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7.2.3.Distribution of noun phrases quantified by heel and its alternants

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This section discusses the syntactic distribution of noun phrases containing one of the variants of heel examined in Section 7.2.2. For each of the uses of heel we will consider whether the relevant noun phrases occur as arguments (subject, direct object, indirect object, complement of a preposition), as predicates and/or as adjuncts.

I. Distribution as arguments
II. Distribution as predicates
III. Distribution as adjuncts

[+] I. Distribution as arguments

In the discussion of the external syntactic distribution of heel phrases, a distinction must be made between the various semantic readings of heel. It turns out that heel phrases normally readily appear in all argument positions, although we will show that a special proviso is needed in the case of the negative polarity reading. Heel phrases, with the notable exception of negative polar heel ones, can normally also be used as predicates or adjuncts. The possibilities are given in the table in (276); the numbers refer to the examples to be discussed in the following subsections. Negative polarity readings of pre- and post-determiner heel will be treated on a par in what follows, although the former is clearly preferred in this function, hence the distinction made in the final column in the table.

276

	pre-D heel (Q reading)	post-D heel			heel/hele (NPI)
		adjectival	totality	degree
subject	✓ (277a)	✓ (277b)	✓ (277c)	✓ (277d)	?/✓ (278c-e)
direct object	✓ (279a)	✓ (279b)	✓ (279c)	✓ (279d)	?/✓(279e)
indirect object	✓ (280a)	✓ (280b)	✓ (280c)	✓ (280d)	?/✓ (280e)
Complement of PP	✓ (281a)	✓ (281b)	✓ (281c)	✓ (281d)	? (281e)
predicate	✓ (282a)	✓ (282b)	✓ (282c)	✓ (282d)	* (282e)
adjunct	✓(283a)	✓(284a)	✓(283b)	✓(283c)	* (287)

[+] A. Subject

Example (277a) shows that the core reading of bare heel phrases (“exhaustive partitioning of structured units”) is readily available in subject position. The adjectival, totality and degree readings of post-determiner inflectible heel are also readily available for heel phrases in subject position.

277

a.	Heel	de appel	zit	vol wormen.	Q reading
	all	the apple	sits	full [of] worms
	'The entire apple is full of worms.'

b.	Een hele appel	is beter	dan een halve.	adjectival reading
	a whole apple	is better	than a half
	'A whole apple is better than a half one.'

c.	De hele appel	zit	vol wormen.	totality reading
	the whole apple	sits	full [of] worms
	'The entire apple is full of worms.'

d.	Er	lag	een hele berg appels	op de tafel.	degree reading
	there	lay	a whole mountain [of] apples	on the table
	'There was quite a pile of apples lying on the table.'

The availability of the negative polarity interpretation depends on the type of verb involved. If the verb is intransitive or transitive, that is, if the phrase with heel is an underlying subject, this reading is not available, as is shown by (278a&b). However, if we are dealing with a passive or an unaccusative verb, that is, if we are dealing with a DO-subject, as in (278c-e), the negative polarity interpretation is easily possible; see also the discussion in Section 7.2.1.2.2, sub III. The question mark preceding pre-determiner bare heel is to indicate that it is less preferred on the negative polarity reading than post-determiner inflectible heel.

278

a.	*	Heel die/Die hele vent	werkt	niet.
		all that/that whole guy	works	not

b.	*	Heel die/Die hele vent	heeft	dat boek	niet	gelezen.
		all that/that whole guy	has	that book	not	read

c.		Dat hele/?Heel dat artikel	is door iedereen	al	vergeten.
		that whole/all that article	is by everyone	already	forgotten

d.		Dat hele/?Heel dat artikel	was toen	nog	niet	verschenen.
		that whole/all that article	was then	yet	not	appeared

e.		Dat hele/?Heel dat toneelstuk	kan	me	echt	niet	bekoren.
		that whole/all that play	can	me	really	not	please

We will see in the following subsection that DO-subjects behave just like objects. This means that, in technical terms, the contrast between (278a&b) and (278c-e) can be accounted for by assuming that the negative polarity item heel must be c-commanded by its licenser (the negation) at some stage in the derivation.

[+] B. Direct and indirect object

For direct and indirect objects, grammatical examples can be constructed for all the various uses of heel. This is illustrated for direct objects in (279). The question mark preceding pre-determiner bare heel in (279) again indicates that the example with post-determiner inflectible heel is preferred on the negative polarity reading.

