- Dutch
- Frisian
- Saterfrisian
- Afrikaans
-
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological processes
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Word stress
- Primary stress in simplex words
- Monomorphemic words
- Diachronic aspects
- Generalizations on stress placement
- Default penultimate stress
- Lexical stress
- The closed penult restriction
- Final closed syllables
- The diphthong restriction
- Superheavy syllables (SHS)
- The three-syllable window
- Segmental restrictions
- Phonetic correlates
- Stress shifts in loanwords
- Quantity-sensitivity
- Secondary stress
- Vowel reduction in unstressed syllables
- Stress in complex words
- Primary stress in simplex words
- Accent & intonation
- Clitics
- Spelling
- Morphology
- Word formation
- Compounding
- Nominal compounds
- Verbal compounds
- Adjectival compounds
- Affixoids
- Coordinative compounds
- Synthetic compounds
- Reduplicative compounds
- Phrase-based compounds
- Elative compounds
- Exocentric compounds
- Linking elements
- Separable complex verbs (SCVs)
- Gapping of complex words
- Particle verbs
- Copulative compounds
- Derivation
- Numerals
- Derivation: inputs and input restrictions
- The meaning of affixes
- Non-native morphology
- Cohering and non-cohering affixes
- Prefixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixation: person nouns
- Conversion
- Pseudo-participles
- Bound forms
- Nouns
- Nominal prefixes
- Nominal suffixes
- -aal and -eel
- -aar
- -aard
- -aat
- -air
- -aris
- -ast
- Diminutives
- -dom
- -een
- -ees
- -el (nominal)
- -elaar
- -enis
- -er (nominal)
- -erd
- -erik
- -es
- -eur
- -euse
- ge...te
- -heid
- -iaan, -aan
- -ief
- -iek
- -ier
- -ier (French)
- -ière
- -iet
- -igheid
- -ij and allomorphs
- -ijn
- -in
- -ing
- -isme
- -ist
- -iteit
- -ling
- -oir
- -oot
- -rice
- -schap
- -schap (de)
- -schap (het)
- -sel
- -st
- -ster
- -t
- -tal
- -te
- -voud
- Verbs
- Adjectives
- Adverbs
- Univerbation
- Neo-classical word formation
- Construction-dependent morphology
- Morphological productivity
- Compounding
- Inflection
- Inflection and derivation
- Allomorphy
- The interface between phonology and morphology
- Word formation
- Syntax
- Preface and acknowledgements
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of verb phrases I:Argument structure
- 3 Projection of verb phrases II:Verb frame alternations
- Introduction
- 3.1. Main types
- 3.2. Alternations involving the external argument
- 3.3. Alternations of noun phrases and PPs
- 3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.3.1.1. Dative alternation with aan-phrases (recipients)
- 3.3.1.2. Dative alternation with naar-phrases (goals)
- 3.3.1.3. Dative alternation with van-phrases (sources)
- 3.3.1.4. Dative alternation with bij-phrases (possessors)
- 3.3.1.5. Dative alternation with voor-phrases (benefactives)
- 3.3.1.6. Conclusion
- 3.3.1.7. Bibliographical notes
- 3.3.2. Accusative/PP alternations
- 3.3.3. Nominative/PP alternations
- 3.3.1. Dative/PP alternations (dative shift)
- 3.4. Some apparent cases of verb frame alternation
- 3.5. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of verb phrases IIIa:Selection of clauses/verb phrases
- 5 Projection of verb phrases IIIb:Argument and complementive clauses
- Introduction
- 5.1. Finite argument clauses
- 5.2. Infinitival argument clauses
- 5.3. Complementive clauses
- 6 Projection of verb phrases IIIc:Complements of non-main verbs
- 7 Projection of verb phrases IIId:Verb clusters
- 8 Projection of verb phrases IV: Adverbial modification
- 9 Word order in the clause I:General introduction
- 10 Word order in the clause II:Position of the finite verb (verb-first/second)
- 11 Word order in the clause III:Clause-initial position (wh-movement)
- Introduction
- 11.1. The formation of V1- and V2-clauses
- 11.2. Clause-initial position remains (phonetically) empty
- 11.3. Clause-initial position is filled
- 12 Word order in the clause IV:Postverbal field (extraposition)
- 13 Word order in the clause V: Middle field (scrambling)
- 14 Main-clause external elements
- Nouns and Noun Phrases
- 1 Characterization and classification
- 2 Projection of noun phrases I: complementation
- Introduction
- 2.1. General observations
- 2.2. Prepositional and nominal complements
- 2.3. Clausal complements
- 2.4. Bibliographical notes
- 3 Projection of noun phrases II: modification
- Introduction
- 3.1. Restrictive and non-restrictive modifiers
- 3.2. Premodification
- 3.3. Postmodification
- 3.3.1. Adpositional phrases
- 3.3.2. Relative clauses
- 3.3.3. Infinitival clauses
- 3.3.4. A special case: clauses referring to a proposition
- 3.3.5. Adjectival phrases
- 3.3.6. Adverbial postmodification
- 3.4. Bibliographical notes
- 4 Projection of noun phrases III: binominal constructions
- Introduction
- 4.1. Binominal constructions without a preposition
- 4.2. Binominal constructions with a preposition
- 4.3. Bibliographical notes
- 5 Determiners: articles and pronouns
- Introduction
- 5.1. Articles
- 5.2. Pronouns
- 5.3. Bibliographical notes
- 6 Numerals and quantifiers
- 7 Pre-determiners
- Introduction
- 7.1. The universal quantifier al 'all' and its alternants
- 7.2. The pre-determiner heel 'all/whole'
