Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

858 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
it takes (part of) the focus of the preceding clause as its antecedent and presents it as
the new discourse topic. Referential personal pronouns, on the other hand, signal
that the discourse topic is maintained. See Van Kampen (2009) for more discussion.
To conclude this subsection, we want to note that the use of a distal
demonstrative is obligatory in (497b), which may be due to the fact that the pronoun
must be stressed. Note, however, that instead of O, die! the phrase O, hij weer! ‘Oh,
him again!’ could also be used.
(497) a. A: Daar is Jan. B: Wie? A: Jan.
there is Jan who Jan
b. B: O, die/*hij!
oh that one/him
B. Left Dislocation
Left Dislocation constructions like (498) resemble Topicalization constructions, but
they differ from them in that they do not involve movement. The left-dislocated
element is external to the clause and associated with a resumptive pronoun: when
the resumptive pronoun is placed in clause-initial position, as in (498a), it preferably
takes the form of a distal demonstrative; when it occupies the °middle field of
the clause, as in (498b), the referential personal pronoun gives rise to the best result.
The demonstrative in constructions like (498) is normally die, unless the antecedent
is clearly neuter, as in Dat meisje[+neuter], dat ken ik niet ‘That girl, I don’t know her’.
(498) a. Marie, die/ *? haar ken ik niet.
Marie that.one/her know I not
‘Marie, I don’t know her.’
b. Marie, ik ken haar/ ? die niet.
Marie I know her/that.one not
‘Marie, I don’t know her.’
Agreement between the left-dislocated element and the demonstrative does not
occur, however, when the demonstrative functions as the °logical SUBJECT of a
nominal predicate; whereas the demonstrative must agree in gender with the
dislocated element in the primeless adjectival examples in (499), it cannot agree
with it in the primed nominal examples.
(499) a. Jan, die/*dat is aardig.
Jan that/that is nice
‘Jan, he is nice.’
a′. Jan, dat/*die is een aardige jongen.
Jan that/that is a nice boy
‘Jan, he is a nice boy.’
b. Jan en Piet, die/*dat zijn aardig.
Jan and Piet those/that are nice
‘Jan and Piet, they are nice.’
b′. Jan en Piet, dat/*die zijn aardige jongens.
Jan and Piet that/those are nice boys
‘Jan and Piet, they are nice boys.’