Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

710 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
There are several exceptions to the general rule that proper nouns are not
preceded by an article, which we will discuss below.
I. Articles that are part of the proper noun
In some cases a definite article can be construed as an inherent part of the name.
Some examples of such proper nouns are given in (83).
(83) a. het Gooi [a region in the center of the Netherlands]
b. de Noordzee [the sea between Great Britain and the Netherlands]
c. de Westerkerk [a church in Amsterdam]
d. (Jan) de Graaf, (Peter) de Vries, (Marie) de Boer [family names]
Examples like (83) are not purely a lexical matter, since all kinds of subregularities
can be found. We will not extensively discuss these here, but simply summarize the
main findings from Haeseryn et al. (1997), to which we refer for further details and
more examples. The definite article is common with geographical names but not
with names of continents, nations, counties and cities, except when the name is a
syntactic plural (de Hebriden ‘the Hebrides’) or when the organization form is part
of the name (de Sovjet Unie ‘the Soviet Union’). Geographical names with a
definite article involve the names of mountains (de Snowdonsg ‘the Snowdon’; de
Alpenpl ‘the Alps’), woods (het Zwarte Woud ‘the Black Forest’), seas, lakes and
rivers (de Noordzee ‘the North Sea’; het IJsselmeer; de Rijn ‘the Rhine’), and
celestial bodies (de maan ‘the moon’; de Melkweg ‘the Milky Way’). Names of
buildings, streets, parks, squares, etc. also take a definite determiner (de Westerkerk,
het Damrak, het Vondelpark). The same thing holds for names of organizations and
societies (de Algemene Vereniging voor Taalwetenschap ‘the general society for
linguistics’), and names of papers and magazines, especially when they contain the
“kind” name (het Algemeen Dagblad ‘the general daily’ versus Lingua). Finally, the
names of cultural periods and certain festivities also take the definite article (de
Renaissance ‘the Renaissance’; het Carnaval ‘Carnival’).
II. Modified proper nouns
A. Restrictive modifiers
In (84), we see that the geographical proper noun Rotterdam cannot be construed
with a definite article when on its own, but must be preceded by a definite article
when a restrictive postnominal modifier like van mijn jeugd is added. The semantic
effect of adding the modifier is that Rotterdam is no longer construed as uniquely
identified; the modifier invokes a reading according to which several different
instantiations of Rotterdam can be discerned, which can be located in the past, the
present and the future. As a result, the use of the definite article is no longer
redundant, and hence (84b) is completely well-formed.
(84) a. Ik denk vaak aan (*het) Rotterdam.
I think often of the Rotterdam
b. Ik denk vaak aan *(het) Rotterdam van mijn jeugd.
I think often of the Rotterdam of my childhood