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The negative article without a following NP (noun ellipsis)
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The negative article may be used without a following noun, that is, in ellipsis. In ellipsis, the negative article may appear in a form that is exclusively reserved for ellipsis, although this is not obligatory. Alongside gjin no, the following forms are found in ellipsis:

1
gjin: gjint, gjinnen, gjinnent, gjinten, gjinien
none
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It is remarkable in itself that so many alternatives exist for certain quantifiers which are independently used, that is, without a following Noun Phrase (NP)-internal element. Independently used adjectives, in contrast, may exhibit only the endings -en and -enien , alongside the form that is used for attributive agreement:

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griene: grienen, grienenien
green one
griene: *grient, *grienent, *grienten, *grienien

Conversely, although adjectives allow for the form -enien , the negative article does not: *gjinnenien none. Furthermore, the form gjinien none is, ambiguous between an elliptic interpretation and an independent lexical interpretation as a quantifier with the meaning nobody. Finally, it must be noted that of all these forms marking noun ellipsis, only one may be used as an article before a following noun: gjinien. This article may only be used before singular nouns, indicating that ien one still retains its singular number in this compound:

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a. Gjinien dielnimmer hie in hoed op
no participant had a hat on
No participant wore a hat
b. *Ik ha gjinien dielnimmers sjoen
I have no participant seen
I did not see any participants

The negative article cannot be used as a floating quantifier, regardless of the form that is used:

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*Ik ha se gjint sjoen
I have them none seen
I did not see any of them

The negative article in ellipsis can also be used as predicate, although the form net ien not one is preferred:

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a. Dat is gjint
that is none
That is not one
b. Dat is net ien
that is not one
That is not one
extra
Literature

More about gjin none can be read in Dyk (2011).

References
  • Dyk, Siebren2011The morphology of Frisian nominal ellipsis
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