scholarly journals Syntactic and semantic aspects of supplementary relative clauses in English and Sōrānī Kurdish

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shene Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Essential Properties ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Integrated Or

In this thesis, I examine and analyse supplementary relative clauses(SRCs), also known as non-restrictive relative clauses. SRCs have received considerably less attention in the study of relative clauses than integrated, or restrictive, relative clauses (IRCs). The (surface) syntactic structure of the two types of relative clauses (RCs) is largely identical. Therefore, it is not straightforward to determine where to locate the difference in the interpretation between IRCs and SRCs.To address this question, I focus on two types of English SRCs: determiner-which RCs, and SRCs introduced by that. Determiner-which RCs can only be interpreted as SRCs. Previous HPSG approaches built on the generalisation that that RCs cannot be SRCs. Hence there is no HPSG analysis for relative that in SRCs. In this thesis I show the acceptability of the two constructions by the American native speakers and provide both structures with an HPSG analysis.I extend my discussion beyond English by looking at relative clauses in Sorānī Kurdish. I argue that RCs in Sorānī Kurdish share essential properties withEnglish bare RCs and that RCs, though Sorānī Kurdish has no equivalent of wh-RCs. I also provide Sorānī Kurdish with an HPSG analysis.

Supplemental relative clauses: Internal and external syntax

2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUSSELL LEE-GOLDMAN
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Linear Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Order Constraints ◽  
Syntactic Constraints ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses

The internal syntactic structures of restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses are largely identical. This paper argues that despite a uniform internal structure, the external distributions – specifically, linearization with respect to the head – of non-restrictive relative clauses are subject to several conditions. In particular, sentential non-restrictive relative clauses with which and what can appear to the left of their heads in limited (and distinct) syntactic contexts. These lexical and syntactic constraints are represented within the framework of Sign-based Construction Grammar. In light of these observations, the paper revisits claims about the internal structure of parenthetical as-clauses. Prior claims that as cannot be a relativizer are shown to be unfounded, and new data are presented in favor of treating them as relative clauses with the external distribution of sentential adverbials. This is possible given the ability to state separately specifications of construction-internal syntactic structure and construction-external linear-order constraints.

Restrictive relative clauses in English and Korean learners' second language Chinese

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoling Hu ◽  
Chuanping Liu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
English Learners ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Head Direction ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Resumptive Pronouns ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Korean Learners

This study investigates the second language (L2) acquisition of restrictive relative clauses (RRCs) in Chinese by two groups of learners speaking typologically different first languages (L1s): English and Korean. English RRCs, unlike those of Chinese, are head-initial whereas Korean RRCs, like those of Chinese, are head-final. The difference could be predicted to hinder English learners' acquisition of L2 RRCs but facilitate it for Korean learners. This prediction was not confirmed in this study, in fact the reverse was observed, and our data show contrasting patterns of acquisition between the two groups of learners. The English learners distinguished between target-like RRCs and non-target-like RRCs earlier than the Korean learners. A corresponding difference was observed for acquisition of resumptive pronouns. It is argued that where the L1 and the L2 share salient properties (such as head direction) restructuring of less salient features encoded in functional categories takes longer and may be persistently problematic. We suggest that the fact that Korean is more similar to Chinese (perhaps superficially, same head direction) leads learners not to restructure quickly, while the surface dissimilarity of English and Chinese gives rise to rapid restructuring in L2 grammars of learners.

scholarly journals Relativizzazione e restrittività: alcuni criteri distintivi in russo

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Milani
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clause ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Colloquial Language ◽  
Island Constraints ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
National Corpus

This work discusses issues related to the syntax and semantics of relative clauses in contemporary Russian. More precisely, the study explores some differences between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses on the basis of data drawn from the Russian National Corpus and, additionally, on the basis of native speakers’ judgments. It will show the occurrences of the relative introducers čto and kotoryj investigating the nature of their possible antecedents (animacy feature), the Case-marking strategy and the Resumption phenomenon, which has been tested in colloquial language. My observations appear to support the hypothesis on a relationship, in Russian, between the Resumption strategy (that only čto-relatives license) and the non-restrictive interpretation of the relative clause, if island-constraints are not present.

scholarly journals INTERPRETING THE AT-ISSUE STATUS OF NON-RESTRICTIVE RELATIVE CLAUSES IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE: A CASE OF SERBIAN EFL STUDENTS

2018 ◽  
pp. 065
Author(s):  
Ema Živković
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Test Items ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Discourse Relations ◽  
Efl Students ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
Theory Of Discourse

