Tot (aan) het einde ((aan) toe): The internal syntax of a Dutch complex PP

• Main Authors: Hans Broekhuis, Marcel den Dikken
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Open Library of Humanities 2018-10-01
• Series: Glossa
• Subjects: adpositional phrase; PP-internal movement; preposition incorporation; preposition doubling; verbal particle
• Online Access: https://www.glossa-journal.org/articles/663

The topic of this paper is the internal syntax of the extraordinarily rich palette of Dutch expressions corresponding to English '(right) up to the end', featuring six subtly different surface outputs, differing with respect to the number of adpositional elements, the number of occurrences of a particular adpositional element (“doubling”), and the linear order of the various subconstituents of the complex PP. The paper proposes a maximally integrated syntax for these adpositional phrases, and in the process addresses the details of phrasal and head-movement operations taking place within the complex PP. In closing, the paper briefly examines the properties of the antonym of '(right) up to the end', viz., '(right) from the beginning (on)', and signals clear similarities and striking differences between the two.