Karachay–Balkar relative clauses: Implications for a special type of genitive/nominative alternation

Abstract

Taking reduced relative clauses as the basis of comparison, this study investigates Karachay–Balkar non-subject relative clauses with two different patterns. The subject in the modifier clause can bear the genitive case in the presence of agreement morphology on the head noun, or the nominative case in the absence of agreement morphology. Based on binding and adverbial placement tests, the current study suggests that (i) Karachay–Balkar relative clause patterns with genitive or nominative subjects are deficient in the absence of CP and TP; (ii) in the absence of TP, temporal interpretation is a secondary effect of AspP; (iii) the genitive subject moves into the DP domain to check the definiteness feature; (iv) the genitive pattern is preferred when the referents of the genitive construction and the head noun are shared by the speaker and the hearer; and (v) in the absence of the definiteness feature and CP/TP, the nominative case is licensed as the default case. This study shows that Karachay–Balkar relative clauses are reduced with respect to the absence of CP/TP. However, the size of the structure does not differ in genitive and nominative patterns, and the patterns are not in free variation as a syntax–semantic interface is at play.