Linguistic utterances can convey content which represents the speaker’s main point and is considered to be at-issue, as well as secondary content which is interpreted as not-at-issue. A large number of diverse expressions which carry some kind of not-at-issue content have been identified. The present paper contributes to the ongoing investigation of one group of such expressions, non-restrictive relative clauses (NRRCs), in English as a foreign language. The starting point of the paper is an approach developed by Jasinskaja (2016), which accounts for at-issue status within the general theory of discourse interpretation. An important prediction that it makes is that final NRRCs connected with their main clauses via coordinating discourse relations should express more at-issue behavior than final NRRCs connected with their main clauses via subordinating discourse relations. Relying on this approach, the present paper aims to investigate the way Serbian EFL students interpret the at-issue status of NRRCs and to compare the results to the existing data in English (Živković 2016). The direct rejection test (Tonhauser 2012) was used to diagnose the at-issue status of the test items, which involved the manipulation of coordinating and subordinating discourse relations between main clauses and NRRCs. The overall results indicated that the percentage of rejections targeting coordinate NRRCs was significantly higher than the percentage of subordinate NRRC rejections. Comparing these results to the ones obtained in English showed that Serbian EFL students performed at the same level as native speakers of English when interpreting the at-issue status of English NRRCs.

scholarly journals On relative clauses and prosodic phrasing in Ciwandya

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 121-139
Author(s):  
Al Mtenje
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Prosodic Phrasing ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Prosodic Phrase ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relatives

The interaction between Syntax and Phonology has been one area of interesting empirical research and theoretical debate in recent years, particularly the question of the extent to which syntactic structure influences phonological phrasing. It has generally been observed that the edges of the major syntactic constituents (XPs) tend to coincide with prosodic phrase boundaries thus resulting in XPs like subject NPs, object NPs, Topic NPs, VPs etc. forming separate phonological phrases. Within Optimality Theoretic (OT) accounts, this fact has been attributed to a number of well-motivated general alignment constraints. Studies on relative clauses in Bantu and other languages have significantly contributed to this area of research inquiry where a number of parametric variations have been observed with regard to prosodic phrasing. In some languages, XPs which are heads of relatives form separate phonological phrases while in others they phrase with the relative clauses. This paper makes a contribution to this topic by discussing the phrasing of relatives in Ciwandya (a Bantu language spoken in Malawi and Tanzania). It shows that XPs which are heads of restrictive relative clauses phrase with their relative verbs, regardless of whether they are subjects, objects or other adjuncts. A variety of syntactic constructions are used to illustrate this fact. The discussion also confirms what has been generally observed in other Bantu languages concerning restrictive relatives with clefts and non-restrictive relative clauses. In both cases, the heads of the relatives phrase separately. The paper adopts an OT analysis which has been well articulated and defended in Cheng & Downing (2007, 2010, to appear) Downing & Mtenje (2010, 2011) to account for these phenomena in Ciwandya.  

More on the difference between English restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses

1992 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Borsley
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
The Difference

Production and processing of restrictive relative clauses in pragmatically appropriate context

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Battinich ◽  
William H. Levine
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses

Fossilized mistakes in Spanish relative clauses learned by Chinese students

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Guijarro Sanz
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article demonstrates how Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar can prevent Chinese students learning Spanish from fossilizing mistakes in restrictive relative clauses at the A2-B1 level of the European Framework of Reference for Languages. To address this issue, first, relative clauses in Spanish and Chinese were contrasted and, second, tailored solutions based on Cognitive Grammar were proposed. Among the cognitive based tailored solutions, certain geometry forms, colours and basic mathematics metaphors were compared with syntactic characteristics such as noun order, subordination hierarchy or resumption. To elucidate the impact of such teaching methods, an experiment with 74 Chinese students was performed. The results indicate that the efficacy of the proposed materials is statistically significant and as such, the Chinese students avoid fossilized mistakes while producing subject, object and locative relative clauses in Spanish.

scholarly journals Communication Strategies Used by Iranian EFL Learners and English Native Speakers: Gender in Focus

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Layla Hajiesmaeli ◽  
Laya Heidari Darani
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Numerical Data ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Efl Learners ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Native Speakers Of English ◽  
The Difference

<p>This article was intended to explore the frequency and order of communication strategies used by Iranian male and female EFL earners as well as English native speakers while facing communication breakdowns. Furthermore, it was aimed to investigate the difference between native speakers and non-native speakers of English in their use of communication strategies. In addition, it was probed whether gender had any effects on the use of these strategies among native and non-native speakers. To this end, the data were collected through the communication strategy questionnaire distributed among 30 male and female Iranian intermediate EFL learners and 15 English native speakers. The design of this study was a quantitative one in which the questionnaire and thus numerical data were applied. To analyze the data, Cronbach alpha and independent-samples t-tests were used. The results indicated that non-verbal and social affective strategies were the most frequent strategies used by non-native speakers and native speakers of English, respectively. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between male and female Iranian EFL learners, but a significant difference between male and female English native speakers were seen. It can be concluded that language proficiency can contribute to the type and frequency of communications strategies which are used non-native speakers; likewise, it can play a significant role in gender differences in language use.<em></em></p>

scholarly journals On the Nature of Wh-word in English Non-Restrictive Relative Clauses

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 621-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sungshim Hong ◽  
Lee Jaekeun
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses
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