Discourse-related V1 declaratives in Dutch

Jacqueline van Kampen | Utrecht University

This paper discusses two types of discourse-related V1 declaratives in Dutch. The first type involves a missing argument. In the position before the finite verb a referential 3rd person pronoun is deleted. The deletion of the pronoun is constrained by the recoverability condition, which requires that its referential features can be reconstructed from context. I will argue that only the deletion of a d(emonstrative)-pronoun is “topic drop”. Deleted topic d-pronouns are subject to the same syntactic conditions as overt topic d-pronouns. Like the overt d-pronoun, the deleted d-pronoun refers to the focus constituent of the preceding sentence. A deleted p(ersonal)-pronoun, by contrast, does not have a uniquely determined antecedent. The second type of V1 declarative is found in so-called “narrative inversion” in which all arguments are present, and no empty element needs to be postulated. Various types of narrative inversion and the kind of discourse relation they imply are discussed.

Keywords: Dutch, topic drop, subject drop, narrative inversion

Published online: 27 October 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.00043.kam

References

Axel, Katrin & Angelika Wöllstein

2009 “German verb-first conditionals as unintegrated clauses.” The fruits of empirical linguistics ed. by Sam Featherston & Susanne Winkler. 1–35. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Biezma, María

2011 “Conditional inversion and givenness.” Proceedings of SALT 21 ed. by Neil Ashton, Anca Chereches & David Lutz. 552–571. New Brunswick: Rutgers University.

Blom, Elma & Frank Wijnen

2013 “Optionality of finiteness: evidence for a non-overlap stage in Dutch child language.” First Language 33(3): 225–245.

Broekhuis, Hans & Norbert Corver

2016 Syntax of Dutch. Verbs and verb phrases. Volume 3. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Chomsky, Noam & Lasnik, Howard

1977 “Filters and Control.” Linguistic Inquiry 8(3): 425–504.

Corver, Norbert

2016 “Exclamative relatives in vocative noun phrases.” Nederlandse Taalkunde 21(3): 79–93.

Huang, James

1984 “On the distribution and reference of empty pronouns.” Linguistic Inquiry 15(4): 531–574.

Jansen, Frank

1981 Syntaktische constructies in gesproken taal. Amsterdam: Huis aan de Drie Grachten.

Kampen, Jacqueline van

1992 “Underspecification of functional features.” Paper presented at the BUCLD , October 23–25.

1997 “First steps in wh-movement.” PhD dissertation, Utrecht University.

2010 “Anaforische middelen voor topicverschuiving.” Nederlandse Taalkunde 15(2/3): 189–210.

Koeneman, Olaf

2000 “The flexible nature of verb movement.” PhD dissertation, Utrecht University.

Los, Bettelou & Ans van Kemenade

2018 “Syntax and the morphology of deixis: the loss of demonstratives and paratactic clause linking.” Atypical demonstratives: Syntax, semantics and pragmatics ed. by Marco Coniglio. 127–158. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Mazeland, Harrie

2016 “The positionally sensitive workings of the Dutch particle nou .” A family of discourse markers across the languages of Europe and beyond ed. by Peter Auer & Yael Maschler. 377–408. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Neeleman, Ad, Elena Titov, Hans van de Koot & Reiko Vermeulen

2009 “A syntactic typology of topic, focus and contrast.” Alternatives to cartography ed. by Jeroen van Craenenbroeck. 15–51. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Overdiep, Gerrit

1937 Stilistische grammatica van het moderne Nederlandsch. Zwolle: Tjeenk-Willink.

Thrift, Erica

2003 “Object drop in the LI acquisition of Dutch.” PhD dissertation, University of Amsterdam.

Zwart, Jan-Wouter

1993 “Dutch syntax. A minimalist approach.” PhD dissertation, University of Groningen.

2005 “Verb second as a function of Merge.” The function of function words and functional categories ed. by Marcel den Dikken & Christina Tortora. 11–40. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.