- 7.3. A note on focus particles
- 7.4. Bibliographical notes
- 8 Syntactic uses of noun phrases
- Adjectives and Adjective Phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- 2 Projection of adjective phrases I: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adjective phrases II: Modification
- 4 Projection of adjective phrases III: Comparison
- 5 Attributive use of the adjective phrase
- 6 Predicative use of the adjective phrase
- 7 The partitive genitive construction
- 8 Adverbial use of the adjective phrase
- 9 Participles and infinitives: their adjectival use
- 10 Special constructions
- Adpositions and adpositional phrases
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- Introduction
- 1.1. Characterization of the category adposition
- 1.2. A formal classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3. A semantic classification of adpositional phrases
- 1.3.1. Spatial adpositions
- 1.3.2. Temporal adpositions
- 1.3.3. Non-spatial/temporal prepositions
- 1.4. Borderline cases
- 1.5. Bibliographical notes
- 2 Projection of adpositional phrases: Complementation
- 3 Projection of adpositional phrases: Modification
- 4 Syntactic uses of the adpositional phrase
- 5 R-pronominalization and R-words
- 1 Characteristics and classification
- Phonology
-
- General
- Phonology
- Segment inventory
- Phonotactics
- Phonological Processes
- Assimilation
- Vowel nasalization
- Syllabic sonorants
- Final devoicing
- Fake geminates
- Vowel hiatus resolution
- Vowel reduction introduction
- Schwa deletion
- Schwa insertion
- /r/-deletion
- d-insertion
- {s/z}-insertion
- t-deletion
- Intrusive stop formation
- Breaking
- Vowel shortening
- h-deletion
- Replacement of the glide w
- Word stress
- Clitics
- Allomorphy
- Orthography of Frisian
- Morphology
- Inflection
- Word formation
- Derivation
- Prefixation
- Infixation
- Suffixation
- Nominal suffixes
- Verbal suffixes
- Adjectival suffixes
- Adverbial suffixes
- Numeral suffixes
- Interjectional suffixes
- Onomastic suffixes
- Conversion
- Compositions
- Derivation
- Syntax
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Unergative and unaccusative subjects
- Evidentiality
- To-infinitival clauses
- Predication and noun incorporation
- Ellipsis
- Imperativus-pro-Infinitivo
- Expression of irrealis
- Embedded Verb Second
- Agreement
- Negation
- Nouns & Noun Phrases
- Classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Partitive noun constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Nominalised quantifiers
- Kind partitives
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Bare nominal attributions
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers and (pre)determiners
- Interrogative pronouns
- R-pronouns
- Syntactic uses
- Adjective Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification and degree quantification
- Comparison by degree
- Comparative
- Superlative
- Equative
- Attribution
- Agreement
- Attributive adjectives vs. prenominal elements
- Complex adjectives
- Noun ellipsis
- Co-occurring adjectives
- Predication
- Partitive adjective constructions
- Adverbial use
- Participles and infinitives
- Adposition Phrases
- Characteristics and classification
- Complementation
- Modification
- Intransitive adpositions
- Predication
- Preposition stranding
- Verbs and Verb Phrases
-
- General
- Morphology
- Morphology
- 1 Word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 1.1.1 Compounds and their heads
- 1.1.2 Special types of compounds
- 1.1.2.1 Affixoids
- 1.1.2.2 Coordinative compounds
- 1.1.2.3 Synthetic compounds and complex pseudo-participles
- 1.1.2.4 Reduplicative compounds
- 1.1.2.5 Phrase-based compounds
- 1.1.2.6 Elative compounds
- 1.1.2.7 Exocentric compounds
- 1.1.2.8 Linking elements
- 1.1.2.9 Separable Complex Verbs and Particle Verbs
- 1.1.2.10 Noun Incorporation Verbs
- 1.1.2.11 Gapping
- 1.2 Derivation
- 1.3 Minor patterns of word formation
- 1.1 Compounding
- 2 Inflection
- 1 Word formation
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
- 0 Introduction to the AP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of APs
- 2 Complementation of APs
- 3 Modification and degree quantification of APs
- 4 Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative
- 5 Attribution of APs
- 6 Predication of APs
- 7 The partitive adjective construction
- 8 Adverbial use of APs
- 9 Participles and infinitives as APs
- Nouns and Noun Phrases (NPs)
- 0 Introduction to the NP
- 1 Characteristics and Classification of NPs
- 2 Complementation of NPs
- 3 Modification of NPs
- 3.1 Modification of NP by Determiners and APs
- 3.2 Modification of NP by PP
- 3.3 Modification of NP by adverbial clauses
- 3.4 Modification of NP by possessors
- 3.5 Modification of NP by relative clauses
- 3.6 Modification of NP in a cleft construction
- 3.7 Free relative clauses and selected interrogative clauses
- 4 Partitive noun constructions and constructions related to them
- 4.1 The referential partitive construction
- 4.2 The partitive construction of abstract quantity
- 4.3 The numerical partitive construction
- 4.4 The partitive interrogative construction
- 4.5 Adjectival, nominal and nominalised partitive quantifiers
