Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Determiners: articles and pronouns 825
earlier, viz., that diens cannot be bound by a subject. For completeness’ sake, note
that all examples become ambiguous when we replace diens by the possessive
pronoun zijn ‘his’.
(415) a. Jan gaf Peter het eerste exemplaar van diens nieuwe boek.
Jan gave Peter the first copy of his new book
b. Jan stelde Peter aan diens nieuwe chef voor.
Jan introduced Peter to his new manager prt.
c. Jan begroette Peter bij diens aankomst op Schiphol.
Jan greeted Peter on his arrival at Schiphol
In (416) we give some examples that involve coordination, where coreference is
expressed by means of co-indexing. The (a)-examples show that, whereas the
possessive pronoun zijn can be interpreted as referential either with the subject of
the clause or with the first conjunct of the coordinated phrase Peter en zijn dochter,
this ambiguity is solved when we use diens given that the latter cannot be bound by
the subject noun phrase Jan. The (b)-examples provide similar cases involving
coordinated sentences. For more discussion, we refer the reader to Postma (1984)
and www.onzetaal.nl/advies/diens.php.
(416) a. Jani ontmoette Pietj en zijni/j dochter.
Jan met Piet and his daughter
a′. Jani ontmoette Pietj en diensj/*i dochter.
Jan met Piet and his daughter
b. Jani ontmoette Pietj gisteren en later ontmoette hij ook zijni/j dochter.
Jan met Piet yesterday and later met he also his daughter
‘Jan met Piet yesterday and later he also met his daughter.’
b′. Jani ontmoette Pietj gisteren en later ontmoette hij ook diensj/*i dochter.
Jan met Piet yesterday and later met he also his daughter
‘Jan met Peter yesterday and later he also met his (= Peter’s) daughter.’
Finally, we want to note that complex noun phrases and proper nouns marked
with the genitive ending -s may alternate with the possessive pronouns; these
complex noun phrases normally refer to [+HUMAN] entities. Of course these noun
phrases do not function as determiners in the same sense as the possessive pronoun:
they are phrases and not just words, and therefore cannot be placed in the
D-position of the DP. See Section 5.2.2.5.1 for a more precise discussion of the
restrictions on the use of these prenominal genitive phrases.
(417) a. Complex noun phrase: mijn broers boek ‘my brother’s book’
b. Proper noun: Jans boek ‘Jan’s book’
5.2.2.2. Interpretation
This section will examine some meaning aspects related to possessive pronouns.
Section 5.2.2.2.1 will argue that the meaning of the referential possessive pronouns
comes very close to that of the definite article, but that, in addition, it introduces a
partitioning of the denotation set of the head noun (or NP, but we will stick to the
simple cases here). This latter part of the meaning can also be found with the other
semantic types of possessive pronouns. Section 5.2.2.2.2 will go into the semantic