Relative Pronouns Research Articles

Short sources, islandhood, and pronominal correlates: New experimental support from German and Spanish for a short source approach to apparent exceptions to the clausemate condition on multiple sluicing

This paper focuses on multiple sluicing (MS) utterances in which the antecedent for sluicing is syntactically complex, insofar as it contains at least one embedded clause. Complex antecedent MS (henceforth caMS) is subject to the clausemate condition (CC). Phrased in sententialist terms, the CC bans sluiced wh-phrases from being base-generated in different finite clauses in the elliptic clause. Under specific conditions, it seems that the CC is obviated. We report results from acceptability judgment experiments on German and Spanish that provide further evidence that elliptic wh-clauses in caMS can be monoclausal in nature and that these monoclausal elliptic clauses (so-called short sources) are judged as significantly more acceptable than their isomorphic, biclausal elliptic clause counterparts. We interpret these results as supporting the view that purported obviations to CC are only apparent, following Cortés Rodríguez (2022a) and Cortés Rodríguez & Griffiths (to appear). Because these experiments are novel in that they focus on caMS configurations involving syntactic islands, their results provide new insights into how putative CC-obviation and islandhood interact and demonstrate that not only personal but also relative pronouns can function as correlates in MS.

Constructions with reduplication of the referent in sentences with the relative pronoun который in the translation of «Il regno degli slavi» by Mavro Orbini

The article considers some language features of the translation from Italian made by Savva Ragusinsky in the first quarter of the XVIII century by order of Peter I. The historiographic work under consideration is Mavro Orbini’s book «Il regno degli slavi». The author of the article analyses the use of the construction with the pronoun который and the repetition of the referent, which allows identifying the degree of influence of the original language on the translated text, various transformations within the construction or a gradual departure from it. Savva Raguzinsky, while working on the translation, resorts to using the construction 40 times, not always relying on the original text and often using synonyms, which may indicate its consistent destruction. The paper analyses two manuscripts dating from 1714 and currently stored in the library of the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, the text published in 1722 «The Book historiography of the Commencement of the Name, Glory and Expansion of the Slavic People ...», as well as the original text in Italian. The relevance of the research topic is due to the significant influence of translations from foreign languages on the formation of a new type of language. It was in the Peter the Great era that texts appeared, the language of which modern researchers call «simple», contrasting with the «high Slavonic dialect». There are practically no Church Slavonic and obsolete forms, words and phrases in it. Until now, a generally accepted view of the linguistic situation of the first quarter of the XVIII century has not been developed, and many printed and handwritten monuments of that time have not become the object of research.

Collective pronouns, collective health actions: Predicting pandemic precautionary measures through online first-person plural pronoun usage across U.S. states

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the role of group identification in shaping collective health behaviors. Using the novel Pronoun-Influenced Collective Health Model — an integrated framework combining elements from health and social psychology theories — we investigated the relationship between online first-person plural pronoun usage and adherence to COVID-19 preventive measures across the United States. Analyzing weekly Google Trends data on English (Study 1) and Spanish (Study 2) first-person pronoun searches, alongside data on adherence to pandemic precautionary measures from early 2020 to late 2022, we found significant positive associations between relative first-person plural pronoun search volumes and adherence to social distancing, stay-at-home orders, vaccination rates, and proactive disease prevention information seeking. These associations remained robust after adjusting for potential confounding factors. A mini meta-analysis (Study 3) confirmed the consistency of our findings, revealing no significant moderation effects by language context or ecological-socio-cultural factors, suggesting broad generalizability. The implications of this research highlight the potential for tracking online collective language as a valuable indicator of and proxy for societal-level health engagement during crises. This novel digital linguistics approach, synergistically combining applied health and social psychology with big data from digital platforms such as Google, offers powerful tools for monitoring collective health actions across linguistic and cultural boundaries during large-scale health crises.

Grammatical Features in Language Contact Setting: The Case of 3è and 1ère students of GBHS Koza and GHS Mozogo

The most common way that languages influence each other is in the exchange of words. The present study deals with grammatical features in essays written by students of GBHS Koza and BHS Mozogo and their natural occurring interactions which are the empirical foundations of primary data source. The research adopted the qualitative and quantitative approaches. The corpus comprises 250 essay writing scripts collected in February 2024. The data were processed and analysed using Kachru (1983a) theory on postcolonial and/or world Englishes. Results showed a new stream of CamFE in the grammatical features found in students’ essays and interactions which include haphazard relative pronouns, articles omission, object omission in nominal phrase, lack of subject-verb agreement, possessive adjectives, misplacement of adjectives, non-standard construction of interrogative sentences and adjectival reduplication.

