Chapter 11. PP-internal particles in Dutch as evidence for PP-internal discourse structure
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Andreas Trotzke
Abstract
Drawing on evidence from Dutch, this paper presents the new observation that discourse particles can not only appear at the level of CP, but also inside the PP domain. In particular, we demonstrate that Dutch dan can receive a non-temporal interpretation, and in this reading dan can appear as a functional head inside a complex PP constituent. After having established a detailed structural analysis of this phenomenon, we look beyond Dutch and compare the discourse function that dan has inside the PP to the role that its German cognate denn plays at the level of CP. We conclude that both cases can be analyzed along the same lines because they express the same abstract discourse function: Both PP-internal dan and German denn are discourse-navigating devices that link ‘a ground’ to ‘a figure’, only differing in their semantic domains of application.
Abstract
Drawing on evidence from Dutch, this paper presents the new observation that discourse particles can not only appear at the level of CP, but also inside the PP domain. In particular, we demonstrate that Dutch dan can receive a non-temporal interpretation, and in this reading dan can appear as a functional head inside a complex PP constituent. After having established a detailed structural analysis of this phenomenon, we look beyond Dutch and compare the discourse function that dan has inside the PP to the role that its German cognate denn plays at the level of CP. We conclude that both cases can be analyzed along the same lines because they express the same abstract discourse function: Both PP-internal dan and German denn are discourse-navigating devices that link ‘a ground’ to ‘a figure’, only differing in their semantic domains of application.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Particles 1
- Chapter 2. From up-toning intensifying particle to scalar focus particle 25
- Chapter 3. Do intensifiers lose their expressive force over time? 69
- Chapter 4. The interpretation of the German additive particle auch (‘too, also’) in quantificational contexts 95
- Chapter 5. The German modal particle ja and selected English lexical correlates in the Europarl corpus 117
- Chapter 6. Syntactic change and pragmatic maintenance 147
- Chapter 7. Final though 177
- Chapter 8. A comparative study of German auch and Italian anche 209
- Chapter 9. Scalarity as a meaning atom in wohl -type particles 243
- Chapter 10. Modal particles in questions and wh -sensitivity 269
- Chapter 11. PP-internal particles in Dutch as evidence for PP-internal discourse structure 297
- Chapter 12. Mandarin exhaustive focus shì and the syntax of discourse congruence 323
- Chapter 13. Evidentiality and the QUD 355
- Index 381
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Particles 1
- Chapter 2. From up-toning intensifying particle to scalar focus particle 25
- Chapter 3. Do intensifiers lose their expressive force over time? 69
- Chapter 4. The interpretation of the German additive particle auch (‘too, also’) in quantificational contexts 95
- Chapter 5. The German modal particle ja and selected English lexical correlates in the Europarl corpus 117
- Chapter 6. Syntactic change and pragmatic maintenance 147
- Chapter 7. Final though 177
- Chapter 8. A comparative study of German auch and Italian anche 209
- Chapter 9. Scalarity as a meaning atom in wohl -type particles 243
- Chapter 10. Modal particles in questions and wh -sensitivity 269
- Chapter 11. PP-internal particles in Dutch as evidence for PP-internal discourse structure 297
- Chapter 12. Mandarin exhaustive focus shì and the syntax of discourse congruence 323
- Chapter 13. Evidentiality and the QUD 355
- Index 381
