Relative clauses in Orēlynna
From: | James Worlton <jworlton@...> |
Date: | Monday, February 2, 2004, 4:15 |
Finally, a bit of progress on relative clauses in Orēlynna. The
description that follows describes some terms that I needed to
explicitly explain for my own good, so if I got the descriptions wrong,
please feel free to correct me.
A relative clause appears after its head noun.
Unlike English, which can use pronouns to serve as relativizers and to
reflect the role of the noun phrase in the clause (NPrel; such as 'who',
'which', etc.), Orēlynna uses a relativizer |go| that does not reflect
the NPrel’s role. Therefore, in some cases it is necessary to use a
pronoun to avoid ambiguity. Orēlynna uses the pronoun retention method
(see _Describing Morphosyntax_) to express the grammatical relation of
the NPrel, but only if the NP is NOT in agent/subject position. In the
agent position no pronoun is needed because Orēlynna is a pro-drop
language (subject info encoded in verb). The pronouns are the same in
relative clauses as in main clauses.
Examples:
single clause:
suno anudo.
see.I man.ACC
'I see a man.'
relative clause with subject referent:
suno anudo go suntida ey.
see.I man.ACC REL see.3S-neg me.ACC
'I see a man that [he] cannot see me.' or more smoothly: 'I see a man
who cannot see me.'
relative clause with object referent:
suno anudomy go ānda anka dua.
see.I man-the.ACC REL love.3S woman.NOM 3ph.ACC
'I see the man that the woman loves him.' or more smoothly: 'I see the
man whom the woman loves.'
Comments, corrections, questions, etc. welcome.
--
=============
James Worlton
"We know by means of our intelligence
that what the intelligence does not
comprehend is more real than what it
does comprehend."
--Simone Weil
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