Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

592 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
(45) a. Hij dronk enkele/vele liters/*liter bier.
he drank some/many liters/liter [of] beer
b. Er viel/ *? vielen enkele meters sneeuw.
there fellsg/pl some meters [of] snow
‘there fell many meters of snow’
C. Nouns involved in the measurement of time
Measure nouns involved in measuring time must be plural when preceded by a
numeral, as shown by (46a). Nevertheless, we are dealing with a purely quantificational
construction here: the QC does not refer to five separate units of vacation
of a week each — in fact, there is no implication whatsoever about the temporal
units involved.
(46) a. We hebben vijf weken/*week vakantie per jaar.
we have five weekpl/sg [of] vacation per year
b. Vijf weken vakantie per jaar is/ ?? zijn eigenlijk te weinig.
five weeks [of] vacation per year is/are actually too little
It is not clear to us whether the QC vijf weken vakantie should be treated on a par
with QCs like twee liter melk. Apart from the difference in plural marking, the two
constructions differ in that in the former the N2 vakantie can be replaced by the
adjective vrij ‘free/off’ without any clear difference in meaning, whereas adjectives
can never be combined with a measure noun like liter. This fact suggests that we are
dealing with a °second order predicate in example (46b). This would also account
for the fact that the binominal construction in (46b) triggers singular agreement on
the verb despite the fact that N1 is plural: the verb always exhibits singular
agreement when we are dealing with second order predication.
(47) Vijf weken vrij per jaar is eigenlijk te weinig.
five weeks off per year is actually too little
II. Diminutive formation
The three types of N1s also differ with respect to diminutive formation. The
examples in (48c-d) show that the referential nouns allow it, whereas (48a) shows
that quantifier nouns do not. As expected, the measure nouns again show mixed
behavior: diminutivization is possible when they are interpreted referentially, but
not when they are interpreted quantificationally. That the diminutive is derived from
the referential and not the quantificational measure noun is clear from the fact
illustrated by (48b′) that they must be pluralized when preceded by a cardinal
numeral.
(48) a. *een boeltje mensen [QN]
a lotdim [of] people
b. een litertje melk b′. twee litertjes/*litertje melk [MN]
a literdim [of] milk two litersdim/literdim [of] milk
c. een emmertje peren c′. twee emmertjes peren [ConN]
a bucketdim [of] pears two bucketsdim [of] pears