Gaps, Transitions, Adjoining, Embedding: Kenneth Hale on the Reanalysis and Grammaticalization of the Relative Clause

Abstract

Innovative aspects of Kenneth Hale’s study ‘Gaps in grammar and culture’ (Hale 1975) are discussed in the context of the paper’s contemporary setting to demonstrate that the reasons for the sidelining of his work stem from the transitional and fast-changing nature of syntactic theory of the time. Although Hale has been credited with the introduction of the typological and generative syntactic construct of the adjoined relative clause, his early nineteen seventies discussions of the concepts of reanalysis, grammaticalization and semantic explanations for syntactic change have not been widely acknowledged in historical accounts of developments in diachronic syntax. In terms of syntactic theory, Hale’s article was out of date by the time it was published; however, in terms of developments in the field of diachronic syntax, it was ahead of its time.