- 4.6 Kind partitives
- 4.7 Partitive predication with a preposition
- 4.8 Bare nominal attribution
- 5 Articles and names
- 6 Pronouns
- 7 Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- 8 Interrogative pronouns
- 9 R-pronouns and the indefinite expletive
- 10 Syntactic functions of Noun Phrases
- Adpositions and Adpositional Phrases (PPs)
- 0 Introduction to the PP
- 1 Characteristics and classification of PPs
- 2 Complementation of PPs
- 3 Modification of PPs
- 4 Bare (intransitive) adpositions
- 5 Predication of PPs
- 6 Form and distribution of adpositions with respect to staticity and construction type
- 7 Adpositional complements and adverbials
- Verbs and Verb Phrases (VPs)
- 0 Introduction to the VP in Saterland Frisian
- 1 Characteristics and classification of verbs
- 2 Unergative and unaccusative subjects and the auxiliary of the perfect
- 3 Evidentiality in relation to perception and epistemicity
- 4 Types of to-infinitival constituents
- 5 Predication
- 5.1 The auxiliary of being and its selection restrictions
- 5.2 The auxiliary of going and its selection restrictions
- 5.3 The auxiliary of continuation and its selection restrictions
- 5.4 The auxiliary of coming and its selection restrictions
- 5.5 Modal auxiliaries and their selection restrictions
- 5.6 Auxiliaries of body posture and aspect and their selection restrictions
- 5.7 Transitive verbs of predication
- 5.8 The auxiliary of doing used as a semantically empty finite auxiliary
- 5.9 Supplementive predication
- 6 The verbal paradigm, irregularity and suppletion
- 7 Verb Second and the word order in main and embedded clauses
- 8 Various aspects of clause structure
- Adjectives and adjective phrases (APs)
-
- General
- Phonology
- Afrikaans phonology
- Segment inventory
- Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- The diphthongised long vowels /e/, /ø/ and /o/
- The unrounded mid-front vowel /ɛ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /ɑ/
- The unrounded low-central vowel /a/
- The rounded mid-high back vowel /ɔ/
- The rounded high back vowel /u/
- The rounded and unrounded high front vowels /i/ and /y/
- The unrounded and rounded central vowels /ə/ and /œ/
- The diphthongs /əi/, /œy/ and /œu/
- Overview of Afrikaans consonants
- The bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/
- The alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/
- The velar plosives /k/ and /g/
- The bilabial nasal /m/
- The alveolar nasal /n/
- The velar nasal /ŋ/
- The trill /r/
- The lateral liquid /l/
- The alveolar fricative /s/
- The velar fricative /x/
- The labiodental fricatives /f/ and /v/
- The approximants /ɦ/, /j/ and /ʋ/
- Overview of Afrikaans vowels
- Word stress
- The phonetic properties of stress
- Primary stress on monomorphemic words in Afrikaans
- Background to primary stress in monomorphemes in Afrikaans
- Overview of the Main Stress Rule of Afrikaans
- The short vowels of Afrikaans
- Long vowels in monomorphemes
- Primary stress on diphthongs in monomorphemes
- Exceptions
- Stress shifts in place names
- Stress shift towards word-final position
- Stress pattern of reduplications
- Phonological processes
- Vowel related processes
- Consonant related processes
- Homorganic glide insertion
- Phonology-morphology interface
- Phonotactics
- Morphology
- Syntax
- Afrikaans syntax
- Nouns and noun phrases
- Characteristics of the NP
- Classification of nouns
- Complementation of NPs
- Modification of NPs
- Binominal and partitive constructions
- Referential partitive constructions
- Partitive measure nouns
- Numeral partitive constructions
- Partitive question constructions
- Partitive constructions with nominalised quantifiers
- Partitive predication with prepositions
- Binominal name constructions
- Binominal genitive constructions
- Bare nominal attribution
- Articles and names
- Pronouns
- Quantifiers, determiners and predeterminers
- Syntactic uses of the noun phrase
- Adjectives and adjective phrases
- Characteristics and classification of the AP
- Complementation of APs
- Modification and Degree Quantification of APs
- Comparison by comparative, superlative and equative degree
- Attribution of APs
- Predication of APs
- The partitive adjective construction
- Adverbial use of APs
- Participles and infinitives as adjectives
- Verbs and verb phrases
- Characterisation and classification
- Argument structure
- Verb frame alternations
- Complements of non-main verbs
- Verb clusters
- Complement clauses
- Adverbial modification
- Word order in the clause: Introduction
- Word order in the clause: position of the finite Verb
- Word order in the clause: Clause-initial position
- Word order in the clause: Extraposition and right-dislocation in the postverbal field
- Word order in the middle field
- Emphatic constructions
- Adpositions and adposition phrases
Section 11.3.1.1, sub II, has shown that wh-movement is normally obligatory in Standard Dutch, which may be accounted for by the hypothesis that wh-movement derives an operator-variable chain in the sense of predicate calculus: an example like (238a) can be translated more or less directly into the informal semantic formula in (238b).
