/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    aller-
    quickinfo

    aller- /'ɑlər/ is a native non-cohering prefix that combines exclusively with adjectives in the superlative form: de allergrootste boom the aller.great.est tree the tallest tree of all. With certain adjectives, it also allows for absolute use: dat boek is werkelijk alleraardigst that book is really aller.nice.est that book is really really nice.

    Schema:
    aller-[A-SUP]

    Meaning:
    • the A-est of all, very A

    Most Dutch prefixes and suffixes cannot be attached more than once; aller- does allow for iteration (just like a few other intensifying prefixes): Albert Heijn is het aller-aller-allerduurst AH is the most expensive.

    readmore
    [+]Morphosyntactic properties

    The prefix aller /'ɑ-lər/ combines with superlative forms of adjectives, both native (allergrootst greatest) and non-native (allercharmantst most charming), not only with simplex bases as in the examples just given, but also with complex ones (allergecompliceerdst most complicated, alleraardigst nicest), and with suppletion forms (allerbest).

    extra

    aller- also combines with the ordinal number eerst first that has a superlative form and certain superlative properties (Barbiers 2007). Bases that have a superlative meaning but no superlative form (optimaal best, favoriet favorite, most beloved) cannot combine with aller- (*alleroptimaal, *allerfavoriet).

    aller- is an old female genitive form of the universal quantifier al all. De Haas and Trommelen (1993:436) and WNT analyse formations with aller- as compounds, but the element no longer occurs as an independent word, apart from a few fossilized expressions.

    aller-, the German counterpart of Dutch aller-, is described as an excessive in Kiefer (1998: 277): "The excessive expresses the absolutely highest possible degree of a property, and it is compared only with items which have this property to a high degree; it is used for emphasis and for impressing the hearer".

    De Haas and Trommelen (1993:436) suggests that the adjective opperbest upper.best very good is of the same type, but that cannot be the whole story, as opper- is not found with other superlatives, whereas it does occur with positive adjectives (oppermachtig upper.mighty supreme) as well as with nouns (opperbevelhebber upper.command.haver commander-in-chief, opperhuid upper.skin epidermis).

    [+]Semantics and use

    The meaning contribution of aller- is intensifying. Logically speaking, there cannot exist a larger house than het grootste huis the largest house so het allergrootste huis seems to be illogical and superfluous. Therefore, the intensifying force of the prefix is more expressive, affective or emotive in meaning.

    Normally, Dutch superlatives do not allow for absolute use, as is common in e.g. Italian (e.g. La casa è belli-ssimaThe house is beautiful-SUPThe house is extremely beautiful): (1a) and (2a) are ungrammatical. Superlatives with aller-, however, do allow for absolute use (Haeseryn et al. 1997;ANS), both predicatively ((1b)) and attributively ((2b)):

    1
    a. *dat boek is werkelijk aardigst
    that book is really nice.st
    b. dat boek is werkelijk alleraardigst
    that book is really aller.nice.st
    that book is really very nice
    2
    a. *een aardigst book
    a nice.st book
    b. een alleraardigst boek
    a aller.nice.st book
    a very nice book
    extra

    The possibility of an indefinite pronoun in the second example is a clear indication of absolute use: having a unique denotation, true superlatives select definite pronouns in their normal use.

    [+]Phonological properties

    aller- is non-cohering: syllabification respects the morphological boundary (alleraardigst /'ɑ.lər.ar.dəχst/ very nice). The stress pattern of aller- formations is flexible; Haeseryn et al. (1997) (ANS) suggest that absolute use correlates with main stress on the base Hij kookt  allerbe'roerdst he cooks aller.terrible.st he is a terrible cook, whereas in truly superlative use, main stress is more often on the prefix De meeste jongens zijn erg aardig, maar Jozef is de 'alleraardigste van de klas the most boys are very nice, but Jozef is the aller.nice.st.e of the class most boys are nice, but Jozef is the nicest of all in class.

    [+]Morphological potential

    aller- is one of the few prefixes that allow for iteration: Albert Heijn is het aller-aller-allerduurst AH is the most expensive, a property it shares with other emphatic intensifying prefixes like super- (supersuperbedankt thank you very very much) and mega- (een mega mega groot pakket a really big package).

    References
    • Barbiers, Sjef2007Indefinite numerals ONE and MANY and the cause of ordinal suppletionLingua117859-880
    • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
    • Haas, Wim de & Trommelen, Mieke1993Morfologisch handboek van het Nederlands. Een overzicht van de woordvormingSDU Uitgeverij
    • Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
    • Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
    • Kiefer, Ferenc1998Morphology and pragmaticsAndrew Spencer and Arnold Zwicky (ed.)The handbook of MorphologyOxfordBlackwell272-279
    About this article
    Author(s): Ton van der Wouden
    Category: Dutch Morphology
    Keywords: prefixsuperlativeintensification
    Version: 1.0, December 2015
    Version history:
    version editor(s) date remarks
    1.0 Ton van der Wouden December 2015
    printreport errorcite
    Jump to:
    X