scholarly journals Headless Relative Clauses in Matlatzinca

2021 ◽  
pp. 145-176
Author(s):  
Enrique L. Palancar ◽  
Leonardo Carranza Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Common Type ◽  
Relative Pronoun ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Natural Data

In this chapter, a rich array of headless relative clauses in Matlatzinca (Atzincan, Oto-Pamean, Oto-Manguean; Mexico) is presented, mainly based on the patterns found in a corpus of natural data from spontaneous narratives and conversations by fluent native speakers. While free relative clauses are attested in the language, by far the most common type of headless relative clause is an asyndetic clause, i.e., a clause with no complementizer or relative pronoun. Maximal and existential free relative clauses are only found with the wh- words for ‘who,’ ‘what,’ and ‘where,’ but free-choice free relative clauses apparently also allow for the wh-word for ‘how much.’

Headless Relative Clauses in Q'anjob'al

2021 ◽  
pp. 290-326
Author(s):  
Eladio Mateo Toledo (B’alam)
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Head Domain ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Interrogative Clauses

This chapter presents the first ever description and analysis of headless relative constructions in Q’anjob’al, a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. It focuses on headless relative clauses (which lack a nominal head, regardless of other material in the head domain) and briefly touches on headed relative clauses. Headless relative clauses are productive in Q’anjob’al. The language distinguishes three kinds of free relative clauses (maximal, existential, and free choice) and three other kinds of headless relative clauses: non-free headless relative clauses headed by pronouns, determiners, or nothing at all. All free relative clauses have the same morpho-syntax, but non-free headless relative clauses differ morpho-syntactically from them and from each other. Wh- interrogative clauses are compared to relative constructions due to their similarities. Relative constructions with a pronominal head are argued to be neither light-headed relative clauses nor any other kind of headless relative clause.

Headless Relative Clauses in Chuj

2021 ◽  
pp. 327-361
Author(s):  
Justin Royer
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
The Difference

This chapter explores various types of headless relative clause constructions in Chuj, a Mayan language spoken in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, and Chiapas, Mexico by 45,000 to 70,000 speakers. The main focus is free relative clauses, of which Chuj features three kinds: maximal free relative clauses, existential free relative clauses, and free-choice free relative clauses. Following earlier work on other languages, maximal free relative clauses and existential free relative clauses are argued to be structurally identical at their core; the difference in their interpretations is a consequence of a difference in the elements that each kind combines with. Chuj is also shown to feature a rich inventory of other types of headless relative clauses. These include headless relative clauses introduced by both a wh-word and a determiner [+WH, +DET], those introduced only by a determiner [−WH, +DET], and those that are formed with neither a wh-word nor a determiner [−WH, −DET].

Free Choice-Free Relative Clauses of the Type “Indiferent + Wh-” in Romanian

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-222
Author(s):  
Mihaela Gheorghe
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Complex Structure ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Additive Particle

Free Choice-Free Relative Clauses of the Type “Indiferent + Wh-” in Romanian. The hypothesis of this paper is that the inventory of the free choice items in Romanian can be extended by including, along with the indefinites and the wh- compounds with ori-, a complex structure consisting of the adverb indiferent (‘regardless’) plus a wh-item. Based on syntactic tests, the paper suggests a line of interpretation according to which two patterns of relative clauses are possible with indiferent followed by a wh-item: (i) a headed relative clause licenced by a PP (de) which is syntactically required by the adverb indiferent, and (ii) a pattern in which the preposition de is covert, and the adverb functions as a quantifier that takes scope over the relative node; the clause is adjoined to the matrix together with the adverbial. We are dealing, therefore, with a free relative endowed with the free choice semantics of the adverb. In contexts of this type, the adverb indiferent seems to act like an additive particle to the wh-items, in a semantically similar way in which the prefix ori- contributes to the meaning of the complex free choice wh-words in Romanian. This hypothesis is also supported by the fact that the group formed by indiferent + wh-items is also occurrent in constructions with the ellipsis of the VP in the relative clause, a fact that strengthens the parallelism with the free choice items available in Romanian.

