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Re: Mandarin Relative Clauses?

From:Marcus Smith <smithma@...>
Date:Friday, November 17, 2000, 4:14
H. S. Teoh wrote:

>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.)
I don't have the notes anymore, but I attended a talk about 6 months ago that addressed this exact problem, and concluded that adjectives and relative clauses were distinct structures. I'm not sure of the evidence, but here is something you could try that should be revealing. Translate the following sentences: I have a red and white car. I have a car which I painted and which I crashed. If you can conjoin adjectives in the same way as relative clauses, then you learn nothing. But if they behave differently (eg one can conjoin the other can't) then it is unlikely that they are the same type of structure. Now, if they do behave the same, try conjoining an adjective with a relative clause. This cannot be simulated in English, but something like: I have a red and which I crashed car. If you can conjoin them, they are almost certainly the same structural thing, but if you cannot, then they probably are not the same thing. =============================== Marcus Smith AIM: Anaakoot "When you lose a language, it's like dropping a bomb on a museum." -- Kenneth Hale ===============================