Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

628 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
however, the spurious van-PP patterns with the noun phrases in this respect. This
again supports the claim that we are actually dealing with a noun phrase.
(145) a. dat Jan vaak wacht .
that Jan often for that train waits
‘that Jan is often waiting for that train.’
b. dat Jan vaak bakt .
that Jan often of those awful cookies bakes
‘that Jan often bakes those awful cookies.’
Occasionally, ambiguity arises between a PP- and an NP-complement reading. PPover-V
can then serve to disambiguate the example: after extraposition of the vanphrase
only the PP-complement reading survives. This is shown in (146).
(146) a. Jan heeft van dat lekkere brood gegeten.
Jan has of that tasty bread eaten
PP-complement reading: ‘Jan has eaten of that tasty bread (over there).’
Pseudo-partitive reading: ‘Jan has eaten that tasty bread (you know which).’
b. Jan heeft gegeten van dat lekkere brood.
Jan has eaten of that nice bread
PP-complement reading only: ‘Jan has eaten of that tasty bread (over there).’
Unfortunately, this test cannot be applied directly to the partitive and pseudopartitive
construction, since PP-over-V leads to a bad result in both cases (although
it has been claimed that PP-over-V is somewhat better in the case of the partitive
reading). This is illustrated in (147).
(147) Jan heeft een aantal opgegeten .
Jan has a number of those cookies prt.-eaten
‘Jan ate a number of those cookies (you know the kind I mean).’
‘Jan ate a number of cookies.’
C. R-pronominalization
Partitive and pseudo-partitive constructions also differ with respect to °Rpronominalization.
The examples in (148) show that the PP-complement op die
trein ‘for that train’ from example (145a) can undergo this process, whereas this is
not possible with the spurious van-PP from example (145b). Example (149)
furthermore shows that R-pronominalization can also be used to disambiguate
examples like (146). After pronominalization of dat lekkere brood only the PPcomplement
reading survives. These facts again support the suggestion that van is
not a true preposition in the spurious van-PP.
(148) a. dat Jan er vaak op wacht.
that Jan there often for waits
‘that Jan is often waiting for it.’
b. *dat Jan er vaak van bakt.
that Jan there often of bakes