English Relative Clauses Research Articles

A historical account of the analysis of English relative clauses in Generative grammar

Le présent article est un rapide survol de la longue histoire des analyses des relatives depuis les débuts de la grammaire générative jusqu’au XXIè siècle. Il montre comment on est passé des phrases-noyau et des transformations à des approches qui doivent leur sophistication au modèle X’ d’une part et à la théorie du DP d’autre part. Il montre également comment, qu’il s’agisse des Principes et Paramètres ou de la théorie de l’antisymétrie, les derniers développements de la GB aboutissent finalement à réintroduire l’idée, centrale dans les années 60, que la relative a étroitement partie liée avec le déterminant du N relativisé.

Second Language Acquisition of Complex Structures: The Case of English Oblique Relative Clauses

Previous works on English relative clauses (RCs) have tested subject and direct object RCs to find an asymmetrical pattern in L2 syntactic development. Studies on English native speakers and L2 learners of English have shown that both groups were better at subject RCs than any other types of RCs. However, these test items potentially involve compounding factors such as animacy effect and word order canonicity. To resolve this issue, the present study used an elicited production task to see how Korean-speaking adult learners of English perform two types of English oblique RCs. Forty Korean college students (18 high proficiency group; 22 low proficiency group) showed better performance at oblique RCs with a short filler-gap dependency (FGD) than oblique RCs with a long FGD. Both proficiency groups showed better accuracy rates when oblique RCs with a short FGD were elicited. In addition, patterns of non-targeted responses can explain how L2 learners differently process two oblique RCs with dissimilar distance between the filler and the gap. Overall, the test results demonstrated a clear linear distance effect between the filler and the gap in producing oblique RCs.

Underproduction or Overproduction? A Corpus-based Study of Chinese EFL Learners’ Use of English Relative Clauses

This paper attempts to examine whether Chinese English learners adopt the underproduction or overproduction behavior when using English relative clauses in academic writing. To achieve the objective of the study, the researchers used a corpus-based method to analyze and compare the production of the restrictive relative clause among Chinese students and native English students. The aims were to find out if the Chinese students underproduce the English relative clause and also examine how frequently they use that, which, and zero relative pronouns as reported in the sub-corpus of the Written English Corpus of Chinese Learner (WECCL) and the British Academic Written English corpus (BAWE). Based on the findings, conclusions are drawn as follows; compared to native English students, Chinese EFL learners generally tend to underproduce the restrictive relative clause in academic writing; and on the other hand, overuse the relative pronoun that. The observations from this study concur with the findings from previous studies

Analysis of Errors Made by Iraqi University Students in the Area of English Relativization System

This study aims at giving an account of an analysis of errors made by Iraqi university students in the area of English Relativization system. It focuses mainly on dealing with the investigation of the syntactic errors committed by Iraqi students in English relative clause. This causes a major problem for university students learning English as a foreign language. This comes from the students' interlingual and intralingual strategies. This also indicates that the university students seem to depend on the target language (TL) system rather than on that of the native language (NL). The technique used is an error analysis which Wilkins (1972) highlights its value in giving "greater understandings of the difficulties that learners face, and will perhaps assist in the development of pedagogic strategies." (p. 206). After analyzing and interpreting the errors made in the 100 students' compositions, some recommendations are given.

An investigation of accuracy and response time regarding processing mechanism of English relative clauses in EFL contexts

Sentence comprehension in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) contexts is influenced by many factors. One of the most important ones is the processing mechanism of relative clauses which can be analyzed in different frameworks by researchers. So far, a wide range of research has been conducted on the processing mechanism of relative clauses in a number of languages. The results have shown a tendency toward two major categories which have been proven to be of significance, namely subject preference and object preference. Studies conducted on native speakers of English, for instance, have demonstrated subject preference by the participants. Consequently, in this study, the researchers conducted a self-paced reading experiment employing Linger software, and the data were analyzed by using the SPSS Statistics version 25. It aims to investigate the processing mechanism of English relative clauses by Iranian EFL learners. The participants were nine males and 21 females of advanced English learners majoring in the English literature, all being native speakers of Farsi. The results indicate that that the correctness percentage of subject relative clauses, and also subject modifying ones, are significantly higher than that of object ones. The results also indicated that subject relatives were processed swifter than object relatives. Finally, the researchers discussed the reasons behind such a tendency among the participants of the experiment in terms of a number of theories and principles. The findings of this study are expected to be employed in language syllabus designing as well as in grading or sequencing of materials by educators and teaching material developers.

