Relative Ordering of Prepositional Phrases in Dutch

Abstract

While many aspects of syntax are well classified, variation and limitations on variation in syntax form a non-trivial research domain in characterizing language. A topic that poses a specific challenge in determining the cause of variation, is the ordering of multiple Prepositional Phrases (PPs) which, particularly for Dutch, seems interminable. Variation in word order can be explained by language external elements, for instance cognitive processing. Other scholars argue in favour of a rigid, underlying order of different PP types. This study aims to assess which of these seemingly opposing theories withstands for Dutch. In a grammaticality judgement task and a preference task, it seeks to derive if native speakers of Dutch show a preference for a fixed order of certain PP types and whether length and dependency relations play a part in the relative ordering of PPs.