Närhet som grepp

Contiguity as Device: The Metonymical in Tor Ulven’s Poetry This article localizes the metonymical elements in Tor Ulven’s poetry. In his essays, Ulven expresses an awareness of the limitations of metaphor in representation. Yet, the poetic consequences of this metaphor skepticism have gained little attention. Through an analysis of some frequent motifs in Ulven’ poetry, the article investigates how Ulven makes use of contiguity, rather than similarity, as a principal poetic device. It also argues that his particular use of the word “som” (like/that) does not primarily function as a way of creating relations of similarity, but rather as a relative pronoun, where “som” activates the subordinate clause by introducing a verb. The purpose of the article is to shed light on the correspondences related to contiguity that permeate Ulven’s poetry and that, it is argued, are central to his poetic imagery.

Relativization in Likpakpaln (Ghana): New typological perspectives on the Mabia (Gur) languages

AbstractThis article provides the first systematic account of relativization in Likpakpaln, an understudied Mabia (Gur) language of Ghana. Broadly speaking, Likpakpaln features two types of relative clauses: restrictive and non-restrictive. Both types of relative clauses are finite and marked by a relative pronoun as well as a clausal definite determiner. The first type is always headed by an indefinite noun. The second is invariably headed by a definite head noun, is additionally marked by a prosodic break, and is usually under focus. The relative pronoun is a composite form comprised of a noun class agreement marker and an invariant relative marker. A number of the features of relative clauses in Likpakpaln align it with other Mabia languages of the region, whereas others distinguish it from these languages. This analysis situates Likpakpaln within its genealogical and areal context while providing new typological perspectives on the Mabia languages as a whole.

Merge (Late and Parallel) and Agree (Closest and Multiple): A view from Polish relative clauses with conjoined heads

My main goal in this paper is to examine agreement in relative clauses with conjoined heads. Since there are many elements that can potentially agree with the conjoined head (i.e., the relative pronoun, the verb, nominal modifiers if present), there are many logically possible agreement patterns, only a subset of which is attested. I focus on the question of what the available (and unavailable) patterns tell us about the nature of the Agree, the mechanism responsible for agreement. The more theoretical question I examine is why sometimes Agree between a single Probe and multiple Goals surfaces as Resolved Agreement, and other times as agreement with a single Goal. Focusing on coordinate structures, I argue that Agree between a single Probe and multiple Goals in a Parallel Merge structure obligatorily leads to Single Conjunct Agreement, whereas Agree between a single Probe and multiple Goals in a non-Parallel Merge structure can result in either Single Conjunct Agreement or Resolved Agreement. This proposal has implications that go beyond Polish relative clauses, which I also discuss in the paper.

Examining Cross-linguistic Influence of Japanese Word Order: An Eye-Tracking Study on L2 English Learners’ Text Comprehension

Cross-linguistic influence is a systematic and unavoidable feature of language learning. This study aimed to investigate whether prepositive word order in Japanese noun clauses can serve as a cross-linguistic influence element in the acquisition of relative clauses (a form of a postpositive modifier) in English. To test this hypothesis, this study conducted an eye-tracking experiment with native Japanese speakers and showed the following results statistically. First, Japanese participants generally paid more attention to modifier clauses than the noun phrases they modified when reading English sentences with relative clauses. Second, when interpreting accusative relative clauses, longer fixations were observed both in the modifier clauses and in the antecedents, likely due to their complexity for Japanese L2 learners of English, as evidenced by the lowest accuracy rate. Finally, and most notably, the findings revealed that the participants who had not fully acquired the relative clause construction focused more on the left side of the relative pronoun than those who had. This tendency was most prominent when interpreting subjective relative clauses, a result that supports the hypothesis that prepositive L1 modifiers could be a CLI element in the acquisition of English postpositive modifiers.

