Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Syntactic uses of noun phrases 1053
(1) • Subject
a. De man was afwezig. a′. Er was een man afwezig.
the man was absent there was a man absent
b. Het kind was afwezig. b′. Er was een kind afwezig.
the child was absent there was a child absent
c. De mensen waren afwezig. c′. Er waren [DP ∅ mensen] afwezig.
the people were absent there was people absent
(2) • Direct object
a. Hij genas de/een man.
he healed the/a man
b. Hij genas het/een kind.
he healed the/a child
c. Hij genas de/∅ mensen.
he healed the/∅ people
(3) • Indirect object
a. Hij gaf de/een man nieuwe hoop.
he gave the/a man new hope
b. Hij gaf het/een kind nieuwe hoop.
he gave the/a child new hope
c. Hij gaf de/∅ mensen nieuwe hoop.
he gave the/∅ people new hope
(4) • Complement of PP
a. Hij gaf het boek aan de/een man. a′. Jan wacht op de/een man.
he gave the book to the/a man Jan waits for the/a man
b. Hij gaf het boek aan het/een kind. b′. Jan wacht op het/een kind.
he gave the book to the/a child Jan waits for the/a child
c. Hij gaf boeken aan de/ ? ∅ mensen. c′. Jan wacht op de/ ?? ∅ mensen.
he gave books to the/∅ people Jan waits for the/∅ people
In the examples above, two things leap to the eye. First, it can be observed that
the plural indefinite noun phrases in the (c)-examples in (4) give rise to a marked
result. This is related to the fact that the indefinite noun phrase has a nonspecific
reading; when the plural noun phrase has a generic reading, as in (5), the result is
fine.
(5) a. Jan geeft graag aan goede doelen.
Jan gives gladly to good causes
‘Jan likes to give to charity.’
b. Jan houdt van zebra’s.
Jan is fond of zebras
‘Jan loves zebras.’
Second, it can be noted that the indefinite subjects in the primed examples in (1)
normally occur in an expletive construction. This also has to do with the fact that
the indefinite noun phrase is construed non-generically. We will come back to this
in Section 8.1.4 below.