Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

584 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
(23) a. Jan rookt tabak/een sigaar.
Jan smokes tobacco/a cigar
b. $ Jan rookt een doos.
Jan smokes a box
c. Jan rookt een doos sigaren.
Jan smokes a box [of] cigars
In passing, note we have put aside that example (23b) is acceptable under a
generic/habitual interpretation: Hij rookt een doos per dag ‘He smokes a box per
day’. In cases like these, we are dealing with an elliptic QC construction: Jan does
not smoke the box, but its contents. Such constructions are only acceptable when
information about the contents of the box is available to the addressee.
It is important to note that the descriptive content of the container noun in the
QC een doos sigaren in (23c) has been backgrounded in favor of the package unit
reading: the QC does not refer to a box with certain contents but to a certain number
of cigars. This does not mean, however, that this happens in all cases. Consider the
examples in (24), where the verb sluiten ‘to close’ is substituted for the verb roken
‘to smoke’ in (23). The examples in (24a&b) show that the noun phrase sigaren
cannot satisfy the semantic selection restrictions of this verb, whereas the noun
phrase een doos can. From the fact that (24c) is acceptable, we must conclude that
N1 functions as the semantic head of the QC, which implies that it has retained its
descriptive content: we are still referring to a box with certain contents, not to a
number of cigars. The contrast between (23) and (24) therefore shows that QCs
headed by a container noun are ambiguous.
(24) a. $ Jan sloot sigaren.
Jan closed cigars
b. Jan sloot een doos.
Jan closed a box
c. Jan sloot een doos sigaren.
Jan closed a box [of] cigars
‘Jan closed a box of cigars.’
It seems that the measure, collective and part nouns behave just like the
container nouns. We will therefore restrict our discussion of these types by showing
in (25) that in QCs headed by these nouns, N2 may also satisfy the semantic
selection restrictions imposed by the verb.
(25) a. Jan at een kilo paddenstoelen.
Jan ate a kilo [of] mushrooms
b. Hij is gestoken door een zwerm wespen.
he has.been stung by a swarm [of] wasps
c. Hij heeft een stuk taart opgegeten.
he has a piece [of] cake prt.-eaten
This subsection has shown that most QCs are ambiguous depending on whether
N1 receives a more referential or a more quantification interpretation: in the former
case it is N1 that functions as the semantic head of the construction and in the latter
case it is N2 that has this function. The question which head functions as the