- 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
To-infinitives can either have an active or a passive interpretation. The passive interpretation, or object-oriented reading, is characteristically found in case the to-infinitive is selected by the verb weze ‘to be’. Two examples are given below:
Dät | is | nit | uuttoutoanken. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
that | is | not | out.to.think | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It can hardly be imagined. |
Fon | ju | Siede | is | niks | tou | ferwachtjen. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
of | her | side | is | nothing | to | expect | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From her side, nothing is to be expected. |
The object of the main verb, the to-infinitive, is expressed as the subject of the tensed auxiliary. Put differently, the object thematic role of the to-infinitive is predicated of the subject of the tensed verb. From a generative point of view, the subject of the infinitive is moved into the structural subject position of the auxiliary. We can refer to these infinitives as object oriented infinitives. The construction involves a manipulation of the object argument of the to-infinitive, specifically, its realisation in the structural subject position of the selecting auxiliary. This process can be formalised as movement, as predication, and so on. We may also refer to this type of infinitive as a small infinitive, because the object of the infinitive cannot be expressed, unless there is a selecting auxiliary.
This is discussed in more detail in the sections below.
The copula of being doesn’t impose any selection restrictions of its own on the argument appearing in its structural subject position. It does impose restrictions on the type of infinitive which it selects. It selects a reduced infinitive, that is, a type of infinitive without subject or object, of which the object argument is expressed in its subject position. An example is given below:
Dät | waas | laidich | goud | tou | ferstounden. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
it | was | relatively | good | to | understand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
It was relatively good to hear. |
The object of the infinitive appears as the subject of the auxiliary. This construction requires an evaluative adjective which forms one constituent with the reduced to-infinitive. But the copula of being can also be directly joined to a reduced to-infinitive:
Dät | Huus | wier | die | Pot | tou | koopjen | waas. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
the | house | where | the | pot | to | buy | was | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The house where the pot was for sale. |
The example illustrates that the to-infinitive precedes the tensed verb in the verb cluster, which is an indication of clause union. Clause union is obligatory, which indicates that the to-infinitive itself is directly selected by the auxiliary verb. As a result, it may be expected that the auxiliary verb forms an idiomatic combination with the main verb. This may indeed be the case, as in the following example:
Ju | is | noch | tou | häben. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
she | is | still | to | have | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
She is not yet engaged. |
Idiom formation thus indicates that the auxiliary directly selects not just the clause headed by the to-infinitive, but also its head and the lexical item occupying the head position. As mentioned, the infinitives are reduced, and they are object (theme) oriented. It may also be appreciated that the construction has a modal meaning, which is a characteristic of to-infinitives.
An infinitive denoting an activity without an object cannot be directly joined to the verb of being:
Umdät | ju | altied | in | hiere | Tuun | tou | wierkjen | waas. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
because | she | always | in | her | garden | to | work | was | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Because she was always working in her garden. |
In order to express this meaning, a special type of progressive construction must be chosen (on this construction, see Laker & Kramer 2022):
Umdät | ju | altied | in | hiere | Tuun | an 't | Wierkjen | waas. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
because | she | always | in | her | garden | at the | work | was | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Because she was always working in her garden. |
We will refer to this latter construction as a progressive, and as an adpositional neuter infinitive, since the infinitive is introduced by an adposition, followed by the neuter article. To sum, if the verb of being combines with a to-infinitive, the to-infinitive must be reduced and the direct object of the to-infinitive must be hosted by the subject position of the auxiliary. This is also the case with passive participles, to which this type of to-infinitive is similar.
Like weze ‘be’, there are other verbs which select reduced infinitives, such as the verb häbe ‘to have’. The auxiliary of having differs in two respects from the auxiliary of being:
- The auxiliary of being has no NP arguments, whereas the auxiliary of having has a possessor argument which is realised in its structural subject position.
- The auxiliary of being hosts the object argument of a to-infinitive in its structural subject position, whereas the auxiliary of having hosts the object argument of a to-infinitive in its structural object position.
Furthermore, the subject of the verb of possession controls the subject argument of the to-infinitive. The following examples involve the use of häbe ‘to have’ as a copular auxiliary selecting a reduced to-infinitive:
Die | Muller | hied | Härm | al | bie | de | Ore | tou | pakjen. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
the | miller | had | Herm | already | at | the | ears | to | get | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The miller had already grabbed Herm by the ears. |
Buur | Harms | hät | Bullenkoolwere | tou | ferkoopjen. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
farmer | Harms | has | bull.calves | to | sell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Farmer Harms has bull calves to sell. |
The auxiliary of having has a different relation to the to-infinitive than the auxiliary of being. The auxiliary of having requires that the to-infinitive denotes a state of affairs that can be possessed by the subject of the auxiliary. This entails that the object of the to-infinitive must be something that is possessable. In keeping with this, the to-infinitive itself is subject to selectional restrictions imposed by the auxiliary of possession. This is not the case with the modal auxiliarie. Thus the to-infinitive touferkoopjen ‘to sell’ is one constituent, selected by the auxiliary of possession, hence the to-infinitive denotes a selected action associated with possession, such as touching or selling.
