Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

1100 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
noun phrase, not with the singular pronoun; the examples in (127) show that plural
agreement is normally not possible when the pronoun het/dat/dit functions as
subject of an adjectival or prepositional copular construction.
(127) a. Het/Dit/Dat is/*zijn kapot.
it/this/that is/are broken
b. Het/Dit/Dat is/*zijn in de tuin.
it/this/that is/are in the garden
Another reason to assume that the pronouns function as predicates is that when the
nominal predicate is replaced by a pronoun, the latter will appear in its nominal
form; this cannot, of course, be shown for the second person, plural pronoun given
that the subject and object form are identical.
(128) a. Dat ben ik/*mij. a′. Dat zijn wij/*ons.
that am I/me that are we/us
b. Dat ben jij/*jou. b′. Dat zijn jullie.
that are you/you that are you
c. Dat is zij/*haar. c′. Dat zijn zij/*hen.
that is she/her that are they/them
The claim that the pronouns in (126) function as predicates of the copular
constructions was challenged by Merckens (1961), who argued that these examples
are actually ambiguous. This is illustrated by the examples in (129), the meanings
of which will become clear from the English translations. The function of the leftdislocated
constituents in these and the following examples is to force the intended
subject/predicate reading on the pronoun dat.
(129) a. Jan en Piet, dat zijn aardige jongens. [dat = subject]
Jan and Piet that are nice boys
‘Jan and Piet are nice boys.’
b. Behulpzaam, dat zijn aardige jongens. [dat = predicate]
helpful that are nice boys
‘Nice boys are helpful.’
The same ambiguity is apparent from embedded clauses like those in (130). given
that subject pronouns are normally right-adjacent to the complementizer and
predicates left-adjacent to the verbs in clause-final position; cf. Ik vind dat dat mooi
is ‘I think that that is beautiful’ versus *Ik vind dat mooi dat is. This means that dat
functions as a subject in (130a) and as a predicate in (130b). The primed examples
show that this conclusion is supported by the interpretation of these examples.
(130) a. Jan en Piet, ik denk dat dat aardige jongens zijn. [dat = subject]
Jan and Piet I think that that nice boys are
a′. *Behulpzaam, ik denk dat dat aardige jongens zijn.
helpful I think that that nice boys are
b. Behulpzaam, ik denk dat aardige jongens dat zijn. [dat = predicate]
helpful I think that nice boys that are
b. *Jan en Piet, ik denk dat aardige jongens dat zijn.
Jan and Piet I think that nice boys that are