Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

924 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
(160) a. Er zit veel/weinig wijn in de fles.
there is much/little wine in the bottle
b. *Er zit er [veel/weinig [e]] in de fles.
there is ER much/little in the bottle
c. Er zit veel/weinig in de fles.
there is much/little in the bottle
The judgments on the examples in (159) and (160) remain the same when the
quantifiers veel and weinig are modified by degree modifiers like erg ‘very’ or te
‘too’, or when they are replaced with their comparative forms meer ‘more’ and
minder ‘less’. Replacement by the superlative forms (het) meest ‘(the) most’ and
(het) minst ‘(the) least’ is of course excluded since this would make the noun
phrases definite; definite noun phrases do not license quantitative er and are not
possible in expletive constructions.
The examples in (161) show that veel/weinig can also be used as the predicate
in a copular construction or as a measure phrase with verbs like kosten. In this case,
veel and weinig can also be replaced by both the comparative and the superlative
form; the latter can optionally take an -e ending.
(161) a. Dat is erg veel/weinig.
that is very much/little
‘That is quite a lot/very little.’
b. Dat is meer/minder dan je nodig hebt.
that is more/less than you need have
‘That is more/less than you need.’
c. Dat is het meest(e)/minst(e).
that is the most/least
(162) a. Dat kost/weegt veel/weinig.
that costs/weighs much/little
b. Dit boek kost meer/minder (dan dat boek).
this book costs more/less than that book
c. Dat boek kost het meest(e)/minst(e).
that book cost the most/least
B. Inflected vele(n) and weinige(n)
The examples in (151), repeated here as (163), show that veel may also occur in an
inflected form; inflected weinige gives rise to a marked/degraded result. When no
overt article is present, veel can either be inflected or uninflected, and we assume
that the form depends on the absence or presence of the phonetically empty
indefinite article ∅.
(163) a. de vele/*veel boeken a′. ? de weinige boeken
the many books the few books
b. ∅ vele boeken b′. *? ∅ weinige boeken
∅ many books ∅ few books
c. veel boeken c′. weinig boeken
many books few books