Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

900 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
The quantifiers ieder and elk in (87a) are more or less free alternants, although
Haeseryn et al. (1997: 350) note that some speakers have a weak tendency to use
ieder for [+HUMAN] nouns and elk for [-HUMAN] nouns. These two quantifiers differ
from the quantifier alle in (87b) in several respects, which we will discuss in the
following subsections.
I. Number
The most conspicuous difference between the two types of modifiers in (87) is that
noun phrases containing ieder/elk trigger singular agreement on the verb, whereas
noun phrases containing alle trigger plural agreement. This is illustrated again in
(88). These examples demonstrate the difference in grammatical number in yet
another way: noun phrases modified by ieder/elk can only act as the antecedent of a
singular pronoun like zijn ‘his’, whereas noun phrases modified by alle can only be
the antecedent of a plural pronoun like hun ‘their’.
(88) a. Iedere/elke student moetsg zijn/*hun opdracht op tijd inleveren.
every student must his/their assignment on time hand.in
‘Every/Each student must hand in his assignment on time.’
b. Alle studenten moetenpl hun/*zijn opdracht op tijd inleveren.
all students must their/his assignment on time hand.in
‘All students must hand in their assignment on time.’
This difference in number is not a purely grammatical matter, but is also reflected in
the semantics. For example, verbs like zich verzamelen ‘to gather’ or omsingelen ‘to
surround’ require their subject to be plural or at least to refer to a group of entities:
such verbs may take a noun phrase modified by alle as their subject, but not a noun
phrase modified by elk/ieder.
(89) a. Alle studenten moeten zich in de hal verzamelen.
all students must REFL in the hall gather
‘All students must gather in the hall.’
a′. *Elke/Iedere student moet zich in de hal verzamelen.
every student must REFL in the hall gather
b. Alle soldaten omsingelden het gebouw.
all soldiers surrounded the building
b′. *Elke/Iedere soldaat omsingelde het gebouw.
every soldier surrounded the building
The reason for this contrast in acceptability is that the noun phrases modified by
alle may refer to the set of entities denoted by the head noun as a whole, that is,
they allow a collective reading. Noun phrases modified by elk/ieder, on the other
hand, do not allow this reading, but, instead, have a distributive reading: a noun
phrase like iedere/elke student expresses that the property denoted by the VP holds
individually for each entity in the set denoted by the head noun student or soldaat.
II. Distributivity versus collectivity
The examples in (89) in the previous subsection have shown that noun phrases
modified by elk/ieder have a distributive reading, whereas noun phrases modified
by alle can have a collective reading. It must be pointed out, however, that alle is