Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Determiners: articles and pronouns 761
V. Non-negative questions
In many of the examples given above, it seems that the core meaning of geen as a
negative quantifier is lost. A particular striking illustration of this fact is provided
by examples of the type in (241), where accent does not fall on geen.
(241) a. Zijn dat geen courgettes?
are that no zucchinis
‘Those are zucchinis, aren’t they?’
b. Is dat geen leuk idee?
is that no nice idea
‘That is a nice idea, isn’t it?’
That these are not negative questions is evident from the fact that the speaker
uttering a question of the type in (241a) anticipates a positive answer. This is
explicitly acknowledged in the answer in (242a) by the addition of the adverb
inderdaad ‘indeed’. A negative answer is of course possible but not anticipated by
the speaker, which is clear from the fact that including the adverb inderdaad in the
reply in (242b) is pragmatically awkward.
(242) a. Ja, dat zijn inderdaad courgettes.
yes that are indeed zucchinis
b. Nee, dat zijn ( # inderdaad) geen courgettes.
no that are indeed no zucchinis
Note, however, that the answer in (242b) with inderdaad is only out of place as a
reply to (241a) if this question is assigned the prosodic contour typical of questions
of this type, with main accent on courgettes followed by an acutely rising
intonation; there is also a truly negative interpretation for (241a) available, in which
geen receives heavy accent, for which (242b) with inderdaad does count as a
pragmatically felicitous reply.
On the intended, non-negative interpretation of the examples in (241), geen
seems dispensable; the examples in (243) can be used in the same contexts as nonnegative
(241), and are equally acceptable/felicitous. The main difference seems to
be that it is less obvious that the speaker anticipates a positive answer to his question.
(243) a. Zijn dat courgettes?
are that zucchinis
b. Is dat een leuk idee?
is that a nice idea
We conclude this subsection by pointing out that the negative adverb niet exhibits
the same behavior as geen in that it can show up in non-negative questions. The
negative adverb niet can be added to (243) to the immediate right of dat, with
preservation of meaning: Zijn dat niet courgettes? or Is dat niet een leuk idee?
5.1.5.2. Distribution of geen inside the noun phrase
This section discusses the restrictions on the use of geen within the noun phrase.
We start in Subsection I by considering the question of what types of noun it can
modify. After that, we briefly discuss in Subsection II whether geen can be