Supplemental relative clauses: Internal and external syntax

2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
RUSSELL LEE-GOLDMAN
Keyword(s):  
Internal Structure ◽  
Linear Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Order Constraints ◽  
Syntactic Constraints ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses

The internal syntactic structures of restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses are largely identical. This paper argues that despite a uniform internal structure, the external distributions – specifically, linearization with respect to the head – of non-restrictive relative clauses are subject to several conditions. In particular, sentential non-restrictive relative clauses with which and what can appear to the left of their heads in limited (and distinct) syntactic contexts. These lexical and syntactic constraints are represented within the framework of Sign-based Construction Grammar. In light of these observations, the paper revisits claims about the internal structure of parenthetical as-clauses. Prior claims that as cannot be a relativizer are shown to be unfounded, and new data are presented in favor of treating them as relative clauses with the external distribution of sentential adverbials. This is possible given the ability to state separately specifications of construction-internal syntactic structure and construction-external linear-order constraints.

Fossilized mistakes in Spanish relative clauses learned by Chinese students

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
María Guijarro Sanz
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Chinese Students ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article demonstrates how Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar can prevent Chinese students learning Spanish from fossilizing mistakes in restrictive relative clauses at the A2-B1 level of the European Framework of Reference for Languages. To address this issue, first, relative clauses in Spanish and Chinese were contrasted and, second, tailored solutions based on Cognitive Grammar were proposed. Among the cognitive based tailored solutions, certain geometry forms, colours and basic mathematics metaphors were compared with syntactic characteristics such as noun order, subordination hierarchy or resumption. To elucidate the impact of such teaching methods, an experiment with 74 Chinese students was performed. The results indicate that the efficacy of the proposed materials is statistically significant and as such, the Chinese students avoid fossilized mistakes while producing subject, object and locative relative clauses in Spanish.

Abstract Phrasal and Clausal Constructions

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Hoffmann
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Syntactic Structures

This chapter examines abstract phrasal and clausal constructions, the most complex and schematic end of the constructicon cline. It outlines how constructionist approaches can describe and model even the most abstract of syntactic structures. The chapter discusses the arrangement of declarative, interrogative, imperative, and relative clauses in default inheritance networks and points out differences between those Construction Grammar frameworks that take a usage-based approach and those which do not. It also analyzes English comparative correlative construction and provides empirical evidence for a specific intonational signature of this construction.

scholarly journals On relative clauses and prosodic phrasing in Ciwandya

2011 ◽  
Vol 55 ◽  
pp. 121-139
Author(s):  
Al Mtenje
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Prosodic Phrasing ◽  
Bantu Languages ◽  
Bantu Language ◽  
Prosodic Phrase ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relatives

The interaction between Syntax and Phonology has been one area of interesting empirical research and theoretical debate in recent years, particularly the question of the extent to which syntactic structure influences phonological phrasing. It has generally been observed that the edges of the major syntactic constituents (XPs) tend to coincide with prosodic phrase boundaries thus resulting in XPs like subject NPs, object NPs, Topic NPs, VPs etc. forming separate phonological phrases. Within Optimality Theoretic (OT) accounts, this fact has been attributed to a number of well-motivated general alignment constraints. Studies on relative clauses in Bantu and other languages have significantly contributed to this area of research inquiry where a number of parametric variations have been observed with regard to prosodic phrasing. In some languages, XPs which are heads of relatives form separate phonological phrases while in others they phrase with the relative clauses. This paper makes a contribution to this topic by discussing the phrasing of relatives in Ciwandya (a Bantu language spoken in Malawi and Tanzania). It shows that XPs which are heads of restrictive relative clauses phrase with their relative verbs, regardless of whether they are subjects, objects or other adjuncts. A variety of syntactic constructions are used to illustrate this fact. The discussion also confirms what has been generally observed in other Bantu languages concerning restrictive relatives with clefts and non-restrictive relative clauses. In both cases, the heads of the relatives phrase separately. The paper adopts an OT analysis which has been well articulated and defended in Cheng & Downing (2007, 2010, to appear) Downing & Mtenje (2010, 2011) to account for these phenomena in Ciwandya.  

scholarly journals Syntactic and semantic aspects of supplementary relative clauses in English and Sōrānī Kurdish

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shene Hassan
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Essential Properties ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Integrated Or

