/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    1.1.3 The mapping of prepositional arguments onto syntactic structure
    quickinfo

    A preposition generally has two arguments. In case an Adposition Phrase (PP) is used in a copular structure, one argument is realised as the prepositional complement, put differently, it is realised inside the PP. The other argument is realised external to the PP, in the position of subject or object. An example is given below:

    1
    Triene waas in dän Tuun.
    Triene was in the garden
    Triene was in the garden

    The preposition expresses that Triene’s location is contained in or subsumed in the location of the garden. Thus the containee argument is realised as the subject, and the container argument is realised as the prepositional complement.

    readmore

    The preposition forms a syntactic phrase, a prepositional phrase, with the argument that is semantically the container. The prepositional phrase can for example be preposed, as below:

    2
    In dän Tuun waas Triene.
    in the garden was Triene
    In the garden was Triene.

    The contained element is the person Triene, whose location is contained in the location of the garden. A copula is used in the above example to provide a syntactic position for the containee. This external position is the position of subject in the example above. The following example features an external argument that is realised as a direct object:

    3
    Iek häbe dän Käärdel in’t Fermik.
    I have the guy in.the sight
    I have my eyes on the guy.

    Here the preposition refers to the visual representation of our surroundings. It expresses that the visual representation of the guy is contained in somebody’s larger visual representation. The containee is realised as the direct object, and the container is realised as the prepositional complement. The owner of the visual representation is the subject of the verb of having, häbe ‘have’, the speaker in this example (iek ‘I’). The object position may be subject to restrictions which are pragmatic or aspectual in nature and which are not well understood. So, the following sentence is slightly odd:

    4
    Jo häbe Triene in dän Tuun.
    they have Triene in the garden
    They have Triene in the garden.

    But the sentence is fully acceptable if the direct object is realised as an indefinite NP:

    5
    Jo häbe ‘n näie Skäin in dän Tuun.
    they have a new barn in the garden
    They have a new barn in the garden.

    This indicates that there are pragmatic restrictions at work. In case a PP is used in a Noun Phrase (NP), the external argument is realised as an NP inside the NP. An example is given below:

    6
    Een Gat in dän Iers.
    a hole in the ass
    A hole in the ass.

    Here the ass is the container and the hole is the containee. The containee is realised external to the PP, but now there is no verb present to create an external position for the containee. Apparently the position for a containee becomes available for free. The external argument of a PP may also be the rest of a clause, as in the following example.

    7
    Ju Sunne rees rood in’t Aaste.
    the sun rose red in.the East
    The sun rose red in the East.

    Here it is not only the location of the sun which is contained in the location of the East, but the whole event of the sun rising red is located in the East. These remarks make it clear how incredibly abstract and flexible language is, and how our understanding of language is only just scratching the surface of this mystery.

    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra, Bouke Slofstra
      Category: Saterfrisian Syntax
      Version: 1.0, December 2023
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra, Bouke Slofstra December 2023
      printreport errorcite
      Jump to:
      X