Relative clause

Languages differ in many ways in how relative clauses are expressed: For example, the English sentence "The person that I saw yesterday went home" can be described as follows: The following sentences indicate various possibilities (only some of which are grammatical in English): There are four main strategies for indicating the role of the shared noun phrase in the embedded clause.

Only a very small number of languages, of which the best known is Yoruba, have pronoun retention as their sole grammatical type of relative clause.

Dialects of some European languages, such as Italian, do use the nonreduction type in forms that could be glossed in English as "The person just passed us by, she introduced me to the chancellor here."

The most common example is the use of applicative voices to relativize obliques, but in such languages as Chukchi antipassives are used to raise ergative arguments to absolutive.

The above examples expressed in an applicative voice might be similar to the following (in not necessarily grammatical English): Modern grammars may use the accessibility hierarchy to order productions—e.g.

in Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar the hierarchy corresponds to the order of elements on the subcat list, and interacts with other principles in explanations of binding facts.

When the pronoun is to act as the direct object of the relative clause, que is generally used, although lequel, which is inflected for grammatical gender and number, is sometimes used in order to give more precision.

The more common one is based on the definite article der, die, das, but with distinctive forms in the genitive (dessen, deren) and in the dative plural (denen).

The relative pronoun dem is neuter singular to agree with Haus, but dative because it follows a preposition in its own clause.

In the latter example, both are still feminine and plural, and urbēs is still in the nominative case, but quae has been replaced by quās, its accusative-case counterpart, to reflect its role as the direct object of vīdī.

ἄξιοιáxioiτῆςtêsἐλευθερίαςeleutheríāsἧςhêsκέκτησθεkéktēstheἄξιοι τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἧς κέκτησθεáxioi tês eleutheríās hês kéktēstheWorthy of the freedom (lit.

The Ancient Greek relative pronoun ὅς, ἥ, ὅ (hós, hḗ, hó) is unrelated to the Latin word, since it derives from Proto-Indo-European *yos: in Proto-Greek, y before a vowel usually changed to h (debuccalization).

[16] The Greek definite article ὁ, ἡ, τό (ho, hē, tó) has a different origin, since it is related to the Sanskrit demonstrative sa, sā and Latin is-tud.

The nominative-accusative syncretism of the form koji is inadequate, so the genitive form kojeg is preferred:[24] Autocar:NOM/ACC.M.SGkojiwhich:NOM/ACC.M.SGjebe:AUX.3.SGudariohit:AP.M.SGautobusbus:NOM/ACC.M.SGAuto koji je udario autobuscar:NOM/ACC.M.SG which:NOM/ACC.M.SG be:AUX.3.SG hit:AP.M.SG bus:NOM/ACC.M.SGAutocar:NOM/ACC.M.SGkojegwhich:ACC/GEN.M.SGjebe:AUX.3.SGudariohit:AP.M.SGautobusbus:NOM/ACC.M.SGAuto kojeg je udario autobuscar:NOM/ACC.M.SG which:ACC/GEN.M.SG be:AUX.3.SG hit:AP.M.SG bus:NOM/ACC.M.SG"Car hit by bus"The Celtic languages (at least the modern Insular Celtic languages) distinguish two types of relative clause: direct relative clauses and indirect relative clauses.

Both direct and indirect relative particles can be used simply for emphasis, often in answer to a question or as a way of disagreeing with a statement.

الفتىal-fatāالذي(a)lladhiرأيتهra’aytuhuفيfīالصف(a)ṣ-ṣaffiأمس’amsiغائبġā’ibunاليومal-yawmaالفتى الذي رأيته في الصف أمس غائب اليومal-fatā (a)lladhi ra’aytuhu fī (a)ṣ-ṣaffi ’amsi ġā’ibun al-yawma"The boy I saw in class yesterday is missing today".

(relative pronoun present)هذاhāḏāفتًىfatanرأيتهra’aytu-huفيfīالصف(a)ṣ-ṣaffiأمس’amsiهذا فتًى رأيته في الصف أمسhāḏā fatan ra’aytu-hu fī (a)ṣ-ṣaffi ’amsi"This is a boy I saw in class yesterday".

So in Palestinian Arabic the above sentences would be: As in Hebrew, the regular pronoun referring to the antecedent is repeated in the relative clause - literally, "the boy whom I saw him in class..." (the -hu in ra'aituhu and the -ō in shuftō).

A number of "adjectival" meanings, in Japanese, are customarily shown with relative clauses consisting solely of a verb or a verb complex: 光っているhikatte-irulit-beビルbirubuilding光っている ビルhikatte-iru birulit-be building"an illuminated building"濡れているnurete-iruget_wet-be犬inudog濡れている 犬nurete-iru inuget_wet-be dog"a wet dog"Often confusing to speakers of languages which use relative pronouns are relative clauses which would in their own languages require a preposition with the pronoun to indicate the semantic relationship among the constituent parts of the phrase.

紅茶をkōcha-otea-OBJ淹れるirerumakeためtamepurposeにniforお湯をoyu-ohot-water-OBJ沸かしたwakashitaboiledやかんyakankettle紅茶を 淹れる ため に お湯を 沸かした やかんkōcha-o ireru tame ni oyu-o wakashita yakantea-OBJ make purpose for hot-water-OBJ boiled kettle"the kettle I boiled water in for tea"Here, the preposition "in" is missing from the Japanese ("missing" in the sense that the corresponding postposition would be used with the main clause verb in Japanese).

The first is similar to that of English or Latin: the modified noun is followed by a relativizer that inflects for its embedded case and may take a postposition.