a. | Wati | leest | Peter ti? | |
what | reads | Peter | ||
'What is Peter reading?' |
b. | ?x (Peter reads x) |
Notable exceptions to the obligatoriness of wh-movement are the so-called multiple wh-questions of the type in (239); in examples like these only a single wh-phrase is moved into clause-initial position while the second (third, etc.) is left in situ; all wh-phrases must be accented (which is indicated by small caps).
a. | Wie | heeft | wat | gelezen? | |
who | has | what | read | ||
'Who has read what?' |
b. | Wie | heeft | wie | wat | gegeven? | |
who | has | who | what | given | ||
'Who has given what to whom?' |
This section discusses questions of the type in (239), subsection I starts with discussing two characteristics of multiple wh-questions: (i) they have a so-called pair-list reading, and (ii) all wh-phrases must be accented, subsection II continues with a discussion of the syntactic function of the wh-phrases involved in multiple wh-questions, subsection III discusses the fact that the second (third, etc.) wh-phrase in (239) cannot undergo wh-movement but remains in situ, and relates this to the fact that the wh-phrase in situ may occur in strong islands, subsection IV concludes by discussing word order restrictions on multiple wh-questions: the wh-phrases involved tend to appear in the unmarked order of their non-interrogative counterparts. Before we start, we should raise a warning flag since the examples like (239) can also be interpreted as (multiple) echo-questions; native speakers should therefore avoid reading the examples in the following subsections with an exclamative contour.
In multiple questions, wh-movement applies to just a single wh-phrase; the second (third, etc.) is left in situ. At first, this may seem surprising given the hypothesis discussed in Section 11.3.1.1, sub II, that wh-movement is needed to create operator-variable chains. For this reason it has been argued that examples like (240a) involve covert (invisible) movement of the second wh-phrase; see, e.g., May (1985) and Lasnik & Saito (1992). It might also be the case, however, that the second wh-phrase may remain in situ because it does not take scope independently, as the formula ?x ?y (x has read y) does not properly express the meaning of example (240a). Multiple questions instead have a so-called pair-list reading, which is given in (240b). A proper answer thus consists of a list of ordered pairs <x,y>: Marie has read Max Havelaar by Multatuli, Jan has read De Kapellekensbaan by Louis-Paul Boon, Els has read De zondvloed by Jeroen Brouwers, etc.
a. | Wie | heeft | wat | gelezen? | |
who | has | what | read | ||
'Who has read what?' |
b. | ? | <x,y> (x has read y) |
We refer the reader to Van Riemsdijk & Williams (1986:ch.13), Dayal (2006) and Bayer (2006) for reviews of proposals that are able to derive the pair-list reading without movement of the second wh-phrase. In order to avoid confusion it should be pointed out that the notion of ordered pair used above of course refers to the specific case of just two wh-phrases. The notion of n-tuple would have been more appropriate in order to include cases with three or more wh-phrases such as (241a), but we will follow the general practice of simply using the notion pair-list reading.
a. | Wie heeft | wat | aan wie | gegeven? | |
who has | what | to whom | given | ||
'Who has given what to whom?' |
b. | ? | <x,y,x> (x has given y to z) |
Example (242a) shows that multiple questions need not be main clauses but can also be embedded. An informal semantic representation of this example is given in (242b): John wondered for which ordered pairs <x,y> it is true that x has read y.
a. | Jan vroeg | zich | af | [wie | wat | heeft | gelezen]. | |
Jan wondered | refl | prt | who | what | has | read | ||
'Jan wondered who has read what.' |
b. | Jan wondered: ?<x,y> (x has read y) |
The wh-phrases in (240a), (241a) and (242a) are clause-mates, but this is not necessary: example (243a) shows that the second wh-phrase can also be more deeply embedded. This example again has a pair-list reading, which is given in (243b). A proper answer should provide a list of pairs <x,y> such that it is true that x says that Peter is reading y: Marie says that Peter is reading Max Havelaar, Jan says that Peter is reading De Kapellekensbaan, etc.
a. | Wie | zegt | [dat | Peter | wat | leest]? | |
who | says | that | Peter | what | reads | ||
'Who says that Peter is reading what?' |
b. | ? | <x,y> (xsays that Peter is reading y) |
It is important to note that pair-list readings do not arise if the second wh-phrase occupies a scope position itself. This is illustrated in (244), in which wat'what' is wh-moved into the initial position of the embedded clause (as indicated by the trace; note that we do not indicate the trace of the matrix subject who for the sake of simplicity of representation). Examples like these can only be interpreted as in (244b); proper answers to such questions identify the agent of the matrix verb, but not the theme of the embedded verb: Marie (vroeg zich af wat Peter leest)'Marie (wondered what Peter is reading)'.
