Prosodically-conditioned relative clause extraposition in Armenian

Abstract

Armenian is an SOV language that has post-nominal finite relative clauses (RCs). These clauses are typically immediately post-nominal: N+RC. But in various contexts, the relative clause is extraposed to the right edge of the sentence: N+V+RC instead of *N+RC+V. The various contexts are united by how the modified noun is prosodically phrased with an immediately following verb. We argue that extraposition is conditioned by prosodic phrasing. A host of syntactic factors (definiteness, subject/object, valency) are indirectly involved in extraposition, but these factors are tied directly to prosodic phrasing. Exceptions to this generalization are limited and come from verb focus and possible recursive phrasing.