წერილსc̣̣eril-sletter-DATრომromRELმასmas3S.DATდავუწერ,davuc̣̣er,I.will.write.it.to.herისisthat.NOMქალიkal-iwoman-NOMთბილისშიtbilis=šiTbilisi-inცხოვრობსcxovrobsshe.livesწერილს რომ მას დავუწერ, ის ქალი თბილისში ცხოვრობსc̣̣eril-s rom mas davuc̣̣er, is kal-i tbilis=ši cxovrobsletter-DAT REL 3S.DAT I.will.write.it.to.her that.NOM woman-NOM Tbilisi-in she.lives"the woman who I will write a letter to lives in Tbilisi.

ქალსkal-swoman-DATრომromRELწერილსc̣̣eril-sletter-DATდავუწერ,davuc̣̣er,I.will.write.it.to.herისis3S.NOMთბილისშიtbilis=šiTbilisi-inცხოვრობსcxovrobsshe.livesქალს რომ წერილს დავუწერ, ის თბილისში ცხოვრობსkal-s rom c̣̣eril-s davuc̣̣er, is tbilis=ši cxovrobswoman-DAT REL letter-DAT I.will.write.it.to.her 3S.NOM Tbilisi-in she.lives"the woman who I will write a letter to lives in Tbilisi.

"Indonesian, a zero-copula language that does not mark verb tense, allows a variety of types of relative clause, normally restrictive.

In (1a) below, lalaki 'man' serves as the head, while nagbigay ng bigas sa bata 'gave rice to the child' is the relative clause.

"The gap inside the relative clause corresponds to the position that the noun acting as the head would have normally taken, had it been in a declarative sentence.

"When an oblique noun phrase is relativized, as in (7a), na 'that', the complementizer that separates the head from the relative clause, is optional.

However, the relative clause in (7a) looks more like an indirect question, complete with the interrogative complementizer, kung 'if', and a pre-verbally positioned WH-word like saan 'where', as in (7b).

If the relative clause is missing a subject but contains an object (in other words, if the verb is transitive), the main-clause noun is the implied subject of the relative clause:[28] 种zhònggrow水果shuǐguǒfruit的dePTCL农人nóngrénfarmer(種水果的農人。)  种 水果 的 农人zhòng shuǐguǒ de nóngréngrow fruit PTCL farmer"the fruit-growing farmer" or "the farmer who grows fruit"If the object but not the subject is missing from the relative clause, the main-clause noun is the implied object of the relative clause: 他们tāmenthey种zhònggrow的dePTCL水果shuǐguǒfruit(他們種的水果。)  他们 种 的 水果tāmen zhòng de shuǐguǒthey grow PTCL fruit"the by-them-grown fruit" or "the fruit that they grow"If both the subject and the object are missing from the relative clause, then the main-clause noun could either be the implied subject or the implied object of the relative clause; sometimes which is intended is clear from the context, especially when the subject or object of the verb must be human and the other must be non-human: (用)今天jīntiāntoday赢yíngwin的dePTCL钱qiánmoney来fùpay付fánghouse房租zūrent((用)今天贏的錢來付房租。)  (用)今天 赢 的 钱 来 付 房租jīntiān yíng de qián fù fáng zūtoday win PTCL money pay house rent"the won-today money pays the rent" or "the money that was won today pays the rent"But sometimes ambiguity arises when it is not clear from the context whether the main-clause noun is intended as the subject or the object of the relative clause: 昨天zuótiānyesterday批评pīpingcriticize的dePTCL人rénperson都dōuall不bunot在zàiat这里zhèlǐhere(昨天批評的人都不在這裡。)  昨天 批评 的 人 都 不 在 这里zuótiān pīping de rén dōu bu zài zhèlǐyesterday criticize PTCL person all not at here"the people who criticized [others] yesterday are all not here" or "the people whom [others] criticized yesterday are all not here"However, the first meaning (in which the main-clause noun is the subject) is usually intended, as the second can be unambiguously stated using a passive voice marker: 昨天zuótiānyesterday被bèiPASS批评pīpingcriticize的dePTCL人rénperson都dōuall不bunot在zàiat这里zhèlǐhere(昨天被批評的人都不在這裡。)  昨天 被 批评 的 人 都 不 在 这里zuótiān bèi pīping de rén dōu bu zài zhèlǐyesterday PASS criticize PTCL person all not at here"the people who were criticized yesterday are all not here"Sometimes a relative clause has both a subject and an object specified, in which case the main-clause noun is the implied object of an implied preposition in the relative clause: 我wǒI写xiěwrite信xìnletter的dePTCL毛笔máobǐbrushpen(我寫信的毛筆。)  我 写 信 的 毛笔wǒ xiě xìn de máobǐI write letter PTCL brushpenthe brushpen that I write letters withIt is also possible to include the preposition explicitly in the relative clause, but in that case it takes a pronoun object (a personal pronoun with the function of a relative pronoun):[29] 我wǒI替tìfor他tāher/him画huàdraw画huàpicture的dePTCL人rénperson(我替他畫畫的人。)  我 替 他 画 画 的 人wǒ tì tā huà huà de rénI for her/him draw picture PTCL person"the person for whom I drew the picture"Free relative clauses are formed in the same way, omitting the modified noun after the particle de.

For example, all of the following can occur and all mean the same thing: GetThere'swanonenadaothergrlgirlhuwhononokaencanstestaystilstillGet wan nada grl hu no kaen ste stilThere's one other girl who no can stay stillThere's another girl who cannot stay stillGetThere'swanonenadaothergrlgirlnonokaencanstestaystilstillGet wan nada grl no kaen ste stilThere's one other girl no can stay stillGetThere'swanonenadaothergrlgirlshishenonokaencanstestaystilstillGet wan nada grl shi no kaen ste stilThere's one other girl she no can stay stillIn Gullah, an English-based creole spoken along the southeastern coast of the United States, no relative pronoun is normally used for the subject of a relative clause.