Gothic Relative Clauses Introduced by and Revisited

Abstract

The Gothic invariant relativizers and have been analyzed in different ways. Von der Gabelentz and Loebe (1836/1846), Harbert (1992), Klinghardt (1877), and Streitberg (1910) treated and as indeclinable relative particles. Musić (1929) and Wright (1954), on the other hand, regarded them as relative pronouns. The present study shows that in the attested Gothic, and do not form a symmetric system with the opposition of gender. In addition, and appear to lack the grammatical categories of number and case applicable to the pronominal relativizers in Gothic and therefore cannot be classified as pronouns. Significantly, the elements and are reserved for certain types of antecedents and constructions, which might indicate that diachronically, they might have been in complementary distribution with relative pronouns, as suggested by Delbrück (1909). Synchronically, however, it is impossible to account for overlapping distribution of the relativizers and , the relative pronoun based on the demonstrative, and the complementizers and .