Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Determiners: articles and pronouns 757
D. Geen ene + N
The “not a single” interpretation of geen is the one normally found in the numerous
idiomatic constructions featuring geen phrases. The idiomatic noun phrases in (228)
have the prosody characteristic of the “not a single” cases discussed above: main
accent is assigned to the element following geen. The primed examples show that
the idiomatic examples also pattern with the non-idiomatic ones in allowing
topicalization.
(228) a. Hij heeft er geen JOta/MOER van begrepen.
he has there no iota/nut of understood
‘He didn’t understand a word of it.’
a′. Geen JOta/MOER heeft hij ervan begrepen.
b. Hij heeft geen VInger/HAND/POOT uitgestoken.
he has no finger/hand/leg stuck.out
‘He didn’t lift a finger.’
b′. Geen VInger/HAND/POOT heeft hij uitgestoken.
Addition of enkel(e) is impossible in these idiomatic examples; however, geen can
often be intensified by the addition of schwa-inflected ene ‘one’, as in (229a). By
way of contrast, in non-idiomatic examples like (229b), geen ene cannot be used;
only the uninflected form één or the modifier enkel(e) can be used.
(229) a. Hij heeft er geen Ene/*ENkele/*ÉÉN jota/moer van begrepen.
he has there no one/single/one iota/nut of understood
b. Hij heeft geen ENkele/ÉÉN/*Ene vraag begrepen.
he has no single/one/one question understood
‘He didn’t understand a single question.’
II. Negative concord
A number of constructions featuring geen exhibit so-called negative concord, that
is, the multiple occurrence of negative elements with a single negative interpretation
as their combined effect; unlike in cases of double negation, there is no canceling
out of negation. These constructions occur in the spoken language only, and some
of these may not belong to the standard variety.
A. Niks geen N
One case that probably belongs to standard spoken Dutch is illustrated in (230a).
Here, geen itself is the negator, being modified by the negative pronoun niks (the
colloquial variant of niets, which seems impossible here). Adding niks to geen has
the effect of intensifying the negation, comparable to that achieved by English at all
in the prose translation. The more “standard” way of realizing this intensification is
with the aid of helemaal in (230b); cf. Section 7.2.
(230) a. Dat was niks/ *? niets geen leuke tijd.
that was nothing/nothing no nice time
‘That wasn’t a particularly nice time at all.’
b. Dat was helemaal geen leuke tijd.
that was altogether no nice time