Slide 1

Jack Hoeksema University of Groningen Groningen, Tabudag 2010 An ongoing change in Dutch measure noun constructions: van aan Slide 2 Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Dutch measure noun constructions 1. N N: kop thee cup of tea 2. N van N: golf van aanslagen wave of attacks 3. N aan N: gebrek aan geld lack of money Slide 3 Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Not to be discussed here definite partitive constructions: N van de N een deel van de mannen a part of the men constructions with met : klauwen met geld claws with money = oodles of money constructions with vol: een auto vol studenten a car full students = a carload of students compounds: een bananentros a banana bunch = a bunch of bananas Slide 4 The corpus Groningen, Tabudag 2010 15000 sentences, from 1550-2010 Classified for measure noun, secondary noun, linking element (aan, van, met, vol) Majority of data (10.000) from the period 1950- 2010 Examples taken from books, newspapers, and the Internet (especially dbnl.org) Slide 5 Measure nouns with aan Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Oldest occurrences (18th, 19th century): Amounts of money: 500 gulden aan boeken 500 guilders (worth) of books Een kapitaal aan boeken a capital of books Een fors bedrag aan boetes a large amount of fines Slide 6 Second environment Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Negative amounts (as of 1700) Gebrek aan lack of Gemis aanshortage of Verlies aanloss of Originally: gebrek van lack of Slide 7 Gebrek van / gebrek aan Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Slide 8 Too much Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Overdaad Overmaat Overschot Overvloed After 1900: AP N conversion Teveel Tekort Slide 9 Overdaad, overmaat, overschot, overvloed Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Slide 10 Noun types for AAN 1900-2010 Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Slide 11 Making waves Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Een golf van aanslagen a wave of attacks Golf Stortvloed Tsunami Vloed Vloedgolf Zondvloed Slide 12 Waves: golf, stortvloed, vloedgolf etc. Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Slide 13 Waslijst laundry list Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Slide 14 Stroom stream Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Slide 15 Scala variety Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Slide 16 No change as yet Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Emmer bucketeen emmer water Stapel pile Groep group Stel couple These are measure nouns that only appear in the N N construction, never in the N van N construction. Aan is therefore replacing the construction with van, not the other ones Slide 17 Other cases without change Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Tal van (special case) Some idioms: tot overmaat van ramp to excess of disaster = making matters worse Slide 18 Status of VAN/AAN Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Both prepositions are grammatical markers without inherent content VAN is used in nominalisations to mark objects, and subjects of intransitives, in measure noun constructions, to indicate possession, to mark objects of relational nouns, and the made of relation: een hart van steen a heart of stone, een vliegtuig van papier a paper plane, and in a special pseudo- partitive construction AAN is used to mark indirect objects, in measure noun constructions, as a marker of atelicity, and in a special pseudopartitive construction Slide 19 Pseudo-partitive (Hoeksema 2003) Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Ik begrijp er niets van I understand there nothing of = I dont understand it one bit Daar deugt niets van there is nothing of in order = the whole thing stinks Daar deugt niets aan there is nothing to in order = the whole thing stinks Construction is polarity-sensitive, and verb specific: only some gradable verbs (transitive or intransitive) appear in this construction Slide 20 Advantage of AAN Groningen, Tabudag 2010 A large class of measure nouns is that of SHAPES: A mountain of debts A pile of rubbish A sea of blood A wave of fear VAN marks the made-of relation: Een berg van schedels = a mountain of skulls (a mountain made of skulls) Slide 21 Advantage of AAN continued Groningen, Tabudag 2010 Een berg van schulden: a mountain of debts Metaphorical, not literally a mountain Important is here the amount aspect, not so much the shape AAN, lacking the made-of use, univocally marks the construction as amount Berg van schedels: literal mountain, or heap Berg aan schulden: large amount of debt