Subject‐Object Asymmetries and the Development of Relative Clauses between Late Middle English and Early Modern English

AbstractThis paper presents the results of a corpus study on the Wycliffe Bible and the King James Bible, examining the distribution of the pronouns who(m)/which and the complementiser that in relative clauses with a personal referent. The data indicate that the decisive factor in both periods was the function of the gap (subject vs. non‐subject): wh‐pronouns are preferred in object relative clauses, while that is preferred in subject relative clauses. In addition, the paper argues that the subject/non‐subject distinction was decisive not only regarding the major wh/that distribution but also regarding the who(m)/which distinction. While in the case of the wh/that distinction, a syntactic difference (relative pronoun versus relative complementiser) underlies the attested asymmetry, the pronouns who(m) and which do not differ in their core syntactic properties. The data clearly indicate that both the wh‐strategy in general and the pronoun who(m) in particular started to spread from the lower functions of the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy, whereby the spread of who(m) was one step behind the general spread of the wh‐strategy. The findings thus suggest that asymmetries along the lines of the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy are not necessarily paired up with syntactic asymmetries.

Sulle costruzioni relative non-restrittive del romeno (a confronto con l’italiano)

Non-restrictive (or appositive) relative clauses can either belong to sentence grammar (integrated non-restrictive relatives) or to the grammar of discourse (non-integrated non-restrictive relatives). Italian has both constructions (the former employs che and cui relative pronouns, while the latter employs the il quale paradigm, with distinct properties). The evidence discussed in the present article induces one to analyse the non-restrictive relatives of Standard (non colloquial) Romanian as belonging to the grammar of discourse.

Greek as an SAE language: Developing on the micro-orientation perspective

This paper considers the Greek language as a member of the Standard Average European (SAE) linguistic area as defined by Haspelmath (1998, 2001). After a brief presentation of the model, there follows a detailed analysis from this perspective of four selected features in Greek: relative clauses with relative pronouns, the “have”-perfect with a passive par- ticiple, participial passives, and negation. The approach applied focuses on specifics that concern standard and non-standard varieties, not only in the language system itself but also in its diachronic development. The results are then measured using Seiler’s (2019) classification of SAE features, with an eye to enriching the classification both empirically and theoretically.

Relativization in Ikwuano Dialect of Igbo

This paper examines relativization in Ikwuano Igbo. The problem of word order and the selectional rule for grammaticality in the realization of semantic affinity that exist in sentence construction cannot be ignored. This study investigates the embedding features that make sentential structures to be embedded in other sentences. The relative pronouns found in Ikwuano Igbo include; “ónyé- who,whom”, “nkè- which”, “nà- that”, “mà- whether”, “kà- that”. The relative pronoun occurs as the subject of a relative clause making it to be grammatical. The theoretical framework adopted by this study is the embedding principle of “Principles and Parameters”. This theory is a brain child of Noam Chomsky. This study takes a descriptive approach of language analysis. The data for this paper is elicited utterances by adult native speakers and intuition from the researcher. The aim of this paper is to examine relativization in Ikwuano Igbo with a view to establishing the Ikwuano strategy. This paper explains the motivation for the relative pronoun strategy and its behavior in the language. This study reveals that relativization in Ikwuano Igbo remains the most productive strategy in Igbo and many other languages for grammaticality. The study shows that relativization performs an emphatic function in the grammatical structure of Ikwuano Igbo.

The sole relative marker

Abstract The exclusive expression weiyi ‘sole/only’ in Mandarin can appear preverbally in a relative clause (e.g., wo weiyi xihuan de shu ‘the sole book I like’) but not in other types of clauses (e.g., *Wo weiyi xihuan shu, intended: ‘I only like books’). This paper first justifies the claim that weiyi may not only function as an adjectival modifier but also appear preverbally inside a relative clause, and then demonstrates how weiyi is related to definiteness and takes scope out of a relative clause. It is proposed that preverbal weiyi is part of a DP which undergoes overt A’-movement in the process of relativization. The syntactic structure and semantic composition of a matching analysis are offered to show how a uniform account can be given across adjectival and relative weiyi. A major implication of this paper is that Mandarin does not possess a relative pronoun but allows a DP-internal focus expression to mark syntactic movement in relativization. A comparison between relative constructions involving weiyi and English all-clefts is also discussed.