A probe into discourse structure of english relative clauses of Iranian EFL learners’ reading and writing performance: Centering theory in focus

The purpose of this study was to explore the function of English restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses in discourse cohesion and also intended to examine the possible differences between...

How Do Chinese EFL Learners Perceive English Relative Clauses?

How Do Chinese EFL Learners Perceive English Relative Clauses?

Harnessing web-based contrastive instruction to address English relative clause accuracy and subject-object asymmetry

This exploratory study set out to investigate two principal aims: (1) the general effect of contrastive linguistic input delivered via an online medium on the subsequent written accuracy of subject and object restrictive relative clauses; and (2) the specific effect of administering such instruction in equal proportion on both clause types in light of markedness theory (that purports easier structures will naturally improve when harder ones are afforded more pedagogical attention). To meet these aims, a total of 156 Japanese EFL university learners were divided into two groups: an experimental group that was exposed to four web-based treatment sessions over four consecutive weeks, and a control group that continued with their regular studies without any contrastive input. Statistical analyses of pre, post, and delayed posttest performances demonstrated that the intervention led to positive learning outcomes for overall clause accuracy. However, in spite of markedness theory predicting a greater improvement for subject relative clauses (which are generally deemed easier), the reverse was found to be true. Interpretations for this unexpected finding are provided, along with pedagogical implications and future directions for related research.

Textbooks for teaching and learning a foreign English language: Do they really facilitate students’ acquisition of English relative clauses?

Textbooks for teaching and learning a foreign English language: Do they really facilitate students’ acquisition of English relative clauses?

Promoting EFL students’ accuracy and fluency through interactive practice activities

This study examined the effectiveness of interactive activities at facilitating EFL students’ production of English relative clauses. Thirty-seven EFL learners in Chile carried out interactive activities designed to elicit relative clauses. Pre- and posttests were used to examine whether carrying out the activities facilitated the students’ production of relative clauses. All interactions were audio-recorded and the transcripts were analyzed to determine how accurately and fluently the students produced relative clauses before, during, and after the practice activities. Whereas accuracy was defined as errors involving relative clause formation, fluency was operationalized in terms of the number of pauses, false starts, and self-corrections that occurred within relative clauses. The results showed that the students produced significantly more accurate relative clauses on the posttest; however, their production of dysfluencies remained unchanged. Implications for the use of interactive activities are discussed.

Why is English relative clause extraposed?: A discourse-based statistical approach

This study aims to investigate to what extent grammatical variables are related to each other in order to predict the discourse-based classification of English relative clause extraposition (RCE) construction with the help of a total 597 corpus data. In doing so, an extraposed relative pronoun is assumed to function as a cohesive device, thereby classifying RCE construction into four types according to discourse manner: Discourse-Old-Old-RCE, Discourse-Old-New-RCE, Discourse-New-Old-RCE, and Discourse-New-New-RCE. This discourse-based classification tells us which information is prevalent within an extraposed relative clause as well as a subject NP. Multinomial logistic regression is used for determining which one among the indefiniteness/definiteness of a subject NP, the predicate type (i.e., passive, presentative intransitive, and predicative complement of copula be), and/or grammatical weight (i.e., subject NP-to-extraposed RC length ratio) primarily has the inclination for each type of RCE construction. The definiteness of a subject NP, passive voice, and positive value of the length ratio are critical predictors to bring about Discourse-Old-Old-RCE and Discourse-Old-New-RCE, whereas the indefiniteness of a subject NP is a main predictor of Discourse-New-Old-RCE and Discourse-New-New- RCE. Interestingly, only Discourse-New-Old-RCE taking up the largest portion in this corpus study has a negative correlation with the length ratio. In other words, both a small number of constituents within a subject NP and heavy information within an extraposed relative clause are strongly associated with the occurrence of Discourse-New-Old-RCE. Therefore, the conclusive statement is drawn that the grammatical heaviness within a restrictive relative clause becomes a powerful trigger for the extraposition. (Chodang University)