scholarly journals Headless Relative Clauses in Pesh

2021 ◽  
pp. 509-546
Author(s):  
Claudine Chamoreau
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Relative Pronoun ◽  
Left Edge ◽  
Free Relatives ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
The Right ◽  
Almost All

The aim of this study is to describe the two main kinds of headless relative clauses that are attested in Pesh, a Chibchan language spoken in Honduras: free relative clauses, which use a wh-word that functions as a relative pronoun at their left edge and a subordinator at their right edge, and headless relative clauses, which lack a wh- word but show a case marker or the topic marker at the right edge of the clause. The first type is less frequently attested in the natural corpus this study relies on, although the corpus does contain various instances of maximal, existential, and free-choice free relative clauses. Each of the constructions is distinguished by features of the wh-word and/or by certain restrictions regarding the tense of the verb in headless relative clauses or the type of verb in matrix clauses. The second type of headless relative clause, the ones that do not use a wh-expression, are much more frequent in the corpus and behave like headed relative clauses that lack a wh-expression. They are like noun phrases marked by a phrase-final case marker or the topic maker. The case or topic markers are used for light-headed relative clauses and for almost all types of maximal headless relative clause that have neither a light head nor a wh-expression, in contrast to maximal free relatives, in which only locative wh-words occur.

Headless Relative Clauses in Iliatenco Me'phaa

2021 ◽  
pp. 177-220
Author(s):  
Philip T. Duncan ◽  
Harold Torrence
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Semantic Properties

This chapter documents the morpho-syntactic and semantic properties of headless relative clauses in a variety of Meꞌphaa spoken in Iliatenco, Guerrero, Mexico. Meꞌphaa possesses four types of headless relative clauses, which can be divided into two groups: those introduced by wh-expressions (free relative clauses), and those not introduced by wh-expressions. The former type is composed of three varieties: maximal free relative clauses, which are largely productive; existential free relative clauses, which are limited to a few wh-expressions; and free-choice free relative clauses, which are introduced by ájndo ‘until.’ The second type of headless relative clause is simply introduced by a relativizer/subordinator. Nearly all Meꞌphaa wh-expressions participate in some or all kinds of free relative clauses. However, the inanimate argument wh-expression dí(ne) ‘what’ seems to be robustly impermissible in such constructions.

Headless Relative Clauses in Tseltalan

2021 ◽  
pp. 403-443
Author(s):  
Gilles Polian ◽  
Judith Aissen
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Free Relatives ◽  
Free Relative

This chapter investigates headless relative clauses in Tseltal and Tsotsil, languages which make up the Tseltalan branch of Western Mayan. Headless relatives introduced by wh- interrogative expressions (free relatives) are associated with two interpretations: maximal and existential. There is no distinct free-choice free relative construction, but free-choice interpretations arise as possible readings of maximal free relatives. There are other headless relative clause constructions in Tseltalan which involve an overt determiner combined with the wh-pronoun or which lack an overt wh-pronoun. The authors argue that some of these are derived from headed relative clauses, with discourse-conditioned elision of the head noun, while others are based on free relatives in which the wh-pronoun is augmented by a determiner.

Headless Relative Clauses in Sierra Popoluca

2021 ◽  
pp. 475-508
Author(s):  
Wendy López Márquez
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
The State ◽  
Productive System ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Demonstrative Pronouns ◽  
Interrogative Clauses ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Sierra Popoluca

This chapter presents the first investigation of headless relative clauses in Sierra Popoluca, a Mixe-Zoquean language spoken in the southern part of the state of Veracruz, Mexico. It shows that Sierra Popoluca exhibits a very productive system of headless relative clauses. The language has free relative clauses of all three major types attested crosslinguistically and, remarkably, all three types can be introduced by almost all the wh-words that can occur in wh- interrogative clauses. It also has two types of light-headed relative clauses, both with demonstrative pronouns as their “light heads”: those which are introduced by a relative subordinator and those that are introduced by wh-words—the same two strategies attested in headed relative clauses in Sierra Popoluca. Finally, the language has one more variety of headless relative clause that lacks both a light head and a wh-word.

