Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

1030 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
Since adjectival heel is a regular adjective, its distribution in the noun phrase is
identical to that of other adjectives of the same semantic type (that is, the nongradable
adjectives). The reader is referred to Broekhuis (to appear) for discussion
of the adjectival phrase. In what follows the discussion of post-determiner
inflectible heel will focus on its quantificational uses.
7.2.2.2.2. Quantificational heel
This section presents a survey of the distribution of post-determiner inflectible heel
inside the noun phrase. We first discuss in Subsection I the noun phrase types that
may contain this post-determiner. This is followed in Subsection II by a discussion
of the restrictions heel imposes on other elements within the noun phrase.
I. Quantificational inflectible heel and noun phrase types
Table 14 shows that quantificational heel can be placed to the right of a determiner
in neuter and non-neuter singular count noun phrases. It is difficult, however, to add
quantificational heel to the right of a determiner in plural noun phrases.
Table 14: Post-determiner [+Q] heel in noun phrases headed by definite count nouns
DEFINITE
ARTICLES
DEMONSTRATIVE
PRONOUNS
POSSESSIVE
PRONOUNS
SINGULAR
[-NEUTER] [+NEUTER]
de hele stad
the whole town
die hele stad
that whole town
deze hele stad
this whole town
mijn hele stad
my whole town
het hele huis
the whole house
dat hele huis
that whole house
dit hele huis
this whole house
mijn hele huis
my whole house
PLURAL
*de hele steden/huizen
the whole towns/houses
?
die hele steden/huizen
those whole towns/houses
*?
deze hele steden/huizen
these whole towns/houses
*mijn hele steden/huizen
my whole towns/houses
The grammaticality judgments on the plural noun phrases seem determined by the
semantics of heel. Section 7.2.1.2.2 has shown that post-determiner heel has a
variety of quantificational interpretations; totality, degree and negative polarity are
the three main instantiations. The core quantificational semantics of totality is the
most salient component of the interpretation of singular examples. In the plural
examples, on the other hand, the totality reading is unavailable, or at least very hard
to get, which accounts for the unacceptability of most of these cases. The plural
examples involving the distal demonstrative die (and perhaps to a lesser degree also
those with the proximate demonstrative deze) are reasonably felicitous due to the
fact that they allow a negative polarity reading. Degree interpretations are typically
reserved for determiner-less plurals like (251).
(251) ∅ Hele steden/huizen werden verwoest.
∅ entire towns were destroyed
Since pluralia tantum and group-denoting plurals preceded by the definite article
refer to a unit, they are eligible for a totality interpretation of hele, in contrast to the
regular plurals in Table 14.