Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

1020 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
(226) a. *Ik ken heel die hele geschiedenis niet.
I know all that whole history not
b. *Ik ken die hele hele geschiedenis niet.
I know that whole whole history not
There is a reason, however, that the semantics of totality associated with
negative polar heel should be attributed to the verb phrase containing the heel
phrase, and not to the noun phrase. Heel, though syntactically construed with the
noun phrase that contains it, seems semantically construed with the verb phrase, and
teams up with the negation to express the notion of totality. This is clear from the
fact that the function of heel in (227a) is more or less equivalent to that of the
adverb helemaal in (227b). In other words, negative polar heel may °scope out of its
noun phrase in a way similar to the determiner geen; cf. Section 5.1.5.1.1, sub I.
(227) a. Ik ken die hele vent niet.
I know that whole guy not
b. Ik ken die vent helemaal niet.
I know that guy at all not
The particular form of helemaal used in (227b) is the one that bears no accent.
There is an alternative form helemáál, with accent on the second syllable, which
means “absolutely” (and alternates with volstrekt, absoluut ‘absolutely’), and it is
interesting to note that it is only this form that can co-occur with negative polar
heel; the unstressed form helemaal is incompatible with heel in its intended sense.
(228) Ik ken die hele vent helemáál/*helemaal niet.
I know that whole guy absolutely/at all not
The complementary distribution of negative polar heel and unstressed helemaal
confirms their parallel functions, and supports our earlier conclusion that heel found
in examples like (227a) and (228) is interpreted as a modifier of the VP in the sense
that it has scope over the VP rather than over the noun phrase that includes it. It is
therefore not evident whether the notion of totality is related to negative polar heel
itself or is of a more compositional nature.
7.2.2. Distribution of heel and its alternants inside the noun phrase
This section discusses the noun-phrase internal syntactic distribution of heel. We
start with an investigation of the properties of the bare form heel preceding
determiners in Section 7.2.2.1, which is followed by a discussion of post-determiner
inflectible heel in Section 7.2.2.2. Section 7.2.2.3 concludes with a brief comparison
between heel and its variant geheel prefixed by ge-. Quantificational heel
sometimes alternates with the form gans, but this will not be discussed here since it
is an archaic form, not found in the present-day vernacular. It is essentially obsolete,
living on in the frozen phrase van ganser harte ‘wholeheartedly’ (where it, in fact,
does not alternate with heel).