A Functional Discourse Grammar account of set nouns in Dutch and its implications for lexicography

This paper examines the semantic and syntactic behavior of Dutch S-nouns (e.g. echtpaar, ‘married couple’, tweetal ‘twosome, couple’ and stel ‘couple’), a particular subset of what are generally known as ‘set’ (or ‘collection’) nouns. Using the theoretical framework of Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG; Hengeveld and Mackenzie 2008), it more particularly addresses the question which information needs to be provided in the lexicon, as well as in other components of the grammar model, to ensure that only semantically and syntactically well-formed constructions are produced. After a brief introduction to the relevant aspects of FDG, the paper focuses on two specific issues: the (restrictions on) possible combinations of S-nouns and (adjectival) modifiers and the distinctive semantic, syntactic and distributional behavior of Dutch S-nouns (in particular with regard to number concord). It is concluded that for the theory of FDG to be as restrictive as required and as flexible as possible, constraining (subclassifying) information is required in the lexical entry of all nominals; on the basis of the evidence provided in this paper, it is felt that there is no need to include matching information on adjectival lexemes. Finally, it is argued that the detailed description and analysis of S-nouns presented in this paper should form the basis of their treatment in Dutch dictionaries.