encouraged	be

336

a.	*	Door grote jongens zou	het treiteren	van peuters	niet	mogen	voorkomen.
		by big boys should	the bully	of toddlers	not	may	prt.-occur

b.	*	grote jongens	door wie	het treiteren	van peuters	niet zou mogen voorkomen
		big boys	by whom	the bully	of toddlers	not should may prt.-occur

c.	*	Door welke jongens	zou	het treiteren	van peuters	niet mogen voorkomen?
		by which boys	should	the bully	of toddlers	not may prt.-occur

[+] E. Conclusion

Table 7 summarizes the results of the four adjunct/complement tests for theme arguments of inf-nominalizations expressed by, respectively, a postnominal van-PP and a PP directly inherited from the verb. The third and fifth columns indicate whether the results provide evidence for or against the assumption that we are dealing with complements of the er-nominalization. The first three tests provide unequivocal evidence for complement status of both van-PPs and PPs headed by other prepositions. The results of the PP-extraction tests seem to go against this, but we have seen that these tests are problematic in various respects, and may not be suitable for establishing complement status anyway. We therefore conclude that these themes are arguments of the derived nouns.

Table 7: Theme complements of inf-nominalization: outcome of Tests 1-4

	van-PPs		other PPs
Test 1: PP obligatory	+	positive	+	positive
Test 2: Post-copular position	—	positive	n.a.	n.a.
Test 3: R-pronominalization	+	positive	+	positive
Test 4A: Topicalization	?	negative	?	negative
Test 4B: Relativization/questioning	?		?
Test 4C: PP-over-V	—		—
Test 4D: Scrambling	—		—

For recipient aan-PPs and agentive door-PPs it is more difficult to establish whether they are arguments of the noun. Only the first test is relevant for them, and it seems that this test provides evidence against assuming argument status: recipients and agents normally need not be expressed. However, given that recipients and agentive door-phrases are normally also optional in the verbal constructions, this is not conclusive. We may therefore assume that they have a status similar to that of the theme, which clearly does behave as an argument.

References:

Barbiers, Sjef1995The syntax of interpretationThe Hague, Holland Academic GraphicsUniversity of Leiden/HILThesis
Groefsema, Marjolein1995Understood arguments: a semantic/pragmatic approachLingua96139-162
Schoorlemmer, Maaike2001Dutch nominalised infinitives as non-identical twinsUiL OTS Working PaperNovember 2001

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Evelien Keizer

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: Binominal ConstructionCausative VerbComplementDativeDemonstrative PronounDitransitive VerbIntransitive VerbNominalizationPossessive PronounPronounPseudo-intransitive VerbR-pronominalizationScramblingSpurious Demonstrative PronounTopicalizationTransitive VerbUnaccusative VerbVerbWh-movement

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

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1.0	Hans Broekhuis, Evelien Keizer	December 2015

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