In this thesis, I examine and analyse supplementary relative clauses(SRCs), also known as non-restrictive relative clauses. SRCs have received considerably less attention in the study of relative clauses than integrated, or restrictive, relative clauses (IRCs). The (surface) syntactic structure of the two types of relative clauses (RCs) is largely identical. Therefore, it is not straightforward to determine where to locate the difference in the interpretation between IRCs and SRCs.To address this question, I focus on two types of English SRCs: determiner-which RCs, and SRCs introduced by that. Determiner-which RCs can only be interpreted as SRCs. Previous HPSG approaches built on the generalisation that that RCs cannot be SRCs. Hence there is no HPSG analysis for relative that in SRCs. In this thesis I show the acceptability of the two constructions by the American native speakers and provide both structures with an HPSG analysis.I extend my discussion beyond English by looking at relative clauses in Sorānī Kurdish. I argue that RCs in Sorānī Kurdish share essential properties withEnglish bare RCs and that RCs, though Sorānī Kurdish has no equivalent of wh-RCs. I also provide Sorānī Kurdish with an HPSG analysis.

Similarities in the Syntactic Structure of the German and Croatian Language

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-118
Author(s):  
Manuela Svoboda
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Subordinate Clause ◽  
German Language ◽  
Syntactic Structures ◽  
Subordinate Clauses

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to analyse any potential similarities between the Croatian and German language and present them adopting a contrastive approach with the intent of simplifying the learning process in regards to the German syntactic structure for Croatian German as foreign language students. While consulting articles and books on the theories and methods of foreign language teaching, attention is usually drawn to differences between the mother tongue and the foreign language, especially concerning false friends etc. The same applies to textbooks, workbooks and how teachers behave in class. Thus, it is common practice to deal with the differences between the foreign language and the mother tongue but less with similarities. This is unfortunate considering that this would likely aid in acquiring certain grammatical and syntactic structures of the foreign language. In the author's opinion, similarities are as, if not more, important than differences. Therefore, in this article the existence of similarities between the Croatian and German language will be examined closer with a main focus on the segment of sentence types. Special attention is drawn to subordinate clauses as they play an important role when speaking and/or translating sentences from Croatian to German and vice versa. In order to present and further clarify this matter, subordinate clauses in both the German and Croatian language are defined, clarified and listed to gain an oversight and to present possible similarities between the two. In addition, the method to identify subordinate clauses in a sentence is explained as well as what they express, which conjunctions are being used for each type of subordinate clause in both languages and where the similarities and/or differences between the two languages lie.

“Subject-predicate predicate sentences” in modern Mandarin Chinese: A Cardiff Grammar approach

Linguistics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei He
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Syntactic Structures

AbstractThis study investigates “subject-predicate predicate sentences” (“S-P P sentences”) in modern Mandarin Chinese from a Cardiff Grammar approach with the aim of answering three main questions: (i) What is/are the functional syntactic structure(s) of the sentences to be considered in the study? (ii) What is/are the semantic motivation(s) for the structure(s)? (iii) What is/are the contextual constraints on the structure(s)? The study is guided by three basic principles: (a) language is multifunctional; (b) meaning is primary while form is the realization of meaning; and (c) different strands of meaning are realized by a single syntactic structure. Further, the study utilizes the concepts of Theme and Subject within the Cardiff Grammar in order to analyze and discuss the generally acknowledged seven types of “S-P P sentences”. The results show that only one type is truly S-P P and another type only in one sense, whereas no other types can be categorized as such. All the syntactic structures are conditioned by a different set of distinctive semantic features and contextual factors.

Pied-piping in Russian relative clauses: A microdiachronic analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Olga Pekelis
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Linear Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Relative Pronoun ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Structure Patterns

This paper presents an analysis of the pied-piping phenomenon in Russian relative clauses in the 18th–19th centuries and in present-day Russian. As is well-known, the relative pronoun kotoryj ‘which’ tended to precede its pied-piped head in the 18th–19th centuries and tends to follow it today. This difference, which has mainly been investigated for relativization on genitives, is demonstrated to be valid for a number of heterogeneous syntactic contexts. I propose to account for the syntactic shift undergone by the Russian relative clauses since the 19th century in terms of a more general shift in information structure: I argue that the linear order of the relative pronoun and its head that was acceptable in Russian two centuries ago, is now in contradiction with the modern inventory of felicitous information structure patterns.

Non-restrictive relatives are not orphans

2007 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
DOUG ARNOLD
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Representation ◽  
Restrictive Relative Clauses ◽  
Restrictive Relatives

According to a ‘radical orphanage’ approach, non-restrictive relative clauses are not part of the syntactic representation of the sentence that contains them. It is an appealing view, and seems to capture some important properties of non-restrictive relative clauses. Focusing mainly on empirical shortcomings, this paper aims to show that the appeal of such approaches is illusory. It also outlines an empirically superior ‘syntactically integrated’ account.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document