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.

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 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.

Headless Relative Clauses in Tlaxcala Náhuatl

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-110
Author(s):  
Lucero Flores-Nájera
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Free Relative

This chapter describes the basic structural, morpho-syntactic, and semantic characteristics of headless relative clauses in the variety of Náhuatl spoken in Tlaxcala. It shows that the language has free relative clauses, i.e. headless relative clauses introduced by wh-expressions. In particular, it has all three main varieties that have been attested crosslinguistically: maximal free relative clauses, existential free relative clauses, and free-choice free relative clauses. Other types of headless relative clauses are attested as well, including light-headed relative clauses, i.e. relative clauses that, rather than a full nominal head, only have a determiner-like element as their head.

Headless Relative Clauses in San Pedro Mixtepec Zapotec

2021 ◽  
pp. 221-259
Author(s):  
Pafnuncio Antonio-Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
San Pedro ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Interrogative Clauses ◽  
Semantic Properties ◽  
Relative Pronouns

Headless relative clauses are investigated in the Zapotec variety spoken in San Pedro Mixtepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Two related constructions are briefly introduced as well: wh- interrogative clauses and headed relative clauses. San Pedro Mixtepec Zapotec is shown to possess the three main kinds of free relative clauses that are attested crosslinguistically, each of which is distinguished by syntactic, morphological, and semantic properties: maximal, existential, and free-choice free relative clauses. The language also has two other kinds of headless relative clauses: light-headed relative clauses introduced by pronominals, and headless relative clauses introduced by relative pronouns.

Headless Relative Clauses in Ch'ol

2021 ◽  
pp. 362-402
Author(s):  
Juan Jesús Vázquez Álvarez ◽  
Jessica Coon
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
Free Relatives ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Relative Structure

This chapter surveys headless relative clauses in Ch’ol, a Mayan language spoken in the state of Chiapas in southern Mexico. Ch’ol is rare among Mayan languages in possessing a special morpheme found with relativized nouns, the second position clitic = bä. While this morpheme is required for relativized argument nouns, it is not present in free relatives, which suggests a different derivation for this class of construction. Maximal (definite) and existential (indefinite) free relatives are described. They both make use of a fronted wh-expression and lack the morpheme = bä. Maximal and existential free relatives in Ch’ol appear identical to one another in structure. Following existing studies on other languages, it is argued that the different interpretations of these clauses are a result of the environments in which they appear. Finally, Ch’ol has two different types of constructions in which a determiner element is followed by a headless relative: one corresponding to the = bä structure and one corresponding to the free relative structure. The former is proposed to be a regular headed relative clause with an unpronounced head, as has elsewhere been argued for Yucatec. The latter, on the other hand, corresponds to a free relative structure with an added determiner element.

scholarly journals Free choice free relative clauses in Italian and Romanian

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 323-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivano Caponigro ◽  
Anamaria Fălăuş
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Free Relative

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 Acazulco Otomi

2021 ◽  
pp. 111-144
Author(s):  
Néstor Hernández-Green
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Free Choice ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Similarities And Differences

This chapter describes two types of headless relative clauses in Acazulco Otomi: free relative clauses and light-headed relative clauses. Interrogative and headed relative constructions are briefly introduced as well, in order to highlight similarities and differences with headless relative constructions. Most data in the chapter were obtained from a corpus of Acazulco Otomi, and these were complemented by data from direct elicitation. Some interesting findings are: (a) the free-choice constructions of the language have a dedicated morpheme xo, which even occurs without a wh-word; (b) the deictic pro-forms used in headless relative clauses seem to have two degrees of grammaticalization according to the type of construction they appear in; and (c) all Acazulco Otomi headless relative constructions must have either a light head or a wh-word, in contrast to other Otomi languages, which accept headless relatives without such elements.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document