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5.2.3.Circumpositions

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Circumpositional phrases are generally spatial in nature, and R-pronominalization is quite productive. Below, we will group the examples according to the second member of the circumposition. As is shown in (72), circumpositional phrases with aan as their second member can readily be pronominalized.

a.	De kinderen	liepen	achter de optocht	aan.
	the children	walked	behind the parade	aan
	'The children followed the parade.'

a'.

De kinderen liepen erachter aan.

b.	Jan liep	tegen de ladder	aan.
	Jan walked	against the ladder	aan
	'Jan ran into the ladder.'

b'.

Jan liep ertegen aan.

Adpositional phrases headed by van ...af'from' also allow pronominalization; it must however be noted that the van + NP part of the construction can also be replaced by an R-word, as in the perhaps slightly marginal example (73c).

a.	Jan sprong	van het dak	af.
	Jan jumped	from the roof	af
	'Jan jumped from the roof.'

Jan sprong ervan af.

b'.

(?)

Jan sprong eraf.

The examples in (74) show that R-pronominalization of circumpositional phrases with door as their second member give rise to fully acceptable results.

a.	Jan reed	onder de brug	door.
	Jan drove	under the bridge	door
	'Jan drove underneath the bridge.'

a'.

Jan reed eronder door.

b.	Jan reed	tussen de bomen	door.
	Jan drove	between the trees	door
	'Jan drove through the trees.'

b'.

Jan reed ertussen door.

Circumpositional phrases with heen as their second member, on the other hand, show mixed behavior: normally R-pronominalization is fine, but in the case of langs ... heen'along', which is somewhat marked anyway, the result is severely degraded. Recall that the circumposition om ... heen'around' differs from the preposition om'around' in that the latter cannot undergo R-pronominalization; cf. example (42).

a.	Jan liep	door/om/?langs	het huis	heen.
	Jan walked	through/around/along	the house	heen
	'Jan walked through/around/along the house.'

a'.

Jan liep erdoor/om/*?langs heen.

b.	Jan sprong	over het hek	heen
	Jan jumped	over the gate	heen
	'Jan jumped over the gate.'

b'.

Jan sprong erover heen.

The examples in (76) show that circumpositional phrases with in as their second member are again fully compatible with R-pronominalization.

a.	Jan zwom	tegen	de stroom	in.
	Jan swam	against	the current	in
	'Jan swam against the current.'

a'.

Jan zwom ertegen in.

b.	Jan zit	tussen	twee meisjes	in.
	Jan sits	between	two girls	in
	'Jan is sitting between two girls.'

b'.

Jan zit ertussen in.

The same thing seems to hold for circumpositional phrases with langs as their second member, although the resulting structures in (77b') feel perhaps somewhat uncomfortable; this may be due to the fact that the circumpositions boven/onder ... langs are not very commonly used.

a.	Jan liep	achter/voor	het huis	langs.
	Jan walked	behind/in.front.of	the house	langs
	'Jan walked along the back/front of the house.'

a'.

Jan liep erachter/voor langs.

b.	Jan liep	boven/onder	de brug	langs.
	Jan walked	above/under	the bridge	langs
	'Jan walked above/down along the bridge.'

b'.

(?)

Jan liep erboven/onder langs.

Circumpositional phrases with om as their second member seem exceptional in not readily allowing R-pronominalization; the primed examples in (78) are marginally acceptable at best. In passing, note that these examples become fully acceptable if er is omitted, which shows that achterom, voorom and buitenom can be used as intransitive adpositions; it is not clear to us whether this is related to the degraded status of the primed examples.

a.	Jan liep	achter/voor	het huis	om.
	Jan walked	behind/in.front.of	the house	om
	'that Jan walked around the back/front of the house.'

a'.

Jan liep erachter/voor om.

b.	De waterleiding	loopt	buiten	het huis	om.
	the waterworks	go	outside	the house	om
	'The waterworks go around the exterior of the house.'

b'.

De waterleiding loopt erbuiten om.

