/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    The effect clause is realised as a Verb-First clause to denote irrealis
    quickinfo

    The clause expressing an effect of a degree may be syntactically realised as a Verb-First clause, as in the following example, which refers to the month of April:

    1
    Mar fuort neitiid is 't wer sa kâld as wie 't midden yn 'e winter
    but directly after is it again so cold as was it middle in the winter
    But immediately after that it is again so cold as if it were in the middle of winter

    Verb-First clauses introduced by as as if invariably express an apparent, so hypothetical, effect. In fact, the hypothetical effect clause entails its negation in the actual world: the hypothetical effect clause entails it is not in the middle of winter, which is correct, for the sentence refers to the weather in the month of April. The central meaning of the V1 clause may perhaps be characterised as: irrealis, inspired by appearances. As a result, it entails its negation in the real world.

    readmore

    Some more examples are given below of Verb-First clauses expressing the hypothetical effect clause to a degree clause:

    2
    a. Anne is har sa eigen as hie se har fan bern ôf al kennen
    Anne is her so own as had she her of child from DcP known
    Anne is so familiar to her as if she had known her since she was a child
    b. De tonge is har sa droech, as hie se in hiele jûn te praten west
    the tongue is her so dry as had she a whole evening to talk been
    Her tongue is so dry, as if she had been talking a whole evening

    V1 clauses may also be found when the main clause is not explicitly marked as a degree clause or a manner clause:

    3
    Dêr lake Marij om as hie mem in hiele grap weijûn
    R laughed Marij about as had mother a whole joke away.given
    Marij laughed at it as if mother had been telling a big joke

    In the example in (3) above, the presence of the V1 clause implies that an apparent (but not real) manner or degree of the V2 clause is being specified, but the manner or degree is not explicitly marked in the V2 clause.

    V2 clauses of effect may also be introduced by dat that in its use as a coordinating conjunct of a reconstructed cause (see the complementiser dat that as a marker of syntactic coordination), as in the example below:

    4
    Hy ûnderskreau de akte mei in krúske, dat hy koe blykber net lêze en skriuwe
    he signed the act with a cross, that he could apparently not read and write
    He signed the deed with an "X", so apparently he could not read or write
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra
      Category: Frisian Syntax
      Keywords: effect clauseverb-firstclauseirrealis
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra December 2015
      printreport errorcite
      Jump to:
      X