CHAPTER NINETEEN

SYNTACTIC SUBORDINATION OF CLAUSES

19.1. Relative Clauses

Relative clauses may be attributive and modify a head nominal or they may stand independently of a head nominal and have themselves the status of a nominal. We shall refer to these types as attributive relative clauses and nominal relative clauses respectively.

19.1.1. Attributive Relative Clauses Relative clauses that have attributive function are always placed after the nominal that they modify. They may be explicitly connected to the head nominal by the relative particle D, which is either prefi xed to the fi rst word of the clause or is suffi xed to the end of the head nominal, e.g. kut- yala t-a°e laxxa ~ kut-yal6t "a°e laxxa ‘Every child that comes here’. When the particle is prefi x to the fi rst word of the clause, the fi nal /a/ vowel of the head noun is sometimes centralized to /6/ as is the case when the particle is suffi xed to it, e.g. "áyya bráta šapìrt6 t-íla dmíxta kêsli ‘this beautiful girl, who has fallen asleep with me’ (A26:6). The fi nal /6/ is occasionally elided, e.g. "7-dàn t-á°ya kyàlo ‘at the time that the bride came’ (B8:32). A D particle is sometimes elided, but the fi nal vowel of the head nominal remains /6/ rather than /a/ as if it were still present, e.g. "5-d7rt6 z6dyálux gáwa díya ‘the enclosure in which you threw it’ (< "5-d5rt6t A15:18). Constructions with the particle D may be termed syndetic relative clauses. Attributive relative clauses may also be placed after the head nominal asyndetically, without the particle. The distribution of syndetic and asyndetic attributive relative clauses is conditioned to a large extent by the defi niteness of the head nominal. A distinction should also be made between restrictive relative clauses, which limit the reference of the head noun, and non-restrictive ones, which present supplementary information concerning a nominal without limiting its reference. This difference in function sometimes gives rise to distinct syntactic structures.

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19.1.1.1. Definite Head Nominal

(i) Restrictive Clauses When the head noun is defi nite, i.e. it has a specifi c identifi able refer- ent or refers to an identifi able generic class, a restrictive relative clause is syndetic. The clause has the function of an attributive modifi er that is embedded in the nominal phrase. It does not assert new information, as is the case with an independent clause, but rather expresses informa- tion that is presupposed to be known to the hearer. The clause supplies a description that allows the hearer to identify the referent of the head noun. The defi nite status of the head noun, therefore, is indissolubly bound with the relative clause. In principle such a defi nite head noun is introduced by an anaphoric demonstrative pronoun. This is usually the default demonstrative pronoun, the basic function of which is to signal that the referent of the noun is identifi able in the context to which it is anaphorically linked. The restrictive relative clause, which is intended to provide the means of identifying the referent, is sometimes the only source of identifi cation. The anaphoric link, therefore, is clearly internal to the nominal phrase, e.g.

(1) "an-suráye t-wáwa gu-Tùrkiya} zílla l-"Ir6n.} ‘The Christians who were in Turkey went to Iran.’ (B2:8) (2) šêdla,} gu-d-a-"8ra t-b8y6t mattêtle.} ‘You put the sapling in the land that you like.’ (B5:103) (3) "7-baxta t-à°ya} b8y6n gawrênna} láz6m mtanyáli ða-q6ßßêtta.} ‘The woman who comes and I shall marry must tell me a story.’ (A36:1)

In these constructions it can be said that the demonstrative is a correlative with the relative particle. The demonstrative binds the head noun tightly with the relative clause. This is because the interpretation of the noun with the demonstrative depends on the relative clause and it cannot be inter- preted successfully without it. In some cases the referent of the head noun has been mentioned in the preceding context. Even here, however, the restrictive relative clause, with which the head noun is syntactically linked, can be regarded as the primary anaphor of the demonstrative and here also it has a correlative function, e.g.

(4) "7-brat6t malušíwala jùlle} t-oðíwala "ax-kàlo.} ‘They made the girl whom they dressed in clothes like a bride.’ (B7:2)

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