Re: Relative clauses in Ikanirae Seru

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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