Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

1084 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
(81) a. Er ligt meestal een nijlpaard in het water.
there lies generally a hippopotamus in the water
a′. Er lag meestal een nijlpaard in het water.
there lay generally a hippopotamus in the water
b. Een nijlpaard ligt meestal in het water.
a hippopotamus lies generally in the water
b′. % Een nijlpaard lag meestal in het water.
a hippopotamus lay generally in the water
The examples in (82) show that the same pattern arises in the case of plural
indefinite noun phrases. Again, the primed (b)-example is unacceptable due to nonsyntactic
factors, given that it suggests that hippos in general have changed their
habit of normally lying in the water.
(82) a. Er liggen meestal [NP ∅ nijlpaarden] in het water.
there lie generally ∅ hippopotami in the water
a′. Er lagen meestal [NP ∅ nijlpaarden] in het water.
there lay generally ∅ hippopotami in the water
b. [NP ∅ Nijlpaarden] liggen meestal in het water.
∅ hippopotami lie generally in the water
b′. % [NP ∅ Nijlpaarden] lagen meestal in het water.
∅ hippopotami lay generally in the water
Summarizing, we can say that (unmodified) nonspecific indefinite subjects
introduced by the indefinite article een/∅ must normally be part of an expletive
construction. Specific indefinite subjects, on the other hand, may either be part of an
expletive construction or occupy the regular subject position. Indefinite subjects
with a partitive or generic interpretation, finally, cannot occur in an expletive
construction but must occupy the regular subject position.
(83) Filler of the regular subject position
SUBJECT EXPLETIVE
NONSPECIFIC INDEFINITE SUBJECT — +
SPECIFIC INDEFINITE SUBJECT + +
PARTITIVE/GENERIC INDEFINITE SUBJECT + —
To conclude this section on the expletive construction we want to mention that
narratives pose an exception to the general rule that nonspecific indefinite noun
phrases headed by an indefinite article do not occur in the regular subject position.
A story might well begin as in (84), where the function of the noun phrase een man
is clearly to introduce some new discourse entity without the implication that the
speakers would be able to uniquely identify the intended referent. The sentence in
(84) is acceptable only when the discourse is continued with a story about this
person sitting in the waiting room.
(84) Een man zit in de wachtkamer bij de dokter en ...
a man sits in the waiting.room of the doctor and
‘A man is sitting in the waiting room of the doctor, and ...’