Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

1000 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
member states, whereas a proper noun like Jan is stored as an atomic unit referring
to some individual.
So far, we have focused on the requirement that the referent of the noun phrase
must be structured, that is, be construed as consisting of several subparts. That the
referent of the noun phrase must be a UNIT is highlighted by the interpretation of
example (166a); the indirect object is conceived of as a unit, all of whose parts are
affected equally and collectively by the event expressed by the verb phrase. The
unit reading expressed by (166a) can be primed by means of the paraphrase in
(166a′). In (166b), we find a similar example taken from the internet that involves a
PP-complement; again it is possible to provide a paraphrase with in z’n geheel.
(166) a. Ik heb heel het huis een opknapbeurt gegeven.
I have all the house a cleaning given
‘I gave the entire house a cleaning.’
a′. Ik heb het huis in z’n geheel een opknapbeurt gegeven.
I have the house in its whole a cleaning given
‘I gave the house in its entirety a cleaning.’
b. We bieden integrale zorg, die kijkt naar heel de mens en niet alleen
we offer complete care that looks at all the person and not only
naar lever, hart of nieren ...
at liver heart or kidneys
b′. We bieden integrale zorg, die kijkt naar de mens in z’n geheel (en niet ...)
we offer complete care that looks at the person in its whole and not
The primeless examples in (166) contrast with the examples in (167), in spite of the
fact that the syntactic function of the heel phrases in these examples is the same,
viz. indirect object and complement of a PP-complement of the verb,
(167) a. ?? Ik heb heel de film mijn volle aandacht gegeven.
I have all the movie my full attention given
‘I gave the entire movie my full attention.’
b. *? Ik heb aandachtig naar heel de film zitten kijken.
I have attentively to all the movie sit look
‘I watched the entire movie attentively.’
The difference in acceptability between (166) and (167) therefore seems to be of a
semantico-pragmatic nature. Insofar as the latter examples are acceptable, the
objects receive an intrinsically distributive interpretation (with attentiveness being
distributed equally across the object), and it is apparently difficult for bare heel
phrases to receive such a distributive interpretation. This seems to lend further
confirmation to the importance of the UNIT part of the semantic characterization of
pre-determiner bare heel; while the house in (166) is conceived of as a unit whose
parts are collectively affected by the event expressed by the verb phrase, the verbal
events in (167) affect the subparts of the movie not as a group or a unit but only in a
distributive fashion.
The STRUCTURED UNIT requirement is also reflected by the fact illustrated in
(168a) that plural noun phrases normally cannot be combined with pre-determiner
bare heel; in the general case, plurals do not constitute a unit but a set of units.