a. | Wie vroeg | zich | af | [wati | Peter ti | leest]? | |
who wondered | refl | prt. | what | Peter | reads | ||
'Who wonders what Peter is reading?' |
b. | ?x (x wondered: ?y (Peteris reading y)) |
Multiple questions do not only have a special meaning but also a characteristic intonation pattern: both wh-phrases must be accented, which has been indicated in the examples above by small caps. This will help us to distinguish multiple wh-questions from regular wh-questions like the primeless examples in (245), in which the unaccented pronoun wat is interpreted existentially, that is, with the meaning "something". This results in the informal semantic representations given in the primeless examples.
a. | Wie | heeft | (er) | wat | gelezen? | |
who | has | there | something | read | ||
'Who has read something?' |
a'. | ?x ∃y (xhas read y) |
b. | Jan vroeg | zich | af | [wie | (er) | wat | heeft | gelezen]. | |
Jan wondered | refl | prt. | who | there | something | has | read | ||
'Jan wondered who has read something.' |
b'. | Jan wondered: ?x ∃y (x has read y) |
The examples in (245a&b) also show that it is possible to include the expletive er'there' in regular questions, which is consistent with the fact that the non-D-linked subject pronoun wie'who' is compatible with it; cf. Wie komt er?'Who is coming?'. Although judgments are subtle, it seems clear to us that adding the expletive to multiple questions like (240a)/(242a) is more difficult. If the judgments on the resulting examples in (246) are indeed correct, this suggests that wh-phrases in multiple questions are (to a certain extent) D-Linked. This would of course fit in nicely with the pair-list readings of such questions, as these seem to involve entities from the domain of discourse. We leave this suggestion for future research.
a. | ? | Wie | heeft | er | wat | gelezen? |
who | has | there | what | read | ||
'Who has read what?' |
b. | ? | Jan vroeg | zich | af | [wie | er | wat | heeft | gelezen]. |
Jan wondered | refl | prt. | who | there | what | has | read | ||
'Jan wondered who has read what.' |
The wh-phrases in the examples given in Subsection I are all arguments. The examples in (247) show more specifically that the subject may form a pair with the direct object, the indirect object, or a triple with both objects.
a. | Wie heeft | wat | aan Peter | gegeven? | |
who has | what | to Peter | given | ||
'Who has given what to Peter?' |
b. | Wie heeft | zijn boek | aan wie | gegeven? | |
who has | his book | to whom | given | ||
'Who has given his book to whom?' |
c. | Wie heeft | wat | aan wie | gegeven? | |
who has | what | to whom | given | ||
'Who has given what to whom?' |
The examples in (248) show that the subject need not be involved; the pair may also involve two objects; the two examples in (248) illustrate this for constructions with respectively a nominal and a prepositional indirect object.
a. | Wie heeft | Jan/hij | wat | gegeven? | |
who has | Jan/he | what | given | ||
'Who has Jan/he given what?' |
b. | Wat | heeft | Jan/hij | aan wie | gegeven? | |
what | has | Jan/he | to whom | given | ||
'What has Jan/he given to whom?' |
The fact illustrated above that in situwh-phrases can be embedded in prepositional indirect objects raises the expectation that they can also be embedded in prepositional objects. The examples in (249) shows that this prediction is borne out. It should be noted that the acceptability of example (249b) is special in that the sequence op wat'for what' is normally replaced by the pronominal PP waarop'for what' in (249b'), but a Google search (7/17/2014) shows that both sentences occur on the internet; the number of results, which have been manually checked, are given within square brackets.
a. | Wie | wacht | op wie? | |
who | waits | for who | ||
'Who is waiting for whom?' |
b. | Wie | wacht | op wat? | 3 hits | |
who | waits | for what | |||
'Who is waiting for what?' |
b'. | Wie | wacht | waar | op? | 9 hits | |
who | waits | where | for | |||
'Who is waiting for what?' |
Given the special nature of the (b)-examples in (249) we we will provide one more example of this alternation with the phrasal verb recht hebben (op)'to be entitled to' in (250). Both forms occur relatively frequently on the internet; the raw results of our Google search (7/17/2014) are again given within square brackets. Example (250b) is interesting in its own right, as it shows that the R-pronoun waar is preferably moved leftward (the non-split pattern does occasionally occur on the internet but is much less frequent). This shows that the earlier claim that the second wh-phrase remains in situ is only true in as far as it cannot undergo wh-movement.
a. | Wie | heeft | recht | op wat? | 36 hits | |
who | has | right | to what | |||
'Who is entitled to what?' |
b. | Wie | heeft | waar recht op? | 51 hits | |
who | has | right to what | |||
'Who is entitled to what?' |
Multiple wh-questions are not affected by the location of the prepositional object (cf. Koster (1987:213); the primeless examples in (251) show that the object op wie/wat can occur before or after the main verb in clause-final position; example (251b') shows that in the case of the pronominal PP waarop, the placement before the main verb seems to gives a better result.
