Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

970 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
B. Indefinite determiner-like elements
The indefinite determiner-like elements dat/dit soort ‘such’, discussed in Section
4.1.2, are not compatible with alle/beide, regardless of their position relative to the
quantifiers. The same thing holds for the indefinite determiner-like element van die
‘such’ (lit.: of those) in the pseudo-partitive construction.
(73) a. * dat/dit soort boeken
all/both that/this sort books
b. * van die boeken
all/both of those books
‘all such books’
C. Quantifiers and numerals
Simplex alle and beide cannot co-occur with other quantifiers in a noun phrase. The
examples in (74) are all ungrammatical. Word order patterns like alle honderd
boeken ‘all hundred books’ do yield a grammatical result with higher numerals, but
alle does not directly quantify the noun phrase in such constructions, arguably
forming a constituent together with the numeral; cf. the discussion in Section
7.1.2.2.1, sub II.
(74) a. *alle/beide enige/sommige boeken
all/both some books
b. *alle/beide veel/vele mensen in de zaal
all/both many people in the room
c. *alle/beide weinig/weinige mensen in de zaal
all/both few people in the room
D. Pronouns
Another consideration concerning alle/beide that casts doubt on a “fusion” approach
is the fact illustrated in the primeless examples in (75) that, in contradistinction to
the pre-determiners al and allebei, alle and beide can be combined with animate
personal pronouns into a single constituent, where the quantifier is obligatorily
adorned with a mute, orthographic -n. As in the case of alle + Num, the pronoun
must be realized in its strong form and precede the quantifier, which may account
for the fact that the examples in (75a′) are not acceptable, given that pronouns
referring to non-human entities normally have the weak form; cf. Section 5.2.1.1.5.
(75) a. (Wat die kinderen betreft,) zij/*ze allen/beiden zijn erg slim.
what those children concerns they all/both are very smart
a′. *(Wat die problemen betreft,) zij alle/beide zijn zeer ernstig.
what those problems concerns they all/both are very serious
b. (Wat die kinderen betreft,) God zij met hen/*ze allen/beiden.
what those children concerns God be with them all/both
The examples in (75a) are marked compared to their variants in (76). These socalled
°floating quantifier constructions, which allow both the strong and the weak
form of the pronoun (which can therefore also refer to non-human entities), are
discussed in Section 7.1.4. Note further that the forms allen/beiden belong to the