Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

914 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
(133) a. Sommige junkies komen nooit van hun verslaving af.
some junkies come never from their addiction prt.
‘Some junkies will never overcome their addiction.’
b. Enkele junkies komen nooit van hun verslaving af.
some junkies come never from their addiction prt.
‘Some of the junkies will never overcome their addiction.’
In such “generic” cases, sommige may also trigger a “kind” interpretation on the
noun it modifies. For example, sommige medicijnen ‘some medicines’ in (134a)
may refer to, e.g., the types of medicines that fall into the class of barbiturates.
Enkele in (134b) again does not have this effect: it can only quantify over a
contextually defined set of medicines.
(134) a. Sommige medicijnen kunnen de rijvaardigheid beïnvloeden.
some medicines may the driving.ability influence
‘Some medicines may influence the ability to drive.’
b. Enkele medicijnen kunnen de rijvaardigheid beïnvloeden.
some medicines may the driving.ability influence
‘Some of these medicines may influence the ability to drive.’
B. The use of enkele as an attributive modifier
Enkele can also be used as an attributive modifier. This use of enkele is
characterized by the fact that enkele is followed by a singular noun. In (135a&b),
the meaning of enkele is still quantificational in nature: despite the fact that the
modified noun is singular, the noun phrase may actually refer to a non-singleton set
with a low cardinality. In (135c), on the other hand, the presence of the numeral één
‘one’ triggers a reading of enkele that can be properly rendered by means of English
single. In (135d), enkele has the meaning “one-way”: the phrase een enkele reis is
especially used to refer to a one-way ticket.
(135) a. Die enkele bezoekersg die hier komt, is het noemen niet waard.
that ENKELE visitor that here comes is the mention not worth
‘Those few visitors who come here are not worth mentioning.’
b. Ik ben hier slechts een enkele keersg geweest.
I am here only an ENKELE time been
‘I have been here only a couple of times.’
c. Ik ben hier slechts één enkele keersg geweest.
I am here only a SINGLE time been
‘I have been here only once.’
d. een enkele reis naar Amsterdam
a one.way trip to Amsterdam
‘a one-way ticket to Amsterdam’
6.2.3.2. Use as argument
When an existential quantifier is used as an argument, it is generally realized as the
[+HUMAN] quantified personal pronoun iemand ‘someone’ or the [-HUMAN]
quantified personal pronoun iets/wat ‘something’. Some examples are given in
(136). These quantifiers are normally used as weak quantifiers, which is clear from