a. | Wie heeft | <op wie> | gewacht <op wie>? | |
who has | for who | waited | ||
'Who has waited for whom?' |
b. | Wie heeft | <op wat> | gewacht <op wat>? | |
who has | for who | waited | ||
'Who has waited for what?' |
b'. | Wie heeft | <waarop> | gewacht <?waarop>? | |
who has | for.what | waited | ||
'Who has waited for what?' |
Multiple wh-questions are also possible with wh-adjuncts. This holds especially for spatial waar'where' and temporal wanneer'when', but it is also at least marginally possible for adjuncts like waarom'why' and hoe'how' (the latter are impossible in English if the first wh-phrase is a subject; see Lasnik & Saito 1992:ch.1). In order to give an indication of the relative frequency of these cases, we give the raw results of our Google search (7/17/2014) on the string [wie heeft waar/wanneer/waarom/hoe] within square brackets. The results for hoe are rather flattering as they include many cases in which hoe functions as a degree modifier but natural examples do occur; (252c) is in fact taken from the internet.
a. | Wie heeft | waar/wanneer | geslapen? | 245/242 hits | |
who has | where/when | slept | |||
'Who has slept where/when?' |
b. | Wie heeft | waarom | geklaagd? | 28 hits | |
who has | why | complained |
c. | Wie heeft | hoe | gestemd? | 23 hits | |
who has | how | voted |
Haider (2010: Section 3.4) claims that the difference between English and Dutch (and German) is a more general difference between VO- and OV-language. Haider also notes that adverbs like waar'where' and wanneer'when' can co-occur in multiple questions, while adverbs like waarom'why' and hoe'how' cannot (regardless of their order); we illustrate this in (253).
a. | Wanneer | heb | je | waar | geslapen? | |
when | have | you | where | slept | ||
'When have you slept where?' |
b. | * | Waarom | heb | je | de televisie | hoe | gerepareerd? |
why | have | you | the television | how | repaired |
b'. | * | Hoe heb | je | de televisie | waarom | gerepareerd? |
how have | you | the television | why | repaired |
Note that the (b)-examples are fully acceptable if the second wh-phrase is omitted, so that we must be dealing with a co-occurrence restriction on waarom and hoe; we refer the reader to Haider (2010:119ff.) for the claim that this restriction is universal and should be related to the semantic type of these adverbial phrases.
Subsection I mentioned that the fact that the second (third, etc.) wh-phrase is left in situ has led to the claim that it undergoes covert (invisible) movement. A serious problem for this claim is that the second wh-phrase may occur in various positions in which traces of wh-phrases normally cannot. We will illustrate this here for a number of islands that are strong in Dutch; see Section 11.3.1.3. In order to not complicate the discussion unnecessarily, we confine ourselves to wh-phrases functioning as arguments.
The examples in (254) show first that while long wh-movement from an embedded yes/no-question is impossible, it is fairly easy to associate a wh-phrase embedded in a yes/no-question with a wh-phrase in the matrix clause. Example (254a) again requires a pair-list answer: Marie wonders whether Peter is reading Max Havelaar, Jan wonders whether Peter is reading De Kapellekensbaan, etc.
a. | Wie | vraagt | zich | af | [of | Peter | wat | leest]? | |
who | wonders | refl | prt. | if | Peter | what | reads | ||
'Who wonders whether Peter is reading what?' |
b. | * | Wati | vraagt | Jan zich | af | [of | Peter ti | leest]? |
what | wonders | Jan refl | prt | whether | Peter | reads |
The examples in (255) provide similar examples with embedded wh-questions; while long wh-movement from an embedded yes/no-question is impossible, it is again fairly easy to associate a wh-phrase embedded in a wh-question with a wh-phrase in the matrix clause. Since the embedded subject who is in a scope position and so does not participate in the multiple question (see the discussion of (244a) in Subsection I), (255a) requires a pair-list reading of the following type: Marie wonders who read Max Havelaar, Jan wonders who read De Kappelekensbaan, etc.
a. | Wie | vroeg | zich | af | [wie | wat | leest]? | |
who | wonders | refl | prt. | who | what | reads | ||
'Who wonders who is reading what?' |
b. | * | Wati | vroeg | Jan zich | af | [wie ti | leest]? |
who | wonders | Jan refl | prt. | who | reads |
For completeness' sake, observe that (255a) is ambiguous. It can also be interpreted as a regular question with an embedded multiple question: ?x wondered: ?<y,z> (y has read z). On this interpretation, the question can simply be answered by a single noun phrase: Marie (vroeg zich af wie wat leest)'Marie (wondered who is reading what)'.
