Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

(63) a. Jan heeft < ?? een boek> niet gelezen.
Jan has a book not read
b. Jan heeft geen boek gelezen.
Jan has no book read
‘Jan hasn’t read a book.’
Syntactic uses of noun phrases 1077
An exception to the rule that indefinite nominal objects cannot precede the negative
adverb niet are indefinite noun phrases containing an attributive adjective like
volgende ‘next’ or nieuwe ‘new’ or an ordinal numeral, as in the examples in (64).
Indefinite noun phrases of this type are also exceptional in that they can precede
modal adverbs like waarschijnlijk ‘probably’; cf. example (37). Note that the
indefinite nominal object cannot follow the negative adverb niet, which is of course
in accordance with the general rule that noun phrases cannot follow a negative
adverb. The negative article geen ‘no’ cannot be used in examples of this kind.
(64) a. Jan zal een volgende/nieuwe uitnodiging niet afslaan.
Jan will a next/new invitation not turn.down
‘Jan won’t turn down any invitation that comes next/new invitation.’
a′. *Jan zal niet een volgende/nieuwe uitnodiging afslaan.
b. De Veiligheidsraad zal een nieuwe/tweede aanval niet veroordelen.
the Security Council will a new/second attack not condemn
‘The Security Council will not condemn a subsequent/second attack.’
b. *De Veiligheidsraad zal niet een nieuwe/tweede aanval veroordelen.
From the discussion above we can conclude that the negative adverb niet
cannot be followed by a noun phrase. Note, however, that (65a), where the nominal
object is assigned contrastive focus, is acceptable; in this case we are not dealing
with sentential negation but with constituent negation, which is clear from the fact
that the negative adverb is preferably pied piped by topicalization of the noun
phrase. This example therefore does not conflict with the general rule that noun
phrases cannot follow sentential negation.
(65) a. Hij heeft niet het/een BOEK gelezen (maar het/een ARTIKEL).
he has not the/a book read, but the/an article
‘He didn’t read the BOOK (but the ARTICLE).’
b. het/een BOEK heeft hij < ? niet> gelezen (maar het/een ARTIKEL).
This may be different in the case of (66), where it is not simply the object het boek
that is contrasted but the whole VP het boek gelezen. In this case, the negative
adverb is preferably stranded by topicalization of the VP, although pied piping is at
least marginally possible. If this indicates that we are dealing with sentential
negation, example (65b) must be seen as an exception to the general rule that noun
phrases cannot follow sentential negation.
(66) a. Hij heeft niet [VP het/een BOEK gelezen] (maar [VP de/een FILM gezien]).
he has not the/a book read but the/a movie seen
‘He didn’t read the book, but saw the film.’
b. < ? Niet> [VP het/een boek gelezen] heeft hij (maar [VP de/een film gezien]).