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Re: Relative clauses in Ikanirae Seru

From:Isaac Penzev <isaacp@...>
Date:Monday, April 21, 2003, 18:17
Roger Mills gir'h:


> That's what I suspected, and IIRC modern Hebrew works the same way (?)-- but > one would think it was more likely a carryover from Yiddish usage (sort of > translationese). So another question: was Yiddish influenced by Hebrew > usage in this respect? > > So, instead of "proper" German > ... der Mann (rel.pron in accusative) ich habe gesehen > 'the man who(m) I saw' > > would Yiddish say (mutatis mutandis!): > ....der Mann (invariant rel.pron.) ich habe ihn gesehen
I don't know much Yiddish, so I had to consult my grammar book. It says (abriged translation from Russian is mine, translteration of Yiddish words is acc. to V.P.Berkow): <<Relative clause may conjunct to the principal clause by conjunctional words _velxer_ and _vos_. _velxer_ declines like an adjective, and you may know the gender, case and number from its form: (1) _der mentS *velxer* Steit dort..._ "The man who is standing there..." (2) _der mentS *velxn* ix ze..._ "The man whom I see..." (3) _di froi *velxer* ix hob dos gezogt..._ "The woman whom I said..." The conjunctional word _vos_ does not decline. (4) _der mentS *vos* Steit dort..._ (5) _di froi *vos* ix ze..._ (6) _di kinder *vos* ix hob zei gefregt..._ "The children whom I asked..." (7) _der xaver *vos* ix hob im gegebn dem bux..._ "The friend whom I gave the book..." You can know to what word the clause refers, judging by other pronouns used in the sentence: (8) _jidl der Sraiber hot zexcik meidlex vos er lernt *zei* Sraibn._ "Yiddle the scribe has sixty girls whom he teaches to write." (9) _Di kinder vos ix hob *zei* derceilt di dozike geSixte, hobn mix ufmerkzam oisgehert._ "The children whom I told this story, listened to me attentively.">> Berkow also gives an example: (10) _dos bux vos/velxes ix hob aix gegebn_ "The book that I gave you" All I can say - Maybe! Or it comes from Ukrainian that has the same construction... Examples in Ukrainian: (5) zhinka *shcho* ja (jiji) bachu (6) dity *shcho* ja jikh spytav (7) tovarysh *shcho* ja dav jomu knyhu (10) knyha *shcho* ja vam (jiji) dav -- Yitzik

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Roger Mills <romilly@...>