Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

1008 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
Since post-determiner heel and half do not force a partitioning of the object denoted
by the noun they combine with, the friction between “totally affecting” predicates
and the pre-determiner half in (173) is lacking in the case of post-determiner half in
(190). The examples in (190) simply contend that the predicate expressed by the
verb phrase holds for, respectively, a hundred or fifty per cent of the island/village.
(190) a. Het hele/halve eiland lag bezaaid met bloemen.
the whole/half island lay BE-seeded with flowers
b. Het hele/halve dorp werd leeggeroofd.
the whole/half village was robbed.empty
II. Degree
The quantificational interpretations in which heel means “total” and half means
“fifty per cent of” compete with an alternative reading of these sentences in which
heel and half express degree. This reading is discussed in this subsection.
A. Metaphor (high/moderate degree)
The modifiers heel and half in the examples of the type in (191) typically contribute
the semantics of “(moderately) high degree”; the examples receive an interpretation
according to which the verbal proposition is predicated to a substantial degree of the
noun phrase containing heel/half. Metaphorical examples of the type in (191) are
particularly common in the context of (more or less fixed expressions of)
exaggeration. Although the degree modifiers heel and half are equally possible in
(191), the two differ in that the degree to which the verbal proposition holds is
understood to be stronger when heel is used than when half is used. This difference
is not very robust, though.
(191) a. Komt er ineens een hele/halve volksverhuizing op me af!
comes there suddenly a whole/half mass migration at me prt.
‘All of a sudden a load of people comes running towards me!’
b. Hij kreeg een hele/halve zondvloed op z’n dak.
he got a whole/half deluge on his roof
‘He got drenched.’
The degree reading is also obtainable in the examples in (190), repeated here as
(192). In these examples, however, this is easiest with the modifier halve, which on
its degree reading expresses that there were quite a lot of flowers spread out across
the island, and that quite a few objects in the village were stolen in the robbery.
Degree readings of this type with heel are only readily available in metaphorical
cases like the ones in (191); in examples like (192) they seem harder to get.
(192) a. Het hele/halve eiland lag bezaaid met bloemen.
the whole/half island lay BE-seeded with flowers
b. Het hele/halve dorp werd leeggeroofd.
the whole/half village was robbed.empty
Noun phrases containing the degree modifiers heel/half require that main accent
be on the noun: een hele/halve VOLKSverhuizing in (191a) and het halve DORP in
(192b). Noun phrases containing the quantifiers heel/half meaning “100/50%”, on