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R-pronouns

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Apart from their dual function as adverbs and as prepositional complements, R-pronouns are also conspicuous since, as prepositional complements, they behave differently from prepositional complements which are not R-pronouns. R-pronouns occur to the left of prepositions:

Dêroer

R.about

about it

They need not be adjacent to their preposition:

Dêr lang oer prate

it.R long about talk

talk about it for a long time

Otherwise, prepositional complements are found to the right of prepositions:

Oer dizze saak

about this matter

About this matter

The set of R-pronouns is presented below.

Table 1

R-pronoun	Meaning as locative adverb	Meaning as prepositional complement	Non-R equivalent
der	there	it	it
hjir	here	this	dit
dêr	there	that	dat
wêr	where	what	wat
earne (ergens)	somewhere	something	eat / wat
nearne (nergens)	nowhere	nothing	neat / niks
oeral	everywhere	everything	alles

The R-pronouns earne and nearne chiefly belong to written language. In spoken language, they have been ousted by loans from Dutch, ergens and nergens. R-pronouns prevent ordinary pronouns from occurring as prepositional complements, though the effect is not equally strong for each pronoun. In some cases, there seems to be a difference in meaning. In the following four examples, it is not grammatical to have a non-R-pronoun where an R-pronoun is possible. The first pair of sentences, in (4), shows that the unstressed R-pronoun der cannot be replaced with the equivalent unstressed non-R-pronoun it it:

*Ik ha oer it praat

I have about it talked

I talked about it

Ik ha deroer praat

I have it.R.about talked

I talked about it

The same is illustrated in (5) for the R-pronoun hjir and its non-R-equivalent dit this:

*Ik ha oer dit praat

I have about this talked

I talked about this

Ik ha hjir oer praat

I have this.R about talked

I talked about this

The same is illustrated below for the R-pronoun dêr and its non-R equivalent dat that:

*Ik ha oer dat praat

I have about that talked

I talked about that

Ik ha dêr oer praat

I have that.R about talked

I talked about that

The same is illustrated in (7) for the interrogative R-pronoun wêr and its non-R equivalent dat what:

*Wat hasto oer praat

what have.you about talked

What did you talk about

Wêr hasto oer praat

what.R have.you about talked

What did you talk about

In the remaining three cases, it is not the case that the use of the R-pronoun is obligatory. Consequently, the existential R-pronoun earne / ergens does not preclude the use of the non-R-pronoun eat / wat something.

Ik ha oer eat / wat praat

I have about something talked

I talked about something

Ik ha earne / ergens oer praat

I have something.R about talked

I talked about something

Similarly, the negative R-pronoun nearne / nergens does not preclude the use of the non-R-pronoun neat / niks nothing.

Ik ha oer neat / niks praat

I have about nothing talked

I talked about nothing

Ik ha nearne / nergens oer praat

I have nothing.R about talked

I talked about nothing

Finally, the universal R-pronoun oeral does not preclude the use of the non-R-pronoun alles everything:

Ik ha oer alles praat

I have about everything talked

I talked about everything

Ik ha oeral oer praat

I have everything.R about talked

I talked about everything

It seems that the use of the non-R-pronoun does not have exactly the same interpretation as the R-pronoun, although the difference is hard to characterise. Furthermore, in the Frisian Language Corpus, the combination oer alles about everything is much more frequent than the combination of this preposition with the equivalent R-pronoun oeral oer. Viewing all seven R-pronouns, we may conclude that the referential R-pronouns, including the interrogative pronoun, preclude the use of their equivalent non-R-pronouns. The quantificational R-pronouns, excluding the interrogative pronoun, do not block the use of their equivalent non-R-pronouns.

Finally, it should be noted that the seven R-pronouns are not positively specified for the feature <human> (or <person>). The only exception is the pronoun dêr, in its functions as a relative pronoun. This relative R-pronoun can very easily be accompanied by a human antecedent:

De frou dêr't wy mei praat ha

the woman that.R we with talked have

The woman that we have talked with

However, if there is no preceding antecedent, as is the case in a free relative clause, then the R-pronoun cannot be interpreted as having a human antecedent:

*Dêr't jim ek mei praat ha

that.R you also with talked have

Whoever you talked with

The same holds of free relatives introduced by the interrogative pronoun:

*Wêr't jim ek mei praat ha

that.R you also with talked have

Whoever you talked with

References

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About this article

Author(s): Eric Hoekstra

Category: Frisian Syntax

Keywords: R-pronoun

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Eric Hoekstra	December 2015

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