An LFG Approach to Nested Dependencies in Dutch

Marjolein Poortvliet

Abstract

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Proceedings of LFG15; CSLI Publications On-line

This paper argues that, contrary to the prevailing idea that Dutch is a crossserial dependency language, Dutch also uses nested dependency constructions in embedded clauses. In these nested dependency constructions, the order of the verb cluster is reversed compared to the order of the noun cluster, much like the order of German embedded clauses. I show that the Dutch nested dependency construction is restricted to passive constructions with perception verbs and causative verbs as the main predicate. I propose an LFG treatment for these restricted nested dependency structures.



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