Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Pre-determiners 1019
b. dat ik nog nooit eerder ontmoet heb.
that I such a guy yet never before met have
‘that I have never met such a guy before.’
b′. *dat ik nog nooit ontmoet heb.
The primeless examples in (224), finally. show that combining the negative
polarity use of heel with prenominal possessors gives rise to a marked result;
grammatical possessive examples can be obtained by placing the possessor in
postnominal position, as in the primed examples.
(224) a. ?? Ik had zijn hele auto niet gezien.
I had his whole car not seen
a′. Ik had die hele auto van ’m niet gezien.
I had that whole car of him not seen
b. ?? Ik ken zijn hele vader niet.
I know his whole father not
b′. Ik ken die hele vader van ’ m niet.
I know that whole father of him not
D. Comparing negative polar and quantificational heel
This section investigates whether the notion of totality, that is, the core meaning of
post-determiner heel, is also relevant for the use of heel as a negative polar element;
cf. the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, lemma heel, for an earlier discussion
of this possibility. If so, examples of the type in (207) can be taken to express that
the speaker’s unfamiliarity with, indifference towards, or negative judgment about
the entity denoted by the heel phrase extends to the entire entity, nothing being
exempted. What may plead for such an approach is that negative polar heel cannot
be combined with quantificational (pre- or post-determiner) heel. Consider the
examples in (225), which are ambiguous between a quantificational and a negative
polar interpretation of heel: on the latter reading niet is required, whereas on the
former reading it is omissible (structurally speaking).
(225) a. Ik ken heel die geschiedenis niet.
I know all that history not
b. Ik ken die hele geschiedenis niet.
I know that whole history not
When we now turn to the examples in (226) we see that the forms of heel found in
(225) cannot be combined with negative polarity item heel into a single noun
phrase. For the negative polarity readings of heel in (225) this is of course
straightforward, but on a quantificational interpretation of pre-determiner heel in
(226a) and one of the two tokens of heel in (226b) it is not immediately obvious
why these examples should be ill-formed. However, when we also treat negative
polarity heel as a quantificational element, this may provide an explanation for the
deviance of (226) given that double quantification is normally excluded.