Circumpositional phrases with tegen ... op'against' are again fully compatible with R-pronominalization.

a.	Marie klom	tegen de muur	op.
	Marie climbed	against the wall	op
	'Marie climbed up against the wall.'

a'.

Marie klom ertegen op.

Circumpositional phrases with toe as their second member in (80) behave ambiguously. Whereas R-pronominalization of circumpositional phrases headed by naar ... toe'to' is perfectly acceptable, it is not possible if tot (aan) ... toe'up to' is the head. Recall that directional PPs headed by the preposition naar'to' do not allow R-pronominalization; cf. example (46).

a.	Marie gaat	naar die film	toe.
	Marie goes	to that movie	toe
	'Marie goes to that movie.'

a'.

Marie gaat ernaar toe.

b.	De stenen liggen	tot de heg	toe.
	the stones lie	until the hedge	toe
	'The stones are lying until the hedge.'

b'.

De stenen liggen ertoe toe.

For completeness' sake, note that Section 2.2.1, sub III, has argued that example (81a) does not involve a circumposition tot aan ... toe; instead, we are dealing with the preposition tot, which takes as its complement a circumpositional positional phrase headed by the circumposition aan... toe. Example (81b) shows that this circumpositional phrase does allow R-pronominalization, albeit that the strong form daar in (81b) cannot be replaced by the phonetically weak form er. However, extraction of the R-word from the tot-phrase, as a result of which tot would get the stranded form toe, leads to an unacceptable result. This is shown in (81b').

a.		De stenen liggen	tot	aan de heg	toe.
		the stones lie	until	to the hedge	toe

De stenen liggen tot daar aan toe.

b'.

De stenen liggen daar toe aan toe.

R-pronominalization is fully productive for circumpositional phrases with uit as their second member. We give some examples in (82); R-pronominalization of PPs headed by achter/tussen/voor ... uit (lit.: behind/between/in.front.of ... out) leads to equally acceptable results.

a.	De vlag	stak	boven	de huizen	uit.
	the flag	stuck	above	the houses	out
	'The flag stuck out above the houses.'

a'.

De vlag stak erboven uit.

b.	De jurk	stak	onder de jas	uit.
	the dress	stuck	under the coat	out
	'The dress protruded from under (was slightly longer than) the coat.'

b'.

De jurk stak eronder uit.

The (a)- and (b)-examples in (83) show that circumpositional phrases with vandaan as their second member are normally compatible with R-pronominalization. The circumposition om ... vandaan is perhaps an exception, which may be due to the fact that this formation is restricted to the (somewhat marginal) phrase om de hoek vandaan.

a.	De muis	kwam	achter/voor/onder	de kast	vandaan.
	the mouse	came	behind/in.front.of/under	the cupboard	vandaan
	'The mouse came from behind/in front of/under the cupboard.'

a'.

De muis kwam erachter/voor/onder vandaan.

b.	Marie haalde	het geheime document	tussen de rommel	vandaan.
	Marie got	the secret document	between the trash	vandaan
	'Marie got the secret document from between the trash.'

b'.

Marie haalde het geheime document ertussen vandaan.

c.	?	Jan kwam	om de hoek	vandaan.
		Jan came	around the corner	vandaan
		'Jan came around the corner.'

Jan kwam erom vandaan.

For completeness' sake note that Section 2.2.1, sub I, has argued that example (84a) does not involve a circumposition van achter … vandaan; instead, we are dealing with the preposition van, which takes as its complement a circumpositional positional phrase headed by the circumposition achter ... vandaan. The (b)-examples show that this circumpositional phrase does allow R-pronominalization, but that the R-word must remain within the PP headed by van.

a.	De muis	kwam	van	achter de kast	vandaan.
	the mouse	came	from	behind the cupboard	vandaan
	'The mouse came from behind the cupboard.'

De muis kwam van er/daar achter vandaan.

b'.

De muis kwam er/daar van achter vandaan.

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: AdpositionsCircumpositionP ...aanP ...doorP ...heenP ...inP ...langsP ...omP ...toeP ...uitP ...vandaantegen ... opvan ... af

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

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

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