Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Syntactic uses of noun phrases 1069
The existential personal pronouns iemand ‘someone’ and iets ‘something’ also
allow both a nonspecific and a specific interpretation. As in the quantified noun
phrases discussed above, the availability of these readings depends on whether the
noun phrase occurs to the right or to the left of the adverb. Note that the specific
readings in the primed examples are not completely natural.
(41) a. dat Jan waarschijnlijk iemand uitnodigt.
that Jan probably someone prt.-invites
a′. ? dat Jan iemand waarschijnlijk uitnodigt.
b. dat Jan waarschijnlijk iets aan Peter wil geven.
that Jan probably something to Peter wants give
b′. ? dat Jan iets waarschijnlijk aan Peter wil geven.
Again, the position of the nominal object affects the scope readings: whereas the
frequency adverb has scope over the existential pronouns in the primeless examples
of (42), the pronouns have scope over the adverb in the primed examples. As a
result, (42a) contends that it has often been the case that Jan insulted some person or
other, whereas (42a′) expresses that there is a certain person who has often been
insulted by Jan. Similarly, (42b) contends that it has often been the case that Jan
dropped something, whereas (42b′) expresses that there is a certain thing that has
often been dropped by Jan. Observe that, in contrast to the primed examples in (41),
the primed examples in (42) are impeccable.
(42) a. dat Jan vaak iemand heeft uitgescholden.
that Jan often someone has prt.-insulted
a′. dat Jan iemand vaak heeft uitgescholden.
b. dat Jan vaak iets laat vallen.
that Jan often something drops
b′. dat Jan iets vaak laat vallen.
B. Universally quantified noun phrases
The examples in (43) suggest that universally quantified phrases have some
preference for the position following the modal adverb waarschijnlijk ‘probably’,
but both orders seem to be grammatical. The difference between the two examples
seems to be related to the information structure in the clause. In (43b), it is only the
action of inviting that is part of the focus of the clause. Example (43a) is compatible
with various information structures: the focus of the clause can be formed by the
full VP alle studenten uitnodigen, the noun phrase alle studenten, or the quantifier
alle — in the first two cases sentence stress falls on the noun studenten, and in the
third case on the quantifier alle.
(43) a. Marie zal waarschijnlijk alle studenten uitnodigen.
Marie will probably all students prt.-invite
‘Marie will probably invite all students.’
b. (?) Marie zal alle studenten waarschijnlijk uitnodigen.
The two examples also seem to differ in interpretation. Example (43a) can be
interpreted either as referring to a single event of inviting all the students or as