What is a relative clause?

Abstract

AbstractChapter 4 considers what is actually meant by the term ‘relative clause’, and lays out a tripartite classification into restrictive relative clauses (the cat whom I love), non-restrictive relative clauses (the cat, whom I love), and inherently maximalizing relative clauses (This was what he wanted). In a language that uses definite articles, a noun modified by a restrictive or non-restrictive relative clause can take a definite or indefinite article (compare the cat whom I love with a cat whom I love, and the cat, whom I love with a cat, whom I love). By contrast, an inherently maximalizing relative clause has something like the meaning of the definite article built into it: what he wanted means something like the thing which he wanted, not a thing which he wanted. This tripartite classification is current in linguistic work, and crucial to the synchronic and diachronic analysis offered in this book.