To the History of Capital Letters Use in Writing Pronouns (Based on Articles by Nikolai M. Karamzin of 1802–1803)

The article examines the problem of codifying the norms for the use of capital letters in the Russian texts of the second half of the 18th — first half of the 19th centuries. The author argues that during this period there was a significant number of textbooks, grammars, which determined the features of capital letters use, while they implemented one of two models for constructing this section — with a brief or lengthy description of the rules. In particular, in most grammars there is a rule of using capital letters when writing pronouns. Based on three articles by Nikolai M. Karamzin of 1802–1803, the author demonstrates that the usage of the author’s texts by Karamzin differs significantly from the norms fixed by grammars. On the one hand, the area of capital letters use when writing pronouns by Karamzin is broader and covers cases of use not described by grammars: a) reflexive, relative and attributive pronouns (along with personal and possessive pronouns noted by grammars), while in most cases (46 out of 50) pronouns are used in the anaphoric function; b) forms of indirect cases (in grammars examples of the use of words in the form of the nominative case are given); c) pronouns correlated with the names of monarchs who ruled in previous eras. On the other hand, in contexts that require the use of capital letters, pronouns can be written in lowercase letters. It is suggested that the use of capital letters when writing pronouns in the texts of Karamzin can be explained by the same reason as the use of capital letters when writing nouns, noted by Yu. M. Lotman and B. A. Uspensky: in some cases, capital letters are used by Karamzin as a means of creating a certain author’s modality of the text.

Typical agramaticalized constructions as actualized mono- and polysynonymic transforms of virtual primary syntagmata and propositions (on the material of modern french fiction)

In this article, mono- and polysynonymic typical agrammaticalized constructions are defined as virtual transforms of primary syntagmata and propositions, actualized in the form of reduced, extended, and quantitatively equacomponential preferential options, in which expressivity prevails over expression. The aim of this research was to suggest a typology and to determine the degree of co(n)textual pertinence of typical agrammaticalized mono- and polysynonymic transforms in modern French fiction. To reach this aim I used the procedure of inverse reconstruction (discourse → language) of the primary structure of the analyzed types of mono- and polysynonymic agrammaticalized discourse innovations. The method of systematization made it possible to build a typology of common agrammaticalized synonymic preferential options. An “alternative” linguistic experiment, i.e., an artificial substitution by the recipient of a certain syntagm or proposition of the analyzed discourse fragment by a synonymic syntagm or proposition, helped to determine the degree of co(n)textual pertinence of the primary structure and secondary synonymic transforms. As a result, the types of mono- and polysynonymic typical agrammaticalized constructions were distinguished, the primary structure and members of virtual synonymic series were inversely reconstructed, and the co(n)textual pertinence of the constructions under analysis was justified by means of the “alternative” linguistic experiment. I claim, that in the French fiction of the 20th ‒ 21st centuries, the most frequent elements are mono- and polysynonymic typical agrammaticalized mono- and polypredicative utterances, extended by the interrogative or relative pronoun que, the personal pronoun il (and its colloquial analogues), quantitatively equacomponential preferential options containing the pronominal component que, and elliptical constructions with final suppression of complement after prepositions avec, sans, pour, contre, parmi, comme. I also claim, that the main reason for actualizing typical agrammaticalized constructions is to emphatically focalize new co(n)textual referents, stylistically nuance the intra- and / or interphrasal co(n)text, syntactically simplify complex structures, or prevent the re-actualization of referents previously introduced to the pre- or post-text.

Translating Relative Pronouns in Selected Verses From the Holy Quran

Being words which normally no paragraph lacks, relative pronouns play a very significant role in making any piece of writing more cohesive. Since the Holy Quran represents the most cohesive writing, the relative clauses occupies many of its verses, a matter which may present a fertile land for scientific research. The main purpose of this short study is just to raise a topic for research. It just wants to shed lights on the main differences between relative clauses and words in both Arabic and English taking some examples from the Holy verses. This may hopefully lead to some teaching benefits and it may encourage a researcher to have a wider effort. The study is divided into two main sections with subsections. The first is English, the second is Arabic. It ends with a conclusion. Key words: relative, clauses, nouns, pronouns.

Are there different kinds of appositive relative clauses?

