Re: Relative clauses

From:    Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>
> I have a question: are there natlangs where in a relative
> construction, the modified noun is part of the subordinate clause?  I
> mean, it belongs to the matrix clause logically, of course, since the
> relative clause modifies it there.
To chime in with the others:
Yes, there's a large literature on what are called internally
headed relative clauses.  Check out the following citations on
Scholar-Google:

<http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=internally+headed+relative+clauses&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Search>

Such relative clauses are apparently very common in leftbranching
languages, such as Japanese, Korean, Quechua.  I take the following
Japanese sample from a recent paper by Junko Shimoyama:

  Yoko-wa [[ Taro-ga  sara-no   ue-ni  keeki-o  oita]
  Yoko-Top   Taro-Nom plate-Gen on-Loc cake-Acc put

  -no]-o  tabeta.
  -NM-Acc ate

  ‘Yoko ate a piece of cake which Taro put on a plate.’
  (Based on the principle that every Japanese sentence involves
   an omnipresent and omnifacient man named Taroo)

It's not universal for leftbranching languages, for one language I know
(guess which?), Georgian, doesn't, as far as I know, have any such
construction.  I should also say that, in such languages, AFAIK it always
occurs in addition to a construction in which the relativizee is part of
the matrix clause.

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