The examples in (256) show that while long wh-movement from an adjunct clause is impossible, it is fairly easy to associate a wh-phrase embedded in an adjunct clause with a wh-phrase in the matrix clause. Note in passing that the adjunct follows the complementive jaloers and must therefore be in clause-final position.
a. | Wie | werd | jaloers | [nadat | Peter wat | gekregen | had]? | |
who | became | jealous | after | Peter what | gotten | had | ||
'Who became jealous after Peter had gotten what?' |
b. | * | Wati | werd | Jan jaloers | [nadat | Peter ti | gekregen | had]? |
what | became | Jan jealous | after | Peter | gotten | had |
The examples in (257) show that while long wh-movement from a complement clause of a noun is impossible, it is fairly easy to associate a wh-phrase embedded in such a complement clause with a wh-phrase in the matrix clause. Observe that the complement clause need not be adjacent to the noun but may also be placed in clause-final position: cf. Wie heeft het gerucht verspreid [dat Peter wat gezegd had].
a. | Wie | heeft | [het gerucht | [dat Peter | wat | gezegd | had]] | verspreid? | |
who | has | the rumor | that Peter | what | said | had | spread | ||
'Who has spread the rumor that Peter had said what?' |
b. | * | Wati | heeft | Jan | [het gerucht | [dat | Peter ti | gezegd | had]] | verspreid? |
what | has | Jan | the rumor | that | Peter | said | had | spread |
We expect similar judgments for examples like (258) with relative clauses but our informants seem to have difficulties with examples like (258a); the contrast with (258b) is still clear, however.
a. | % | Wie kent | [de man | [die | wat | gezegd | had]]? |
who knows | the man | rel | what | said | had | ||
'Who knows the main who said what?' |
b. | * | Wat | kent | Jan | [de man | [die ti | gezegd | had]]? |
what | knows | Jan | the man | rel | said | had |
For completeness' sake, the examples in (259) are added to show that simple noun phrases that uncontroversially block wh-extraction of their PP-complement do not block the association of a wh-phrase with the subject of the matrix clause. Observe that the PP-complement may also be in extraposed position; cf. Wie zal morgen zijn klacht intrekken tegen wie?
a. | Wie | zal | morgen | [zijn klacht | [tegen wie]] | intrekken? | |
who | will | tomorrow | his complaint | against who | withdraw | ||
'Who will withdraw his complaint against who tomorrow?' |
b. | * | [Tegen wie]i | zal | Jan | [zijn klacht ti] | morgen | intrekken? |
against who | will | Jan | his complaint | tomorrow | withdraw |
Coordinate structures differ from the strong islands discussed in the previous subsections in that they do not allow embedding of the in situwh-phrase. The (a)- and (b)-examples are all unacceptable, the only option being replacement of the full coordinate structure by a single wh-phrase, as in the (c)-examples.
a. | * | Wie heeft | [[een boek] | en | [wat]] | gekocht? |
who has | a book | and | what | bought |
a'. | * | Wati | heeft | Jan | [[een boek] | en [ ti ]] | gekocht? |
what | has | Jan | a book | and | bought |
b. | * | Wie heeft | [[wat] | en | [een CD]] | gekocht? |
who has | what | and | a CD | bought |
b'. | * | Wati | heeft | Jan [[ ti ] | en | [eenCD]] | gekocht? |
what | has | Jan | and | a CD | bought |
c. | Wie | heeft | wat | gekocht? | |
who | has | what | bought | ||
'Who has bought what?' |
c'. | Wati | heeft | Jan ti | gekocht? | |
what | has | Jan | bought | ||
'What has Jan bought?' |
The multiple wh-questions in the first three subsections above are all rated as being fully grammatical, although it may be that some speakers have problems with them for reasons related to their complexity. However, what is at stake here are the relative acceptability contrasts with the fully unacceptable wh-extraction cases, which all native speakers of Dutch will be able to replicate; see Bayer (2006:389) for similar pairs from German. We may therefore conclude that strong islands may normally embed the second (third, etc) wh-phrase in multiple wh-questions, with one notable exception: embedding the second wh-phrases in a coordinate structure is impossible. The fact that the formation of a multiple wh-question is normally not island-sensitive can be seen as an argument against the covert wh-movement approach of generative grammar from the 1980ʼs, which found its more or less definite form in Lasnik & Saito (1992); we refer the reader to the seminal work in Hornstein (1995) for a relatively early argument in favor of eliminating covert movement from the theory.
Multiple questions with interrogative pro-forms like wat'what' and waar'where' seem to adhere to fairly strict order restrictions in the sense that the canonical word order is not affected by wh-movement. The examples in (261) show that in transitive constructions the subject normally precedes the direct object, just as in declarative clauses such as dat <*dat boek> Jan <dat boek> gekocht heeft (which we give here in its embedded form to eliminate the interference of topicalization).
a. | WieSubject | heeft | watDO | gekocht? | |
who | has | what | bought | ||
'Who has bought what?' |
b. | *? | WatDO | heeft | wieSubject | gekocht? |
what | has | who | bought |
It is worth noting that examples like (261b) are claimed to be acceptable in German (cf. Haider (2010:115), which may be due to the fact that the order of subjects and objects is less strict in German than in Dutch.
