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Article In:
Linguistics in the Netherlands 2024
Edited by Marco Bril and Kristel Doreleijers
[Nota Bene 1:2] 2024
► pp. 154–178

Dialect variation in Dutch manner adverbs

Stilletjeser or stillertjes as comparative?

| Utrecht University
Some Dutch manner adverbs are marked with diminutive morphology and ‘adverbial -s’; cf. still-etje-s (quiet-DIM-S) ‘quietly’. This morphological material interacts with comparative/superlative formation: in Standard Dutch (SD), comparatives/superlatives of diminutive manner adverbs (DMAs) are ill-formed. Dialect reference grammars and novel questionnaire data reveal variation that is unaccounted for; some dialects allow comparative/superlative DMAs.
I propose a unified analysis of SD and dialectal DMA patterns. Based on a discussion of morphosyntactic and semantic properties of the Dutch diminutive and prior analysis of -s, I propose that DMAs decompose into a phrasal category featuring a manner noun marked by diminutive morphology and a small clause headed by -s. This analysis of DMAs is comparable to that of Dutch blootshoofds ‘bare-headed’. Identified loci of variable affix ordering and variation between SD and dialects are PF/linearization and variation in the functional domain, respectively.
Keywords: morphosyntax, manner adverbs, Dutch, microvariation, predicate inversion
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Dutch diminutive morphology and DMAs
    • 2.1The morphosyntax of the Dutch diminutive
    • 2.2The semantics of Dutch DMAs
  • 3.Dutch DMAs and -s
    • 3.1 Corver (2021) on Standard Dutch DMAs
    • 3.2 Corver (2007) on blootshoofds
  • 4.Accounting for DMAs, variable affix ordering, and variation
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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