279

a.	Ik	heb	heel de appel	opgegeten.	Q reading
	I	have	all the apple	prt.-eaten
	'I ate up the entire apple.'

b.	Ik	wil	graag	een hele appel.	adjectival reading
	I	want	please	a whole apple
	'I would like to have a whole apple, please.'

c.	Ik	heb	de hele appel	opgegeten.	totality reading
	I	have	the whole apple	prt.-eaten
	'I ate the entire apple up.'

d.	Ik	heb	een hele berg appels	gegeten.	degree reading
	I	have	a whole mountain [of] apples	eaten
	'I ate a whole pile of apples.'

e.	Ik	ken	die hele/?heel die vent	niet.	NPI
	I	know	that whole/all that guy	not
	'I donʼt know that guy at all.'

The examples in (280) give comparable sentences with heel phrases functioning as indirect objects. Example (280a), which was given earlier as (165a), should be seen in the light of the discussion of the role of distributivity in Section 7.2.1.1; see also the discussion of the contrast between the examples in (166a) and (187a).

280

a.	Ik	heb	heel het huis	een opknapbeurt	gegeven.	Q reading
	I	have	all the house	a cleaning	given
	'I gave the entire house a cleaning.'

b.	Ik	geef	een hele appel	de voorkeur	boven een halve.	adjectival reading
	I	give	a whole apple	the preference	over a half
	'I prefer a whole apple to a half one.'

c.	Ik	heb	het hele huis	een opknapbeurt	gegeven.	totality reading
	I	have	the whole house	a cleaning	given
	'I gave the entire house a cleaning.'

d.	Ik	heb	hele horden mensen	een hand	gegeven.	degree reading
	I	have	whole hordes [of] people	a hand	given
	'I shook hands with immense hordes of people.'

e.	Ik	zou	die hele/?heel die vent	niet eens	een hand	willen	geven.	NPI
	I	would	that whole/all that guy	not even	a hand	want	give
	'I wouldnʼt even want to shake hands with that guy.'

[+] C. Complement of preposition

For the complement of a preposition, grammatical examples can again readily be constructed for all the various uses of heel. The negative polarity reading in (281e) is less felicitous than those in (279e) and (280e), but this might be a more general property of (some) Dutch negative polarity items. Example (281a), given earlier as (165b), again ties in with the discussion of the role of distributivity in Section 7.2.1.1; see also the discussion of the contrast between the examples in (166b) and (187b).

281

a.	We	kijken	naar	heel de mens.	Q reading
	we	look	at	all the person
	'I took a view of the entire person.'

b.	Ik	geef	aan een hele appel	de voorkeur.	adjectival reading
	I	give	to a whole apple	the preference
	'I prefer a whole apple.'

c.		Holistische geneeskunde	kijkt	naar de hele mens.	totality reading
		holistic healing	looks	at the whole person

d.	Ik	heb	met hele horden mensen	staan	praten.	degree reading
	I	have	with whole hordes [of] people	stand	talk
	'I stood talking to whole hordes of people.'

e.	?	Ik zou	met die hele/heel die vent	nog geen seconde	willen praten.	NPI
		I would	with that whole/all that guy	prt no second	want talk
		'I wouldnʼt even want to talk to that guy for a second.'

[+] II. Distribution as predicates

The examples in (282) show that all heel phrases can be used as nominal predicates except for those involving heel used as a negative polarity item contributing condescension.

282

a.		Wij	zijn	samen	heel de vakgroep.	Q reading
		we	are	together	all the department

b.		Deze appel	is	een hele appel.	adjectival reading
		this apple	is	a whole apple

c.		Wij	zijn	samen	de hele vakgroep.	totality reading
		we	are	together	the whole department

d.		Wij	zijn	samen	een hele horde mensen.	degree reading
		we	are	together	a whole horde [of] people

e.	*	Hij	is	toch	niet	heel die/die hele vent	van hiernaast,	hè?	NPI
		he	is	prt	not	all that/that whole guy	of next.door	tag

The ungrammaticality of (282e) is entirely due to the presence of heel/hele; without it, the sentence is perfect. Since the problem with this example is clearly not due to the lack of a c-commanding licenser (which was the case with the subject cases in 278a&b), we have to find some other reason for the unacceptability of (282e). One option that comes to mind is that this is due to the fact that predicates normally provide new information, so the heel-phrase does not satisfy the D-linking requirement imposed on the negative polarity reading, which was discussed in Section 7.2.1.2.2, sub III.

