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Degree argument interpretation
quickinfo

Intransitive verbs cannot be used in this construction:

1
*Der is net te laitsjen
there is not to laugh
This is no laughing matter

Such examples become grammatical in case a degree argument is present:

2
Der is net folle te laitsjen
there is not much to laugh
There is not much cause for laughter

The main verb must be unergative.

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Intransitive verbs can also be used in case the copula's subject is the negative quantifier neat nothing, which is interpreted as a quantificational argument of degree of the main verb:

3
a. Der is neat te laitsjen
there is nothing to laugh
This is no laughing matter
b. Der is in protte te laitsjen
there is a lot to laugh
There is a lot to laugh about

The degree argument is a quantifier that belongs to the type of quantifiers allowed in the existential construction:

4
a. Der is hiel wat te laitsjen
there is very what to laugh
There is quite a lot to laugh about
b. *Syn grap is te laitsjen
his joke is to laugh
His joke can be laughed about

Adjectives must be absent in intransitive predication and in Adposition Phrase (PP) predication:

5
*Der is hiel wat maklik te laitsjen
there is very what easy to laugh
There is quite a lot that it is easy to laugh about

A further example is given below, involving an intransitive unergative verb and a degree argument:

6
Dus hjir foel neat te hantsjebakken
so here fell nothing to hand.bake
So there was no striking a bargain here

The copula used may be falle fall or wêze be. The construction may be collocational, as in the following examples:

7
a. It is stil, der is no suver neat te rêden
it is quiet there is now purely nothing to happen
It is quiet, now almost nothing is happening
b. Hja hat mei it lânsbestjoer neat te rêden
she has with the government nothing to do
She does not have any doings with the government

The main verb only occurs in this syntactic frame (keeping the meaning constant). So the following are ungrammatical:

8
a. *Der rêdt no suver neat
there happens now purely nothing
Almost nothing happens now
b. *Hja rêdt mei it lânsbestjoer neat
she deals with the government nothing
She does not have any doings with the government
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