As mentioned, this implies that the reduced to-infinitive is a constituent by itself. Correspondingly, it can be preposed (given a suitable pragmatic context), as is illustrated in the following example:
Tou | fodderjen | häbe | we | genouch | foar | touken | Jier. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
to | feed | have | we | enough | for | coming | year | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We have enough fodder for the coming year. |
Furthermore, as an obligatory predicate, it must occur to the left of the finite verb (indeed, of the verb cluster) at the end of the middle field, like small clause predicates in general must. An example is given below:
Die | der | wät | tou | ferkoopjen | hät. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
who | REL | what | to | sell | has | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Who has something to sell. |
Finally, as a selected constituent by itself, the to-infinitive may form an idiomatic collocation with the main verb. This is the case in examples like: it tou tällen häbe ‘to be in charge’, as in the following example:
Hier | häbe | do | Bupperste | et | aal | tou | tällen. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
here | have | the | upper.ones | it | all | to | tell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Here the upper few have all the power. |
Thus the auxiliary of possession selects a to-infinitive, but this to-infinitive is not accompanied by any arguments of its own. Instead, its object argument is realised in the direct object position of the auxiliary of possession.
There is also a different construction in which the verb of having selects a bare infinitive. An example of this construction is given below:
Iek | häbe | ourekend, | wofuul | näie | Rokke | dät | iek | in | ’t | Skap | hongjen | hied. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I | have | off.reckoned | how.many | new | skirts | that | I | in | the | closet | hang | have | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I calculated how many new skirts I have hanging in the closet. |
In this construction, the verb of having selects a bare gerundial infinitive (bare: so no to-infinitive). The selected infinitive is subject to a severe semantic restriction. It must be a verb of body posture: sitte ‘sit’, stounde ‘stand’, läze ‘lie’or hongje ‘hang’. This restriction is also found in West Frisian, and it is characteristic of auxiliaries selecting a bare gerundial infinitive. Remember that the auxiliary of having features no such restriction in case it combines with a to-infinitive. Selected to-infinitives just had to belong to the large class of transitive verbs of activity. Furthermore, the bare gerundial construction requires the lexicalisation of the infinitival subject in the object position of the auxiliary of having. The to-infinitival construction, in contrast, has an empty subject, which is controlled, usually, by the subject of the selecting auxiliary. Incidentally, the sentence above is one of the rare examples of a complementiser following a wh-phrase introducing an embedded sentence.
The auxiliary of possession is stative. Its dynamic counterpart is kriege ‘get, receive’. The auxiliary of coming into possession is similar to the auxiliary of possession. Both select a subject NP which represents the possessor. Both have a structural object position in which the object of the reduced infinitive is realised. Some examples are given below:
Dät | nemens | tou | sjoon | kreech, | wier | ze | flain | wieren. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
that | nobody | to | see | got | where | they | flewn | were | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
That nobody got to see where they had gone to. |
Iek | toachte, | dät | iek | wunders | wät | tou | heren | kreech. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I | thought | that | I | wonder | what | to | hear | got | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I thought I would get to hear something extraordinary. |
As | ju | fon | sin | Dood | tou | wieten | kreech. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
when | she | of | his | death | to | know | got | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
When she got to hear of his death. |
The object of the auxiliary is the proposition as a whole, that is the to-infinitival clause. The to-infinitive syntactically forms one clause with the auxiliary, as is clear from its placement to the left of the auxiliary in embedded clauses. This indicates that the middle field of the auxiliary has been joined to the middle field of the infinitive (clause union). The object of the infinitive is realised in the structural object position of the dynamic auxiliary of possession. The auxiliary selects not only the infinitival complement, but also the head of the complement. Thus it imposes lexical and semantic restrictions on the main verb, which is characteristically a verb of knowledge of perception, as is clear from the examples given above. A peculiar example is the following:
As | sik | dät | foar 'n | jungen | Kerl | heert | tou | dwoon. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
as | REFL | it | for a | young | man | is.decent | to | do | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As it is decent for a young man to do. |
The example involves clause union, since the object of the to-infinitive shows up in the middle field of the selecting auxiliary. Furthermore, the object of the to-infinitive is the subject of the auxiliary heert ‘should, be decent for’. Hence this seems to be another case of raising an infinitival object to an argument position (here: the subject position) of the selecting auxiliary. The subject of the to-infinitive is controlled by the experiencer PP accompanying the selecting auxiliary. The construction may have been made possible at all by the reflexive. It seems impossible to produce the sentence without the reflexive. It is known that reflexives affect argument structure. Thus, it can be conjectured that the object raising analysis is correlated with the use of the reflexive, as far as this auxiliary is concerned. Normally, if here ‘should, be decent’ is a raising verb, it is a subject raising verb. So it appears that the reflexive turns the verb here ‘hear’ in an object raising auxiliary, with demotion of the subject to a PP headed by the adposition foar ‘for’.