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An example of a there-cleft is given below:

Example 1

En dan is der noch dat boek dat er skreaun hat
and then is there yet that book which he written had
And then there's that book which he wrote

A there-cleft contains the following constituents from left to right:

  • The impersonal subject derthere
  • The verb wêzebe
  • an NP
  • A relative clause
An example is provided below:

Example 2

Der is ien dy't it wit
there is one who it knows
There is someone who knows it

In semantic theory, quantifiers are analysed as two place predicates. The first argument is the quantifier's noun and the second argument is the VP. Consider the example below:

Example 3

Gjin [man] [waard feroardield]
no man was convicted
No man was convicted

The quantifier's first argument is the noun manone, person, its second argument is the VP waard feroardieldwas convicted. Copular there-clauses followed by an NP with one relative clause have the peculiar property that the following relative clause seems to be interpreted as the quantifier's second argument.

Example 4

Der wie gjin man [dy't feroardield waard]
there was no man who convicted was
There was no man who was convicted

Normally, the relative clause is interpreted as belonging to the quantifier's first argument, as is the case in the example below: the relative clause restricts the denotation of the nominal argument of the quantifier:

Example 5

Gjin man [dy't feroardield waard] lake
no man who convicted was laughed
No man was convicted laughed
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