Het gebruik van zo’n en zulk. Drie hypotheses over lexicale voorkeuren, functie en register

This corpus study investigates the alternation between zo’n and zulk ‘such’ in front of plural and uncountable singular nouns, by putting three hypotheses to the test. The first hypothesis concerns the potential influence of lectal contamination. This is an effect whereby contact between two language varieties leads to lexical biases in the determinants of language variation within each of the varieties separately. Concretely, it is hypothesized that typically Belgian phrases more often exhibit zo’n than typically Netherlandic phrases, both in the language use of Belgians and in the language use of Dutchmen. The second hypothesis predicts that in the Netherlands, in front of singular, uncountable nouns, zulk is preferred in the identifying function compared to the intensifying function. Finally, the third hypothesis holds that in Belgium, in front of plural nouns, zulk is preferred in formal registers. The first hypothesis is not confirmed, while the second is confirmed, pending some qualifications, and the third is also confirmed.