Tijdschrift voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde - Volume 137, Issue 1, 2021

This article discusses the adjectivization of the Dutch interjections ça va and ok. Lemmens (2013) argues that this adjectivization process was driven by analogical relations based on broad syntactic categories. A corpus investigation and acceptability judgements show (i) that the adjectival use of ça va and ok has become more frequent since Lemmens’s research, but that their adjectivization is not (yet) completed, (ii) that not only abstract generalizations, but also lower-level generalizations and specific constructions play a crucial role in the adjectivization of both interjections, and, (iii) that ça va and ok already as interjections showed limited grammatical behaviour, making them more susceptible to adjectivization. We argue – contra Lemmens (2013) – that not (only) reinterpretation has led to the adjectivization of both interjections, buth rather their lexical and horizontal links in the constructional network.

In 2009, the term young adult literature (yal) was introduced in the Netherlands. By now, it may be stated that this term is enduring and has given an impulse to the (attention for) literature for adolescents. Furthermore, several developments have changed relationships with regard to the production and distribution of literature within the Dutch literary industry in the past years. At the same time, there is no consensus on a definition of yal. This article presents the state of affairs of yal in the Netherlands. First, it shows how adolescent literature and yal relate to each other and provides a working definition of what can be understood as contemporary yal in the Netherlands. It then discusses the origin and introduction of the term in the Netherlands and explores the institutional developments that have taken place. Finally, it assesses current opinions of yal, followed by suggestions for further research.