Grammatical relations and relativization in Lunda

Abstract

This paper describes Lunda grammatical relations and relativization. It shows that grammatical relations such as direct object, second object and obliques are differentiated on the basis of word order and pronominalization. In simple sentences, the subject comes before the verb, whereas the direct object is an unmarked post-verbal NP. The second object follows the direct object without any morphological marking. Obliques objects are marked by locative prefixes and the preposition na-. As regards relativization, this study indicates that Lunda has two types of relative clauses: subject relative clauses and object relative clauses. The structure of subject relative clauses is the same as that of simple clauses. Object relativization falls again into two categories: object relative clauses with 1st and 2nd person subjects and object relative clauses with 3rd person subjects. The explicit subject NP follows the verb in third person object relative clauses. Relativization of locatives follow the pattern of object relativization, while instrumentals and comitatives require resumptive pronouns when relativized.