Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Syntactic uses of noun phrases 1061
sentence in (21a), or, probably more commonly, as definite pronouns. When the
discourse topic is very prominent, as in (21b), it can occasionally be dropped.
(21) a. De man stond op het punt te vertrekken. Hij pakte zijn tas, maar ...
the man stood on the point to leave he took his bag but
‘The man was about to leave. He took his bag, but ...’
b. Q: Weet jij waar mijn sleutels zijn?
know you where my keys are
A: Nee, (die) heb ik niet gezien.
no those have I not seen
‘Do you know where my keys are? No, I haven’t seen them.’
III. Long topicalization
The examples in (6) above have shown that, unlike wh-movement, topicalization
cannot target the initial position of an embedded clause. This does not imply,
however, that it is impossible to topicalize some constituent that is part of an
embedded clause; topicalization may also target the initial position of a higher main
clause. In (22), we give an example of such long topicalization of a direct object,
which is perfectly acceptable provided that the moved phrase is assigned contrastive
accent.
(22) Dat BOEKi denk ik [dat hij ti wil hebben].
that book think I that he wants to have
‘That book, I think he would like to have.’
The examples in (23) involve “long” topicalization of a subject. In these cases there
is a clear contrast between definite and specific indefinite noun phrases, on the one
hand, and nonspecific indefinite noun phrases, on the other. Only the latter are
acceptable, provided that the moved phrase is emphatically stressed. Again, this can
be accounted for by referring to the generalization in (13) that a complementizer
cannot be followed by a trace in subject position. When a nonspecific indefinite
noun phrase is topicalized, it is not moved from the regular subject position, which
is occupied by the expletive, but from some position following it. When we are
dealing with a definite or specific indefinite noun phrase, the expletive is not
present and movement proceeds from the regular subject position, resulting in
unacceptability.
(23) a. ?? De JONGENi denk ik [dat ti gelogen heeft].
the boy think I that lied has
b. Een JONGENi denk ik [dat ?? (er) ti gelogen heeft].
a boy think I that there lied has
Since this chapter is not the place to exhaustively discuss all intricacies of (long)
topicalization, we will end our discussion at this point.
8.1.3. Object noun phrases in the middle field of the clause: Scrambling
Generally, nominal objects can occupy various positions in the so-called °middle
field of the clause, that is, that part of the clause bounded to the left by the