Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Binominal constructions 597
II. Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns exhibit a pattern similar to the definite article. Example
(56a) shows that a quantifier noun like boel never occurs with a demonstrative
pronoun, whereas other quantifier nouns, like paar in (56b), are more readily
acceptable with demonstrative pronouns (especially the proximate ones). Note that
it is not necessary to modify the QC in (56b), which may be due to the fact that the
demonstratives themselves function as modifiers in the sense that they imply some
partitioning of the set denoted by N2; cf. Section 5.2.3.
(56) a. *Deze/Die boel boeken (die ik gelezen heb) liggen daar.
these/those lot [of] books that I read have lie there
b. Die/ ? Deze paar euro’s (die hij me gaf) maken geen verschil.
those/these couple [of] euros that he me gave make no difference
‘those few euros he gave me make no difference.’
Recall from Section 4.1.1.2.1 that the demonstratives in (56b) do not agree in
gender and number with N1 but with N2. This can be readily illustrated by means of
the minimal pair in (57). In (57a), the QC refers to two shoes that form a pair: the
neuter noun paar is therefore referential and the demonstrative agrees with it. In
(57b), the QC refers to a set of two or more shoes: the neuter noun paar is therefore
purely quantificational and the demonstrative agrees with N2.
(57) a. dit/dat paar schoenen [ColN]
this/that pair [of] shoes
b. deze/die paar schoenen [QN]
these/those couple [of] shoes
Section 4.1.1.2.1 has already shown that QCs containing a measure noun
exhibit the same ambiguity as paar, albeit that the construction in which the
demonstrative agrees with N2 is considered marked by some speakers. The relevant
examples are repeated in (58a&b).
(58) a. dit/dat[+neuter,+sg] pond[+neuter] uien
this/that pound [of] onions
b. % deze/die[-neuter,-sg] pond uien[-neuter,-sg]
these/those pound [of] onions
The examples in (59) show that the remaining types of N1s can freely occur
with demonstrative pronouns. The demonstrative pronouns in (59) must agree with
N1; replacing them by deze/die leads to ungrammaticality.
(59) a. dit/dat[+neuter] kistje[+neuter] sigaren
this/that boxdim [of] cigars
b. dit/dat[+neuter] stuk[+neuter] zeep
this/that piece [of] soap
c. dit/dat[+neuter] groepje[+neuter] studenten
this/that groupdim [of] students
The examples in this section have shown that demonstrative pronouns can only
appear with a subset of the quantifier nouns; when possible, the demonstrative