Research team
Expertise
My research focuses on morphosyntactic variation and change in Dutch, and their effects on the language system. Methodologically, I specialize in quantitative corpus techniques and agent-based computer simulations.
Direct or indirect objects? The optional use of the preposition aan 'to' among two-place verbs.
Abstract
Dutch features both two-place verbs with direct and indirect objects where the use of the preposition aan 'to' is optional, e.g. respectively 'ik bouw (aan) een konijnenverblijf' ('I'm building (to) a rabbit shelter') en 'het contract ontglipte (aan) ons bedrijf' ('the contract slipped away from our company'). There are also a number of verbs whereby the status of the object is unclear, e.g. 'hij gehoorzaamt (aan) de heilige wet' ('he obeys the holy law'). This project aims to find out (i) when and why language users choose to employ or omit the preposition aan 'to' among these verbs, and (ii) which objects behave more like direct or indirect objects. The answer to the first question will also inform the second: for which verbs does the alternation behave more like the dative alternation (e.g. 'Sophia geeft (aan) hem een dikke knuffel' 'Sophia gives him a big hug') or more like the transitive-prepositional alternation (e.g. 'Frederik zoekt (naar) zijn vrachtwagen' 'Frederik is searching for his lorry'). These questions will be dealt with through in-depth corpus research and experiments.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Pijpops Dirk
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project