Abstract In his latest book on relative clauses, Cinque claims that there are two fundamentally different kinds of appositive (non-restrictive) relative clauses. The unintegrated ones are the typical English type, the integrated ones are found in various languages, including Chinese and Japanese. This second type shares some characteristics with restrictive relatives, and seems to require a different syntactic analysis. Some languages, like Italian, supposedly have both types. A list of a dozen criteria differentiates the two, such as the use of relative pronouns and the possibility of heavy pied piping. However, when we carefully look at Dutch and other languages, the picture starts to blur considerably, and an abundance of (micro)variation shows up. This is problematic. I argue that the suggested criteria do not add up to two natural classes at all and are in fact non-explanatory. Therefore, we need to focus on what is truly fundamental to non-restrictiveness, which leads to a different perspective on the matter.

Case Conflict in Arabic Relative Clauses: A Phase-Based Approach

Case conflict in relative clauses is observed when a relative pronoun carries Case different from the one associated with its base position. Instead, it appears with Case that is identical to Case of its antecedent that is external to the relative clause. This phenomenon - commonly referred to as Case Attraction - is attested in languages such as Ancient Greek, Latin, and German. It is also easily observed in Modern Standard Arabic where the relative pronoun shows agreement in Case, gender and number with the noun modified by the relative clause. The original position of the relative pronoun is normally filled with a resumptive pronoun that represents the features of the relative pronoun. This study adopts the most recent assumptions of the Minimalist Program to account for the behavior of Arabic relative pronouns. It assumes that the relative clause is right adjoined to the noun it modifies and the relative pronoun moves to a left peripheral position within the structure of the relative clause leaving behind a copy. At a later stage of the derivation, Case of the relative pronoun is unified with Case of its antecedent. The unified Case feature is then valued under Agree with a higher head.

In the periphery of an indefinite pronoun. Forms and functions of conceptual agreement with jemand

Abstract In German, the social gender of the human referent matches the grammatical gender of the noun and pronoun in many cases. Nevertheless, those categories can also differ from each other. The indefinite pronoun jemand ‘someone’ prototypically exhibits masculine grammatical gender irrespective of its concrete referents. This paper addresses a special phenomenon that can occur with jemand, namely, the conceptual agreement of relative pronouns, i.e., the occurrence of feminine target forms that refer to the masculine indefinite pronoun jemand (Sie ist jemand, die gerne Kaffee trinkt ‘She is someone m , who f likes to drink coffee’). Based on two empirical analyses that examine the phenomenon from different methodological perspectives, this article will demonstrate that the marked phenomenon is comparatively rare, but does occur nevertheless. The phenomenon cannot be fully explained by the loss of the genericity of indefinite pronouns. In fact, either semantic or pragmatic explanations can be applied. This phenomenon can especially be observed in specific types of contexts (or constructions) that lack the prototypical feature of indefinite pronouns: indefinite reference. Jemand increasingly seems to be emerging in non-prototypical contexts for indefinite pronouns, which to some extent override the morphosyntactic features of the (relevant) part of speech. This occurrence is a semantic explanation for conceptual agreement forms. Pragmatic explanations for variation in agreement forms can be applied in prototypical contexts of indefinite pronouns, for example when an effort to use gender-sensitive language is made. Based on the phenomenon of conceptual agreement, this article thus explores the functions and properties in the periphery of indefinite pronouns as a part of speech.

Analysis of the Problems in the Use of English Restrictive Relative Clauses by Second Language Learners of Hazara Division

This research study investigates the difficulties faced by second language learners of Hazara division while comprehending English restrictive relative clauses and compares the comprehension sequences with the predictions of Subject-object hierarchy hypothesis and Noun phrase accessibility hierarchy. The study also examines the most challenging relative pronouns for second language learners of Hazara division. Data from one hundred and fifty undergraduate level students across various universities of Hazara division was analyzed. This study concludes that subject relative clauses are the easiest to comprehend, while genitive relative clauses are the most difficult, making the resultant hierarchy align with noun phrase accessibility hierarchy. On the other hand, deviation from Subject- object hierarchy can be observed, as subject-subject relative clauses are the easiest and subject-object relative clauses are the most difficult to comprehend. Additionally, the study identifies relative pronoun "whom" as the most challenging, and "when" as the easiest to comprehend.