Re: Mandarin Relative Clauses?

Hi!

> Hmm. I don't know what the "formal" analysis is, but in my mind, the above
> examples differ in that "hong" is an attributive modifier to "putaojiu",
> while "hao de" is a *predicative* modifier. (I'm borrowing this analysis
> from classical Greek; I'm not sure how else to explain it.)
Ah, interesting!  That's what I wanted to understand!

Still, I think the notion of *relative clauses* can still be applied,
although one would have to distinguish two types:

   `mang ren'    = `busy people', `people, who are [typically] busy'
   `mang de ren' = `people, who are [currently] busy'

Can you drop the `de' in situations when a verb and object are used?
I.e. is the following correct:

   `he cha ren shi pengyou' =(?) `tea drinkers are friends'
or maybe
   `he cha ren dou shi pengjou'
?

How could one express a `universal' relative clause (not a selective
one) in Mandarin?  I'm thinking of:

   `Knives, which are sharp, must not be touched.'

This states in the relative clause that `all knives are sharp', in
contrast to

      `Sharp knives must not be touched'
  and `Knives that are sharp must not be touched'

which both *select* sharp ones from the set of all knives.

In German, there is no way to express the universal meaning of a
relative clause without clarifying words (`Messer, die ja <implying>
scharf sind, ...').  The `ja' adds the aspect of an implicit,
agreed-on, general truth.


Of course, I need to fully understand the concepts in order to
construct my new language. :-) This language will borrow a lot from
Mandarin.

**Henrik