Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

642 Syntax of Dutch: nouns and noun phrases
(193) a. het vierde kabinet-Balkenende
the fourth cabinet-Balkenende
b. de commissie-Van Traa
the committee-Van Traa
c. de methode-Paardekooper
the method-Paardekooper
The examples in (194), in which the second noun phrase has the form of a
genitive noun phrase, are clearly relics from the older stages of the language. In
present-day Dutch such noun phrases would normally be realized by means of a
postnominal van-phrase instead of the genitive noun phrase.
(194) a. Dag des Oordeels
day thegen judgmentgen
‘Doomsday’
b. de heer des huizes
the master thegen housegen
‘the master of the house’
4.2. Binominal constructions with a preposition
In the previous section, we were mainly concerned with binominal constructions in
which the two nouns may or must be adjacent. In this section, we will deal with
binominal constructions that contain a preposition. Section 4.2.1 will start with a
discussion of N van een N constructions like een schat van een kat, which
obligatorily contain the preposition van and are used to express, e.g., metaphoric
comparison: “a cat like a treasure”. This is followed in Section 4.2.2 by a discussion
of the interrogative construction wat voor een N ‘what kind of N’, which
obligatorily contains the preposition voor, and in which the interrogative pronoun
wat is used to request a further specification of the set denoted by the second noun.
4.2.1. The N van een N ‘N of a N’ construction
This section will discuss N van een N constructions of the type in (195). The
examples in (195a) and (195b) show that there are two semantic subtypes of this
construction; cf. Den Dikken (2006: ch.5). Example (195a) involves some form of
metaphoric comparison: the size of the referent of the noun phrase is compared to a
tree, that is, he is huge. The most prominent reading of (195), on the other hand, is
one in which a property is attributed to the referent of the noun phrase in his/her
capacity as a doctor: although the referent may be brilliant in most respects, (s)he is
certainly not brilliant as a doctor. In many cases, however, it is not easy to
distinguish between the two subtypes. For example, example (195c) is a case of
evaluative metaphoric comparison; the referent of the phrase is not only compared
with a dike but this comparison is (in this case conventionally) used to
simultaneously express that the referent has certain (unspecified) properties that are
highly desirable for a managing director.