Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

828 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
pronouns in the primeless examples consists of two parts that correspond to,
respectively, the meaning of the definite article and the modifying van-phrase in the
primed examples: the first part involves definiteness, and the second part involves
the partitioning of the set denoted by the head noun into two subsets, namely a
subset that is in the relevant semantic relation with the referent of the possessive
pronoun and a subset that is not.
(421) a. mijn/jouw/zijn boek a′. het boek van mij/jou/hem
my/your/his book the book of me/you/him
b. ons/jullie/hun boek b′. het boek van ons/jullie/hun
our/your/their book the book of us/you/them
Since referential possessive pronouns are inherently definite, possessed
indefinite noun phrases normally involve the presence of an indefinite article and a
postnominal possessive van-PP, as in (422). As always, the indefinite article
expresses that the intersection A ∩ B = 1, without any implication for the remainder
of set A, that is, A - (A ∩ B) may or may not be empty.
(422) a. een boek van mij/jou/hem/haar b. een boek van ons/jullie/hun
a book of me/you/him/her a book of us/you/them
‘a book of mine/yours/his’ ‘a book of ours/yours/theirs’
For completeness’ sake, observe that the complement of the preposition van is a
personal object pronoun, and not, as in English, a(n inflected) possessive pronoun
like in a book of mine/yours/his/hers.
Example (423a) shows that indefiniteness can also be inherited from the
existentially quantified possessive pronoun iemands ‘someone’s’. That the complete
noun phrase is indefinite is clear from the fact that the noun phrase iemands auto
can occur in the °expletive er-construction. The possessive pronoun in this example
again introduces a partitioning of set A, but the speaker leaves open which subset of
A is intended. The universally possessive pronoun also introduces a partitioning of
set A, but now it is claimed that all subsets of A are subsets of B. As a result (423b)
expresses more less the same thing as the simpler sentence De/Alle auto’s staan
verkeerd geparkeerd ‘The/All cars are wrongly parked’, which perhaps accounts for
the fact that (423b) feels somewhat marked.
(423) a. Er staat iemands auto verkeerd geparkeerd.
there stands someone’s car wrongly parked
‘Someone’s car is wrongly parked.’
b. Ieders auto staat verkeerd geparkeerd.
everyone’s car stands wrongly parked
‘Everyone’s car is wrongly parked.’
The reciprocal form elkaars ‘each other’s’ and the interrogative and relative
form wiens ‘whose’ also introduce a partitioning of set A. In (424a), the cardinality
of the antecedent of the possessive pronoun is equal to the cardinality of the
partitioning of set A, and the members of the antecedent and the relevant subsets of
set A are reciprocally related to each other: set A consists of three essays, each by a
different pupil, and each of the pupils admires the essays written by the other pupils.