Variation in the use of the partitive pronoun ER in regional (Heerlen) standard Dutch

Abstract This paper focuses on the variable use of partitive er in two types of constructions. First, er combined with cardinal numbers like drie ‘three’ and quantifiers like genoeg ‘enough’. Second, er combined with an elliptical noun referring to age and weight. Er should be present in the first case ( Ik heb *(er) drie ‘I have three’) but absent in the second case ( Hij is (*er) tachtig ‘He is eighty’), according to normative Dutch grammars. The spontaneous spoken speech of 67 speakers born and raised in Heerlen, in the southeast of the Netherlands was analyzed, investigating the use of er... Mehr ...