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    4.4.3.Non-spatial/temporal PPs
    quickinfo

    Non-spatial/temporal adverbial PPs like those given in (94) behave like spatial and temporal adverbial PPs: they can be topicalized and undergo PP-over-V, but they do not allow R-extraction.

    94
    a. dat Jan dankzij haar hulp zijn werk kan afmaken.
      that  Jan  thanks.to  her help  his work  can  finish
      'that Jan could finish his work thanks to her help.'
    b. dat de reis vanwege de kou wordt afgelast.
      that  the trip  because.of the cold  is  canceled
      'that the trip is canceled because of the cold.'
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    [+]  I.  Topicalization

    The examples in (95) show that topicalization of a non-spatial/temporal adverbial phrase is possible.

    95
    a. Dankzij haar hulp kan Jan zijn werk afmaken.
      thanks.to  her help  can  Jan his work  finish
    b. Vanwege de kou wordt de reis afgelast.
      because of the cold  is  the trip  canceled
    [+]  II.  Word order in the middle field of the clause

    As with spatial and temporal adverbial phrases, the term scrambling does not apply in the case of the non-spatial/temporal adverbial phrases. We can simply assume that such adverbial phrases occupy their base-position in the middle field. The word order between the adverbial phrases does, however, have an impact on the semantics of the clause. This is especially clear if a modal clausal adverb like waarschijnlijk is involved. Consider the examples in (96).

    96
    a. Jan kan waarschijnlijk dankzij haar hulp zijn werk afmaken.
      Jan can probably  thanks.to  her help  his work  finish
      'Jan can probably finish his work thanks to her help.'
    a'. Jan kan dankzij haar hulp waarschijnlijk zijn werk afmaken.
      Jan can  thanks.to  her help  probably  his work  finish
      'Thanks to her help Jan can probably finish his work.'
    b. De reis wordt waarschijnlijk vanwege de kou afgelast.
      the trip  is  probably  because.of the cold  canceled
      'The trip is probably canceled because of the cold.'
    b'. De reis wordt vanwege de kou waarschijnlijk afgelast.
      the trip  is  because.of the cold  probably  canceled
      'Because of the cold the trip is probably canceled.'

    Semantically, the primeless and primed examples differ in the relative scope of the modal adverb and the adverbial PPs; the adverbial PPs are in the scope of the clausal adverb in the primeless but not in primed examples. This results in the following meaning differences: (96a) expresses that Jan will finish his work and that this is probably possible thanks to her help, whereas (96a') expresses that thanks to her help Jan will probably finish his work; (96b) expresses that the trip is canceled and that this is probably because of the cold, whereas (96b') expresses that because of the cold the trip is likely to be canceled.

    [+]  III.  PP-over-V

    The examples in (97) show that PP-over-V of the non-spatial/temporal PPs is possible.

    97
    a. dat Jan zijn werk kan afmaken dankzij haar hulp.
      that  Jan  his work  can  finish  thanks.to her help
      'that Jan can finish his work thanks to her help.'
    b. dat de reis wordt afgelast vanwege de kou.
      that  the trip  is  canceled  because.of the cold
      'that the trip is canceled because of the cold.'

    If two (non-spatial/temporal) PPs are strictly ordered in the middle field of the clause, the order is reversed under PP-over-V. This is illustrated in (98).

    98
    a. Jan heeft wegens ziekte van de voorzitter namens de commissie gesproken.
      Jan has  because.of illness of the chairman  in.name.of the committee  spoken
      'Because of the illness of the chairman Jan spoke on behalf of the committee.'
    a'. * Jan heeft namens de commissie wegens ziekte van de voorzitter gesproken.
    b. Jan heeft gesproken namens de commissie wegens ziekte van de voorzitter.
    b'. * Jan heeft gesproken wegens ziekte van de voorzitter namens de commissie.
    [+]  IV.  R-extraction

    R-extraction from non-spatial/temporal PPs is generally excluded, which is not surprising given that such adverbial PPs normally do not even allow the process of R-pronominalization. This is illustrated in (99).

    99
    a. dat Jan dankzij haar hulp zijn werk kan afmaken.
      that  Jan  thanks.to her help  his work  can  finish
    a'. * dat Jan daar dankzij zijn werk kan afmaken.
      that  Jan there  thanks.to  his work  can  finish
    b. dat de reis vanwege de kou wordt afgelast.
      that  the trip  because.of the cold  is  canceled
    b'. * dat de reis daar vanwege wordt afgelast.
      that  the trip  there  because  is  canceled
    There are, however, a number of PPs that are traditionally assumed to be adverbial in nature that nevertheless do allow R-extraction. An example is the instrumental met-PP in (100). We will return to cases like these in Section 5.2.1, sub III.
    100
    a. Jan opende het blik met een schroevendraaier.
      Jan opened  the can  with a screw driver
    b. Jan opende er het blik mee.
      Jan opened  there  the can  with
      'Jan opened the can with it.'
    References:
      About this article
      Author(s): Hans Broekhuis
      Category: Dutch Syntax
      Keywords: Non-spatial/temporal PrepositionPP-over-VPrepositionR-extractionScopeTopicalizationWord Order
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Hans Broekhuis December 2015
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