[+] III. Distribution as adjuncts

Both pre-determiner bare heel and post-determiner inflectible heel show up in noun phrases that function as adverbial phrases. In (283a&b), heel and hele contribute their core quantificational semantics of exhaustivity/totality. In (283c), by contrast, the semantics of hele is that of (very) high degree; she was crying for a very long time. This difference between (283a&b) and (283c) is confirmed by the different intonation patterns they exhibit; cf. the discussion in Section 7.2.1.2.2.

283

a.		Heel de dag/tijd	zat	ze	te huilen.
		all the day/time	sat	she	to cry

a'.

[HEEL de dag]/*[heel de DAG]

b.	De hele dag/tijd	zat	ze	te huilen.
	the whole day/time	sat	she	to cry
	'She was crying all day/all the time.'

b'.

[de HEle dag]/*[de hele DAG]

c.	Hele dagen	zat	ze	te huilen.
	whole days	sat	she	to cry
	'She was crying for days.'

c'.

[hele DAgen]/*[HEle dagen]

The unacceptable intonation pattern of (283c) is not categorically impossible for hele dagen, however. The minimal pair in (284a&b) is illustrative in this connection. While in the (a)-example the adjunct hele dagen specifies the extent of the entire duration of her working on her dissertation, in the (b)-example hele dagen says that she worked on her dissertation for an unspecified number of whole days (that is, it specifies the amount of time per day that she worked on her dissertation). In its stressed form hele is adjectival, as is clear from the fact that hele dagen alternates with halve dagen, as is shown in (284c).

284

a.	Ze	werkte	hele DAgen	aan haar proefschrift.
	she	worked	whole days	on her dissertation
	'She was working on her dissertation for days (at a stretch).'

b.	Ze	werkte	HEle dagen	aan haar proefschrift.
	she	worked	whole days	on her dissertation
	'She worked full-time (whole days) on her dissertation.'

c.	Ik	werk	HEle dagen,	maar	hij	werkt	HALve dagen.
	I	work	whole days	but	he	works	half days
	'I work full-time, but he works part-time.'

In (283a&b), the adjunct reading of the heel phrases is available for both pre- and post-determiner heel. In these examples, the syntax of the overall construction makes adjunct construal the only possibility for the heel phrases. In examples of the type in (285), however, the noun phrase following the verb in principle has two construal possibilities; it can be interpreted either as the object of the verb, in which case the verb fluiten means “to play the flute”, or as an adjunct, in which case fluiten means “whistle”; see Section 8.3 for more discussion. It may be the case that adjunct construal is not equally felicitous in the two examples in (285); some (but not all) speakers find that the object reading is strongly preferred in the case of (285a), while (285b) is ambiguous. This suggests that, at least for a subset of speakers, the adverbial reading of heel phrases with pre-determiner bare heel is restricted.

285

a.		Ze	floot	heel het concert.
		she	whistled/played the flute	all the concert

b.		Ze	floot	het hele concert.
		she	whistled/played the flute	the whole concert

The discussion above has focused on the construal of heel phrases as temporal adverbial phrases. This is indeed by far the most frequent way in which heel phrases are used as adjuncts; the examples in (286) show that even heel phrases headed by a noun that can otherwise be used as a measure phrase for distance can receive a temporal interpretation.

286

a.		Zij	zat	heel de afstand van Amsterdam naar Tilburg	te fluiten.
		she	sat	all the distance from Amsterdam to Tilburg	to whistle

b.	Zij	zat	de hele afstand van Amsterdam naar Tilburg	te fluiten.
	she	sat	the whole distance from Amsterdam to Tilburg	to whistle
	'All the way from Amsterdam to Tilburg she was whistling.'

So far we have seen that in adjuncts heel can receive a core quantificational interpretation, a degree interpretation and a reading which is presumably to be classified as adjectival (the “full-time” interpretation of hele dagen illustrated in (284b&c)). What is impossible is for heel to be interpreted as a negative polarity item contributing condescension; while example (287) is certainly grammatical, both with and without heel/hele, the negative polarity interpretation is not available; the reading assigned to heel/hele is the core interpretation of exhaustivity/totality.

287

Ik	werkte	(heel) die/die (hele) dag	niet	eens!
I	worked	all that/that whole day	not	even
'I didnʼt even work that day!'

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Marcel den Dikken

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: ArgumentMeasure PhraseNegationNegativeNegative PolarityNoun PhraseSentential NegationSyntactic uses of the Noun Phrase

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Hans Broekhuis, Marcel den Dikken	December 2015

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