Pronominal Adverbs Containing Adpositions of Direction in Dutch

Abstract

In Dutch, adpositional arguments and adjuncts which are semantically close to the verb easily form pronominal adverbs made up of an adverb like er ‘there’ or daar ‘there’ and an adposition (e.g., erin [there.in], daarop [there.on]). Such a semantically close relation typically exists between the verb and objects or adjuncts of direction and place: direction and place narrowly delimit the type of action or situation described by the verb. Moreover, even though there is a wide range of adpositions that can follow the verb to express direction or place, the choice of the adposition is dependent on the verb meaning. This justifies the easiness with which objects and adjuncts of direction and place pronominalize. Pronominal adverbs corresponding to objects of direction and place differ, however, from those corresponding to adjuncts of direction and place, in that the former are more likely to occur as separate forms. The explanatory motivation, it is shown in this paper, is that the adposition (i.e., the second part) of a pronominal adverb of an object of direction or place needs to immediately precede the verbal end group, in accordance with the inherence principle.