L2 Processing of English Direct Object and Oblique Relative Clauses

L2 Processing of English Direct Object and Oblique Relative Clauses

THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFERENCES IN THE USE OF ENGLISH AND SERBIAN NONFINITE RELATIVE CLAUSES

The paper describes and analyses two language systems, English and Serbian, particularly one segment of the grammar of both languages – nonfinite relative clauses. The methods used are contrastive analysis, description and classification.Both English and Serbian nonfinite relative clauses function as postnominal modifiers. They are contrasted with the purpose of determining their similarities and differences. English nonfinite relative clauses are constructed using all nonfiniteverb forms (infinitive, -ing and -ed verb forms) in active and passive voices and progressive, perfect and simple aspects, whereas Serbian nonfinite relative clauses are constructed using radni glagolski pridev (active participle) and trpni glagolski pridev (passive participle). These two Serbian nonfinite verb forms are limited in their use in nonfinite relative clauses depending on various grammatical aspects. The differences between the uses of English and Serbian nonfinite relative clauses are identified concerning the frequency of use and variety of meanings.

The Acquisition Of English Relative Clauses By University Students Of English In Jordan

The Acquisition Of English Relative Clauses By University Students Of English In Jordan

Analysis of Relative Clauses as Used in the Academic Writing of EFL Learners

English relative clauses (RCs) are structurally complex because they involve long distance dependencies. The present study examines 14 Korean university students’ production of English RCs in academic writing to see (1) what types of RCs they use; and (2) how often they use each type of RC. The results show that the learners produced only subject and direct object RCs, and far more of the former than the latter. These findings suggest that Korean EFL writers should be instructed in the usage of various types of RCs to build their linguistic repertoires and competence using structures appropriately to the situation of language use.

Relation between Frequency and Processing Difficulty of English Relative Clauses by L2 Learners: A Learner Corpus Analysis

This paper explores whether frequency can play a role in accounting for difficulties in processing English relative clauses (RCs) by L2 learners. Previous experimental studies showed that the processing difficulty of RCs in L2 is modulated by the syntactic function of the head noun and noun animacy. By analyzing a corpus of essays written by Korean adult learners of English, this paper shows that the distribution patterns of the RCs in the learner corpus are consistent with the experimental findings. Object-extracted RCs almost exclusively occur with inanimate head nouns, while subject-extracted RCs occur about two times more frequently with animate head nouns than inanimate head nouns. It is also found that the object-extracted RCs with inanimate head nouns often contain animate subjects and have the animacy configuration reflecting typical thematic structures of transitive clauses. The results of the corpus analysis provide support to frequency-based approaches for L2 processing, claiming that a higher frequency of a particular RC form makes it easier for L2 learners to acquire and process. (Chonnam National University)

Locus of difficulty in processing L2 English object relative clauses: A study with Korean university students

Previous work on L2 sentence processing shows that L2 learners are sensitive to the greater processing complexity of object relative clauses as compared with subject relative clauses in English as are native speakers of the language. The exact locus of this effect within the relative clause, however, is yet to be empirically determined. In a self-paced reading paradigm with 27 Korean university students, English object relative clauses with an animate subject were contrasted with those that contained an inanimate subject (e.g. The woman that the teenager on the car injured ... vs. The woman that the accident on the road inured ...). Comparable simple sentences embedded as an extraposed that-clause were also tested as a control (e.g., It was verified that the teenager/accident on the road injured the woman ...). The results suggest that the processing difficulty of object relative clauses materializes before the relative clause verb, and that animacy effects appear at both the subject and verb of the relative clause but in different patterns. The findings are discussed in relation to sentence processing theories.

On the Derivation of English Relative Clauses

On the Derivation of English Relative Clauses

On Factors Affecting the Grammaticality Judgement of English Relative Clauses

On Factors Affecting the Grammaticality Judgement of English Relative Clauses

A Corpus-based Study on the English Relative Clause Constructions in the English-language Media

A Corpus-based Study on the English Relative Clause Constructions in the English-language Media