Re: Hello again, and a syntax question
| From: | Tim Smith <timsmith@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Sunday, March 28, 1999, 23:36 |
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At 11:37 AM 3/28/99 PST, J. Barefoot wrote:
>Hello Everybody! Remember me? Well, I barely have time to read this
>thing anymore, let alone input to the conversation. Sorry. I hate
>lurking, but it's a necessary evil.
>Anyway, I have a question. The language I've been working on
>(discovering?) recently has resumptive pronouns (in the formal or high
>register), but I'm not quite clear on how they work. The scheme I've
>been using is:
>
>The shirt that you want is on the bed.
>The shirt -this clause relative- you want it.resumptive topic on the
>bed.
>An fe xiyan na ti ngipai inya wa ma fiy@.
>
>or one I had some trouble with:
>
>I know that you will not allow me (to do it).
>I know -this clause relative- you not allow me.resumptive
I think the reason you're having trouble with this is that "that you will
not allow me (to do it)" isn't a relative clause; it's a complement clause.
A resumptive pronoun is a pronoun that's inserted into some construction
(such as a relative clause) to "replace" a noun phrase that's been taken
out. In a relative clause (at least the kind of relative clause that
English uses), the head (the noun phrase that's being relativized) is moved
out of the relative clause and into the main clause. In some languages
(such as Welsh and, I think, Hebrew), and in some non-standard varieties of
English, a resumptive pronoun is inserted to take the place of the deleted
head noun, so you get "the shirt that you want it is on the bed".
But in a complement clause, nothing has been taken out, so there's nothing
for a resumptive pronoun to replace.
>Is that right? Am I making grammatical errors in my own language? Would
>someone who knows more about syntax please explain this to me?
>And what about when there is no clear referrent in the main clause, for
>example if there's a "dummy object," like:
>
>I know that you will not allow it (to happen).
Same here. This is a complement, not a relative clause. A complement, in
this context, is a clause that acts like a noun phrase. In this sentence,
"that you will not allow it" acts as the direct object of "know". So does
"that you will not allow me to do it" in your previous sentence. A relative
clause, on the other hand, acts like an adjective; it modifies a noun.
Hope this helps.
-------------------------------------------------
Tim Smith
timsmith@global2000.net
Get your facts first and then you can distort them as you please.
- Mark Twain