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7.2.1.Syntactic functions and properties

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The partitive genitive construction consists of an indefinite nominal-like element and an adjective ending in -s: iets bijzonders'something special' (although the -s ending has been reported to be increasingly omitted in the standard variety of Dutch spoken in Belgium; see taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1317). That the nominal and the adjectival part constitute a syntactic unit is clear from the fact that they can be placed in clause-initial position (the constituency test), although it should be noted that, due to the indefinite nonspecific interpretation of the whole construction, this triggers a contrastive interpretation. This is illustrated in (21a). Other constituency tests, like contrastive left dislocation in (21b) and coordination in (21c), also have a positive result.

a.	[Iets groens]	heb	je	voor de deur	nodig	(en	[iets blauws]	voor de kozijnen).
	something green	have	you	for the door	need	and	something blue	for the frames
	'You need something green for the door (and something blue for the frames).'

b.	[Iets groens]	dat	heb	je	voor de deur	nodig.
	something green	that	have	you	for the door	need
	'Something green, that is what you need for the door.'

c.	Je	hebt	[[iets	groens]	en	[iets	roods]]	nodig.
	you	have	something	green	and	something	red	need
	'You need something green and something red.'

That the two parts of the partitive genitive construction form a constituent is also supported by the fact that they are always strictly adjacent to each other, that is, they cannot be split by means of movement. This is illustrated in (22).

a.	Hij	heeft	toen	iets ellendigs	meegemaakt.
	he	has	then	something terrible	prt.-experienced
	'Something terrible happened to him.'

Hij heeft toen iets meegemaakt ellendigs.

Iets heeft hij toen ellendigs meegemaakt.

There are various reasons for assuming that the nominal part functions as the syntactic head of the partitive genitive construction. The arguments in the subsections below are mainly based on the similarity in behavior between indefinite noun phrases and the partitive genitive construction.

I. Partitive genitive constructions trigger singular agreement on verb
II. Partitive genitive constructions are indefinite
III. Partitive genitive constructions can be modified by a relative clause
IV. Partitive genitive constructions occurs in most regular NP-positions
V. Conclusion

[+] I. Partitive genitive constructions trigger singular agreement on verb

With respect to agreement with the finite verb, the partitive genitive construction behaves like the nominal part of the construction in isolation: it triggers singular agreement. This is illustrated in (23).

a.	Er	is/*zijn	[iets	spannends]	gebeurd.
	there	is/are	something	exciting	happened
	'Something exciting has happened.'

a'.	Er	is/*zijn	iets	gebeurd.
	there	is/are	something	happened
	'Something has happened.'

b.	Er	staat/*staan	[iets	grappigs]	op het bord.
	there	stands/stand	something	funny	on the blackboard
	'Something (funny) is written on the blackboard.'

b'.	Er	staat/*staan	iets	op het bord.
	there	stands/stand	something	on the blackboard
	'Something is written on the blackboard.'

[+] II. Partitive genitive constructions are indefinite

The presence of the expletiveer'there' in example (23) from the previous subsection shows that both the quantificational pronoun iets and the partitive genitive construction can be nonspecific (cf. also the discussion of (21a)); in general, only nonspecific indefinite subjects license expletive er. If expletive er is not present, the partitive genitive construction is given a specific or a generic interpretation, just as is the case with other indefinite subjects. This is illustrated in (24): on its specific interpretation in (24a), which is marginal for some speakers, the partitive genitive construction refers to a certain exciting thing known to the speaker; on its generic reading in (24b), which is fully acceptable for all speakers, the sentence expresses that any exciting thing would be welcome.

a.	%	Iets spannends	is	gebeurd.
		something exciting	has	happened

b.		Iets spannends	is altijd	welkom.
		something exciting	is always	welcome

[+] III. Partitive genitive constructions can be modified by a relative clause

Like other noun phrases, partitive genitive constructions can be modified by means of a relative clause. The examples in (25) show that relative clauses can also modify the quantificational pronoun (n)iets, that is, the partitive genitive adjective need not be present.

a.	Jan heeft	iets	(handigs)	[dat	je	daarvoor	kan	gebruiken].
	Jan has	something	handy	that	you	therefore	can	use
	'Jan has something handy that you can use for that.'

b.	Ik	heb	niets	(warms)	[om	aan	te trekken].
	I	have	nothing	warm	comp	on	to put
	'I have nothing (warm) to wear.'

Note in passing that it is not the case that all clauses that follow the partitive genitive construction modify the noun phrase as a whole. Comparative dan-clauses, for example, follow the noun phrase as well, but since they are dependent on the comparative -er morpheme on the adjective, the adjective is obligatorily present. Something similar holds for intensifying phrases licensed by the modifier te.

a.		iets	*(harders)	[dan	ik	had	gedacht]
		something	harder	than	I	had	thought

b.	iets	*(?te leuks)	[om	waar	te zijn]
	something	too nice	comp	true	to be
	'Something too nice to be true.'