For ditransitive constructions the tendency to preserve the unmarked order in multiple wh-questions means that the order of the nominal arguments will be: subject > indirect object > direct object. We illustrate this in (262) for multiple wh-questions based on the reference sentence dat Jan/Hij Marie/haar een boek wil geven'that Jan/he wants to give Marie/her a book'. The asterisk in (262b') indicates that the intended interpretation is not available.
a. | WieSubject | wil | Marie/haarIO | watDO | geven? | subject > direct object | |
who | wants | Marie/her | what | give |
a'. | * | WatDO wil wieSubject Marie/haarIO geven? |
b. | WieSubject | wil | wieIO | een boekDO | geven? | subject > indirect object | |
who | want | who | a book | give |
b'. | * | WieIO wil wieSubject een boek geven? |
c. | WieIO | wil | Jan/hijSubject | watDO | geven? | indirect object > direct object | |
who | wants | Jan/he | what | give |
c'. | ?? | WatDO wil Jan/hijSubjectwieIO | geven? |
Subjects and direct objects tend to precede prepositional indirect objects in multiple wh-questions, although speakers seem to be less rigid in this case. We illustrate this in (263) for questions based on the reference sentence dat Jan een boek aan Marie wil geven'that Jan wants to give a book to Marie'. The fairly acceptable status of (263b') might be related to the fact that the prepositional indirect object may precede direct objects in focus constructions; cf. dat Jan aan Marie een boek wil geven.
a. | WieSubject | wil | een boek | aan wieIO | geven? | subject > prepositional IO | |
who | wants | a book | to whom | give |
a'. | ?? | Aan wieIO wil wieSubject een boek geven? |
b. | WatDO | wil | Jan aan wieIO | geven? | direct object > prepositional IO | |
what | wants | Jan to whom | give |
b'. | ? | Aan wieIO wil Jan watDO geven? |
Nom-dative verbs normally allow the DO-subject and the indirect object to occur in both orders and this also seems to hold for multiple wh-questions with these verbs. We show this in (264) for questions based on the reference sentence dat <dat boek> Peter <dat boek> goed is bevallen'that that book pleases Peter much'. One should be aware that examples of this kind cannot be used to argue that Dutch is like German in that it does not impose any ordering restrictions on the subject and the object in multiple wh-questions.
a. | WatSubject | is wieIO | goed bevallen? | DO-subject > indirect object | |
what | is who | well pleased | |||
'What has pleased who much?' |
b. | WieIO | iswatSubject | goed bevallen? | indirect object > DO-subject | |
who | is what | well pleased |
Subjects and direct objects normally precede prepositional objects, and (265) shows that this order is maintained in multiple wh-questions. The (a)-examples are based on the reference sentence dat Jan op zijn vader wacht'that Jan is waiting for his father' and the (b)-examples on the reference sentence dat de rechter Peter tot het betalen van een boeteveroordeelde'that the judge sentenced Peter to pay a fine'.
a. | WieSubject | wacht | op wiePO? | subject > prepositional object | |
who | waits | for who | |||
'Who is waiting for who?' |
a'. | ?? | Op WiePO | wacht wieSubject? |
b. | WieDO | veroordeelde | de rechter | tot watPO? | direct object > prepositional object | |
who | sentenced | the judge | to what | |||
'Who did the judge sentence to what?' |
b'. | *? | Tot watPO veroordeelde de rechter wieDO? |
Subjects normally also precede spatial/temporal adverbial phrases. Although there may be a slight preference for objects to precede such adjuncts, both orders seem to be acceptable in multiple wh-questions, which is in line with the fact that the order of objects and spatial/temporal adverbial phrases also varies in the middle field of the clause: dat hij <de man> gisteren/in Amsterdam <de man> heeft ontmoet'that he met the man yesterday/in Amsterdam'.
a. | WieSubject | heeft | hemDO | waar/wanneer | ontmoet? | subject > adjunct | |
who | has | him | where/when | met |
a'. | ?? | Waar/Wanneer heeft wieSubject hemDO ontmoet? |
b. | WieDO | heeft | hij | waar/wanneer | ontmoet? | direct object > adjunct | |
who | has | he | where/when | met |
b'. | (?) | Waar/Wanneer | heeft | hij | wieDO | ontmoet? | adjunct > direct object |
where/when | has | he | who | met |
The generalization that seems to cover all the cases above is that the wh-phrase whose canonical position is closest to the clause-initial position will be the one that undergoes wh-movement. This generalization may perhaps follow from some version of Chomsky's (1973) superiority condition(in which superiority refers to asymmetric c-command) if we adopt the view that linear order is ultimately derived from the structural, hierarchical relation between phrases; see Kayne (1994) for an influential formalization of this idea. We will not explore this option here, but simply use the notion of superiority condition as a convenient label for the generalization mentioned above.
Although the superiority condition provides a relatively adequate description of the order of the interrogative pro-forms in the earlier examples, it seems to run afoul of cases involving more complex wh-phrases. This can be illustrated fairly easily by means of examples with a complex wh-subject and a complex wh-object; many speakers allow both order orders in (267). We refer the reader to Dayal (2006: Section 2) for a review of similar facts from English.
a. | Welke student | heeft | welk boek | gelezen? | |
which student | has | which book | read | ||
'Which student has read which book?' |
b. | % | Welk boek | heeft | welke student | gelezen? |
which book | has | which student | read | ||
'Which book has which student read?' |
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