An ongoing change in Dutch meansure noun constructions: van aan

Jack HoeksemaUniversity of GroningenGroningen, Tabudag 2010An ongoing change in Dutch measure noun constructions: van aanGroningen, Tabudag 2010Dutch measure noun constructions

N N: kop thee cup of teaN van N: golf van aanslagen wave of attacksN aan N: gebrek aan geld lack of money

Groningen, Tabudag 2010Not 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

The corpusGroningen, Tabudag 201015000 sentences, from 1550-2010Classified for measure noun, secondary noun, linking element (aan, van, met, vol)Majority of data (10.000) from the period 1950-2010Examples taken from books, newspapers, and the Internet (especially dbnl.org)Measure nouns with aanGroningen, Tabudag 2010Oldest occurrences (18th, 19th century):Amounts of money:500 gulden aan boeken 500 guilders (worth) of booksEen kapitaal aan boeken a capital of booksEen fors bedrag aan boetes a large amount of finesSecond environmentGroningen, Tabudag 2010Negative amounts (as of 1700)

Gebrek aan lack ofGemis aanshortage ofVerlies aanloss of

Originally: gebrek van lack ofGebrek van / gebrek aanGroningen, Tabudag 2010Too muchGroningen, Tabudag 2010OverdaadOvermaatOverschotOvervloed

After 1900: AP N conversionTeveelTekort

Overdaad, overmaat, overschot, overvloedGroningen, Tabudag 2010Noun types for AAN 1900-2010Groningen, Tabudag 2010Making wavesGroningen, Tabudag 2010Een golf van aanslagen a wave of attacks

GolfStortvloedTsunamiVloedVloedgolfZondvloed

Waves: golf, stortvloed, vloedgolf etc.Groningen, Tabudag 2010Waslijst laundry list Groningen, Tabudag 2010Stroom streamGroningen, Tabudag 2010Scala varietyGroningen, Tabudag 2010No change as yetGroningen, Tabudag 2010Emmer bucketeen emmer waterStapel pileGroep groupStel 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 onesOther cases without changeGroningen, Tabudag 2010Tal van (special case)

Some idioms: tot overmaat van ramp to excess of disaster = making matters worseStatus of VAN/AANGroningen, Tabudag 2010Both prepositions are grammatical markers without inherent contentVAN 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 constructionAAN is used to mark indirect objects, in measure noun constructions, as a marker of atelicity, and in a special pseudopartitive construction Pseudo-partitive (Hoeksema 2003)Groningen, Tabudag 2010Ik begrijp er niets van I understand there nothing of = I dont understand it one bitDaar deugt niets van there is nothing of in order = the whole thing stinksDaar 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

Advantage of AANGroningen, Tabudag 2010A large class of measure nouns is that of SHAPES:A mountain of debtsA pile of rubbishA sea of bloodA wave of fear

VAN marks the made-of relation: Een berg van schedels = a mountain of skulls (a mountain made of skulls)

Advantage of AAN continuedGroningen, Tabudag 2010Een berg van schulden: a mountain of debtsMetaphorical, not literally a mountain Important is here the amount aspect, not so much the shapeAAN, lacking the made-of use, univocally marks the construction as amount

Berg van schedels: literal mountain, or heapBerg aan schulden: large amount of debt