[+] IV. Partitive genitive constructions occurs in most regular NP-positions

The fact that the partitive genitive construction may occur in most regular NP-positions has already been illustrated for the subject and object positions in (23) and (21), respectively. In (27), this is illustrated for the prepositional object position: (27a) involves a prepositional complement of the verb and (27b) an adverbial adjunct.

a.		Zij zocht	naar iets spannends	in de bibliotheek.
		she looked	for something exciting	in the library

b.	Zij	liep	met iets zwaars	de trap	op.
	she	walked	with something heavy	the stairs	up
	'She climbed the stairs with something heavy.'

Partitive genitive constructions are not readily used as indirect objects, which is related to the fact that indirect objects generally refer to +animate entities or institutions, whereas the partitive genitive construction generally refers to -animate entities; cf. the discussion of the examples in (57) to (62). Some relatively acceptable examples are given in (28), in which the partitive genitive construction refers to some sort of institution.

a.	?	Hij	heeft	iets vaags	al zijn geld	geschonken.
		he	has	something vague	all his money	given
		'He gave all his money to something vague.'

b.	?	Hij	heeft	al zijn geld	aan iets liefdadigs	geschonken.
		he	has	all his money	to something charitable	given
		'He gave all his money to charity.'

[+] V. Conclusion

Given the similarity in syntactic behavior and distribution between indefinite noun phrases and the partitive genitive construction, it seems safe to conclude that the quantificational pronoun iets is the head of the complex construction. This of course coincides with the fact that the partitive genitive adjective cannot be used in isolation in the NP-positions in (21) to (27); the noun iets is obligatorily present in these examples (see the discussion of (4)). The fact that the partitive genitive construction is headed by the indefinite noun does not imply, however, that it is always possible to omit the adjective; omitting the adjective in (29a&b), for example, causes the example to be less acceptable under the intended reading. The fact that the two (c)-examples are fully acceptable shows, however, that something special is going on in the (a)- and (b)-examples.

a.	Ik	denk	niet graag aan	iets	naars.
	I	think	not gladly about	something	nasty
	'I donʼt like to think about something nasty.'

a'.

Ik denk niet graag aan iets.

b.	Je	kan	bij deze mensen	niet	met	iets	goedkoops	aankomen.
	one	can	at these people	not	with	something	cheap	prt.-arrive
	'One cannot give these people something cheap.'

b'.

Je kan bij deze mensen niet met iets aankomen.

c.		Jan dacht	aan	iets	(naars).
		Jan thought	about	something	nasty

c'.

Jan dacht aan iets.

The difference in acceptability between (29a'&b') and (29c') is probably related to the presence of the sentential negation in the first two examples. The examples in (30) show that the quantificational pronoun iets'something' normally cannot be preceded by the sentential negator niet'not'; instead, the negative pronoun niets'nothing' is used.

a.	*?	Ik	zie	niet	iets.
		I	see	not	something

b.		Ik	zie	niets.
		I	see	nothing

If we apply the same merging rule to (29a'), we get the result in (31a). However, this structure expresses constituent negation, and not sentential negation. In order to express sentential negation, the negative noun phrase must be moved into the position that is otherwise occupied by the negative marker; cf. the discussion of the examples in (67) in Section 2.3.1, sub IIB2. This can be done can by applying R-pronominalization and R-extraction. This results in the acceptable structure in (31a'), and for the same reason, (29b') surfaces as (31b).

a.	Ik	denk	graag	aan niets.
	I	think	gladly	about nothing
	'I like to think about trivial things.'

a'.	Ik	denk	nergens	graag	aan.
	I	think	nowhere	gladly	about
	'I donʼt like to think about anything.'

b.	Je	kan	(bij deze mensen)	nergens	mee	aankomen.
	one	can	at these people	nowhere	with	prt.-arrive
	'One cannot give (these people) anything.'

The fact that the sentential negator is possible in (29a&b) may be related to the fact that R-pronominalization is not possible if the pronoun is part of a larger phrase: the examples in (32) are therefore ungrammatical, and this leaves us with (29a&b) as the only means to express the intended meanings. This may account for the contrast in acceptability between (29a'&b') and (29c').

a.	*	Ik	denk	nergensi	graag	aan [ti	naars].
		I	think	nowhere	gladly	about	nasty

b.	*	Je	kan	(bij deze mensen)	nergens	mee [ti	goedkoops]	aankomen.
		one	can	at these people	nowhere	with	cheap	prt.-arrive

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: AdjectiveClause-initial PosititionConstituency TestPartitive Genitive

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Hans Broekhuis	December 2015

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