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oa Dialect variation in Dutch manner adverbs
Stilletjeser or stillertjes as comparative?
- Source: Nota Bene, Volume 1, Issue 2, Dec 2024, p. 151 - 175
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- 21 Mar 2024
- 08 Jun 2024
- 24 Jan 2025
Abstract
Abstract
Some Dutch manner adverbs are marked with diminutive morphology and ‘adverbial -s’; cf. still-etje-s (quiet-DIM-S) ‘quietly’. This morphological material interacts with comparative/superlative formation: in Standard Dutch (SD), comparatives/superlatives of diminutive manner adverbs (DMAs) are ill-formed. Dialect reference grammars and novel questionnaire data reveal variation that is unaccounted for; some dialects allow comparative/superlative DMAs.
I propose a unified analysis of SD and dialectal DMA patterns. Based on a discussion of morphosyntactic and semantic properties of the Dutch diminutive and prior analysis of -s, I propose that DMAs decompose into a phrasal category featuring a manner noun marked by diminutive morphology and a small clause headed by -s. This analysis of DMAs is comparable to that of Dutch blootshoofds ‘bare-headed’. Identified loci of variable affix ordering and variation between SD and dialects are PF/linearization and variation in the functional domain, respectively.