Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Syntactic uses of noun phrases 1073
The examples in this subsection suggest that scrambling of the direct object is
not possible across the indirect object when the latter occurs in the position
following the clause adverb, that is, when the latter is not scrambled. Here it must
be noted that this constraint applies not only to scrambling but also to whmovement
and topicalization (Haegeman 1991 and Den Dikken 1995). The
examples in (53) show that wh-movement of the direct object gives rise to a
marginal result when the indirect object follows the clause adverb waarschijnlijk
but is perfectly acceptable when the indirect object is scrambled. This shows that
the relevant constraint is not based on some “preference rule” that wants to keep the
order of the indirect and direct object fixed in order to facilitate parsing, because
this would leave the contrast between the primeless and primed examples in (53)
unexplained. Therefore, some deeper principle must be at work here; see Broekhuis
(2000/2008) for a proposal.
(53) a. *? Wat heeft hij vaak zijn moeder aangeboden?
a′. Wat heeft hij zijn moeder vaak aangeboden?
what has he his mother often prt.-offered
‘What did he often offer to his mother?’
b. *? Dat boek heeft hij vaak zijn moeder aangeboden.
b′. Dat boek heeft hij zijn moeder vaak aangeboden.
that book has he his mother often prt.-offered
‘That book he has often offered to his mother.’
8.1.3.2. Clauses containing a VP adverb
The previous section has shown that nonspecific nominal objects cannot readily be
scrambled across a clause adverb. We may not, however, conclude from this that
nonspecific nominal objects categorically resist scrambling. Consider the examples
in (54), which show that nonspecific indefinite nominal objects may either precede
or follow °VP adverbs of time and place. The sentences differ in the assignment of
the sentence accent. In the primeless examples, sentence accent is preferably
assigned to the nominal head of the indefinite object, whereas in the primed
examples it is preferably assigned to the nominal head of the complement of the
adverbial PP. This corresponds to the prominence within the focus field of the
clause, that is, within the part of the clause expressing “new” information, which
can roughly be defined as that part of the middle field of the clause following the
clause adverbs. In the primeless examples the object is the most prominent element
in the focus field, whereas in the primed examples it is the adverbial phrase that is
most prominent; cf. Broekhuis (2007/2008).
(54) a. Jan heeft waarschijnlijk in de tuin een BOEK gelezen.
Jan has probably in the garden a book read
‘Jan probably read a book in the garden.’
a′. Jan heeft waarschijnlijk een boek in de TUIN gelezen.
b. Jan heeft mogelijk al in de pauze een kop KOFfie gedronken.
Jan has possibly already during the break a cup of coffee drunk
‘Jan has possibly already drunk a cup of coffee during the break.’
b′. Jan heeft mogelijk al een kop koffie in de PAUze gedronken.