Headless Relative Clauses in Southeastern Tepehuan (O'dam)

2021 ◽  
pp. 58-78
Author(s):  
Gabriela García Salido
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Innovative Strategy ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Embedded Clauses ◽  
Interrogative Clauses ◽  
Finite Clause ◽  
Ritual Speech

Varieties of headless relative clauses in the Uto-Aztecan language Southeastern Tepehuan (O’dam) are discussed, together with two related constructions: wh- interrogative clauses and headed relative clauses. O’dam encodes relative clauses using two strategies: nominalization and finite clause formation. Unlike most of the Uto-Aztecan family, O’dam uses the nominalization strategy only in ritual speech. Elsewhere, the language uses the general subordinator particle na to introduce all types of embedded clauses: adverbial, completive, and relative. This mode of subordination is typologically interesting for the Uto-Aztecan family because it results in an innovative strategy: finite clauses instead of nominalization. O’dam distinguishes between headed and headless relative clauses. Unlike headed relative clauses, headless relative clauses in O’dam lack a nominal head and require a wh-word. Two main varieties are attested: free relative clauses (maximal and existential, but not free choice) and light-headed relative clauses.

Headless Relative Clauses in K'iche'

2021 ◽  
pp. 260-289
Author(s):  
Telma Angelina Can Pixabaj
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Preliminary Description

This chapter offers a preliminary description of headless relative clauses in K’iche’. The language exhibits all three varieties of free relative clauses that are attested crosslinguistically: maximal, existential, and free-choice. It also has two other kinds of headless relative clauses: light-headed relative clauses introduced by determiners (without wh-expressions) and headless relative clauses with no marking of any kind (neither wh-expressions nor determiners). Overall, the picture that emerges is that all three varieties of free relative clauses exhibit clear morpho-syntactic and semantic differences that differentiate them both from each other as well as from headed relative clauses. One characteristic that helps to differentiate between them is the different subsets of wh-expressions they make use of. All of these wh- clausal constructions are related but, crucially, independent. Of the two kinds of headless relative clauses that do not make use of wh-expressions, one kind—light-headed relative clauses—is introduced by a determiner, while the other kind has no special marking. Both exhibit distributional and semantic restrictions that distinguish them from headed relative clauses.

MOOD SELECTION IN RELATIVE CLAUSES

2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Borgonovo ◽  
Joyce Bruhn de Garavito ◽  
Philippe Prévost
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Adult Learners ◽  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Lexical Semantics ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Lively Debate ◽  
Specific Pair ◽  
Mood Selection

There is presently a lively debate in second language (L2) acquisition research as to whether (adult) learners can acquire linguistic phenomena located at the interface between syntax and other modules, such as semantics, pragmatics, and lexical semantics, in contrast to phenomena that are purely syntactic in nature. For some researchers, the interface is precisely the place where fossilization occurs and the source of nonconvergence in L2 speakers. In this article we focus on the acquisition of the morphosyntax-semantics interface by examining the acquisition of mood in Spanish relative clauses by native speakers (NSs) of English. In particular, we focus on the contrast illustrated byBusco unas tijeras que corten“I am looking for scissors that cut-subj” versusBusco unas tijeras que cortan“I am looking for scissors that cut-ind.” When the indicative is used, there is a specific pair of scissors that the speaker is looking for. With the subjunctive, any pair of scissors will do, as long as it satisfies the condition expressed by the relative clause; the determiner phrase is nonspecific. In other words, we are dealing not with ungrammaticality, as both moods are possible in these contexts, but rather with differences in interpretation. General results showed that the learners could appropriately select the expected mood. We also saw that performance was not uniform across the various conditions tested. However, variability is not solely a product of L2 acquisition; we show it can be found in NSs as well.

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