/ instituut voor de Nederlandse taal / Taalportaal
bibliography glossary about
  • Dutch
  • Frisian
  • Saterfrisian
  • Afrikaans
Show all
    NP modification by PPs
    quickinfo

    Adpositional Phrases (PPs) always follow the noun. They may or may not restrict the denotation of the noun phrase (NP).

    readmore

    PPs always occur following the noun, as illustrated below:

    1
    a. 'n meisie met rooi hare
    a girl with red hair
    A girl with red hair
    b. *'n met rooi hare meisie
    a with red hair girl
    A girl with red hair
    c. *met rooi hare 'n meisie
    with red hair a girl
    A girl with red hair

    PPs may restrict the denotation of the NP. From this it follows that they can occur with negative quantifiers:

    2
    geen meisie met rooi hare
    no girl with red hair
    No girl with red hair

    In order to obtain a non-restrictive interpretation with a negative NP, the disjunct of or must be used. This conjunction quantifies over all values of the PP. In the example below, these values are affirmative and negative:

    3
    geen meisie, met rooi hare of nie
    no girl with red hair or not
    No girl, with red hair or not

    Some adverbs, such as verlede week last week, may modify the noun without being accompanied by the preposition van of. A pair of examples is provided below:

    4
    a. Die JA Neserdam met sy min water op die voorblad van die koerant verlede week is 'n angswekkende gesig.
    the JA Neserdam with its little water on the frontpage of the newspaper last week be.PRS a terrifying face
    The JA Neserdam with its little water on the front page of the newspaper last week is a frightening sight.
    VivA-KPO
    b. Die JA Neserdam met sy min water op die voorblad van die koerant van verlede week is 'n angswekkende gesig.
    the JA Neserdam with its little water on the frontpage of the newspaper of last week be.PRS a terrifying face
    The JA Neserdam with its little water on the front page of the newspaper of last week is a frightening sight.

    The time adverb can only occur without a preposition in case the main verb relates to properties of the newspaper itself, as illustrated by the following contrast:

    5
    a. Die leë dam op die voorblad van die koerant verlede week is 'n angswekkende gesig.
    the empty dam on the frontpage of the newspaper last week be.PRS a terrifyning face
    The empty dam on the frontpage of the newspaper last week is a terrefyning sight.
    b. *Die koerant verlede week lê op die tafel.
    the newspaper last week lay on the table
    *The newspaper yesterday is laying on the table.
    c. Die koerant van verlede week lê op die tafel.
    the newspaper of last week lay on the table
    The newspaper of yesterday is laying on the table
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Adri Breed; Johanita Kirsten
      Category: Afrikaans Syntax
      Keywords: modification
      Version: 1.0, May 2020
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Adri Breed; Johanita Kirsten May 2020
      This is a beta version.
      printreport errorcite
      Jump to:
      X