The Data Pattern of Relative Clauses in NawdmDaniel M. AlbroMarch 20, 19981 PurposeThis paper will attempt to lay out the fundamental characteristics of relative clauses in Nawdm—their distribution, internal order, morphological and phonological features. The goal will not be toexplain these characteristics, as a detailed analysis of any of the characteristics of the data wouldpreclude description of some other part of the data, for reasons of space. To be investigated are thepossible sites for extraction of the heads of relative clauses, the distribution of resumptive pronounsand subject clitics in relative clauses, the distribution of “n” (a particle that appears in relativeclauses), and the characteristics and distribution of relative pronouns.2 Possible Sites for ExtractionHeads of relative clauses can be extracted from the object of a verb1:(6-21) d´awmanm`and´eI-thenw`aPd`eg`ehitd`endˇe:nyesterdaywˇe:he-specificl`Ogr´atake-perfectm`amyw`ad`@g´abookThe man I hit yesterday took my bookIn (6-21) “man” is extracted from the object position of the verb “hit.” Extraction from subjectposition is also possible2:(402) m`aId´Ethenw`aP(`a)d`eg`ehit-perfd´awman´ahed´Ethenb`ug`@d`eg`eburn-perfb`od`ob`od`obreadd`endˇe:nyesterdayw´ı:he-specificI hit the man who burned the bread yesterdayIn (402) “man” is extracted from the subject position of the verb “burn.” Extraction from theobject of a postposition is possible:(405) m`aId´Ethend(`e)r´aeat-perfb`od`ob`od`obreadfˆemb`efembe`nnd´Ethenk`ad`esit-impP`oit-breaddZ´ug´unaboveP´o:it-bread-specificI ate the bread on which the fembe was sitting.Here “bread” is extracted from the object of the postposition “on” (dZugun). There seems to beonly one instance of a preposition in Nawdm: n"(“with”). Unfortunately no attempt has yet been1Examples numbered with an initial number, a dash, and a final number are taken from my session notes. Forexample, item (6-21) is the sentence numbered (21) in session 6.2Examples numbered with a single number are taken from the class notes.1made to determine whether extraction is possible from the object of n". Extraction is also at leastsomewhat possible from adjuncts:(407) ´and´Ehe-n-thenb`o:l`eburn-perfk´Of´eNg`a:village-thetˇı:it-manner-specificd`EthendZ`ar`eNg`ebother-perfm´ameThe way he burned the village bothered me.(410) ´amb´a:he-n-willdZ`umeatb`od`ob`od`obreadlˇe:it-time-specificm`aIbˆa:willdˆEndenb´ug´@d`egˇemburn´ahisk´Of´eNg´avillageWhile he is eating the bread I will burn his village.(407) shows extraction from a manner adjunct, and (410) from a time adjunct. No equivalent datahas been elicited for place adjuncts. In these examples there is no heads of the relative clauses,although there seem to be implicit heads (“the way” in (407) and “the time” in (410)). Eitherobject of a ditransitive verb can be extracted:(404) m`aId´Ethenw`aP(`a)d`eg`ehit-perfdˆawman´and´Ehe-n-then!t´ogiveb`od`ob`od`obreadwˇı:he-specificI hit the man to whom he gave the bread.(8-5) m`aId´Ethenb`ug`@d`eg´eburn-perfb`od`ob`od´obreadm`and´EI-n-thent`ogives´amb`aSambaPˇo:it-bread-specificI burned the bread I gave to Samba.(404) shows extraction of “man” from the indirect object position of “give,” and (8-5) showsextraction of “bread” from the direct object position of the same verb. Relative clause heads canbe extracted from the object position in embedded questions and embedded statements:(8-14) b`od`ob`od´obreadm`aNI-n>gb´am´aaskm`amyh´Enselfmˆı:n`awhetherb´end´Eyou-n-then!b´og`@d`eg`eburnPˇu:it-bread-specd`Ethenb´Ebel`E?m`Eg`otastyThe bread I wonder whether you burned was tasty.(577) b´ur´ug´ugoatb`enyou-nd´ıl´athinkn´athatm`a(n)d´EI-(n)-thent`og`@d`@g`eattachkˇu:cl-specdZˇuneat-impm´o:t´egrassThe goat you think I attached is eating grass.In (8-14) “bread” is extracted from “whether you burned,” and in (577) “goat” is extracted from“you think I attached.” Extraction is also possible from the subject position of embedded state-ments:(9-13) d´awmanm`anI-nd´Ethenm`ıthoughtn´athat`ahet`og`@d`eg`eattachb`ur`ug´ugoatwˇe:cl-specb´Eish`OmniceThe man I thought attached the goat is nice.Unfortunately there has been no test of whether extraction is possible from the subject of anembedded question. My guess based on the rest of the relative clause data is that it is not possible.Moving on, extraction is possible from a possessor:2(409) m`aId´Ethenw´aP(´a)d`eg`ehitd´awmanm`and´EI-n-then!b´o:l`eburn-perf`ahisk´Of´eNg´avillagew´ı:he-specificI hit the man whose village I had burned.There has been no direct test of the extraction of an object possessed by a single possessor, but Ibelieve that this is not possible on the basis of the following example,(9-11) Can’t say “these are the people I burned five villages of and two houses of.”which shows that extraction is not possible from the object of conjoined possessors. This sentenceis not ruled out on the basis of the conjunction, as extraction from the object of conjoined VPs ispossible:(9-12) b´ur´uP´engoat-pl-n´en´aPthis-pln´ecopulam`anI-nd´Ethenw`aP`ar´ebeat´n"witht´og´eattachThese are the goats I beat and attached (simultaneously).(9-120) b´ur´uP´engoat-pl-n´en´aPthis-pln´ecopulam`anI-nd´Ethenw`aP`ar´ebeat´n"witht´Elatert´og´ed´eg´eattachThese are the goats I beat and then attached.(9-14) b´ur´ug´ugoatm`anI-nd´Ethent`og`@d`eg´eattach`n"witht´Ew`@l`eg´eput-onfˆemb`efembek`oit-goatdZ´ug´unon-tok´o:cl-specdZ´uneatm´o:t´egrassThe goat I attached and put the fembe on is eating grass.In (9-12) and (9-120) extraction is from the object position of two conjoined simple VPs, and in(9-14) one of the two VPs selects a prepositional phrase (actually, a postpositional phrase), andextraction there is from the object of that prepositional phrase. The final case where extraction ispossible is parasitic gaps. That is, extraction can form parasitic gaps:(9-7) b`od`ob`od´obreadP`on´aP`acl-thisn´ecopulam`amI-nbˆa:wouldd´eeatk`@if`aheb´Ewould-notb´ol`eburnPˇo:cl-specThis is the bread I would eat if he wouldn’t burn (it).In (9-7) “bread” is the object of both “eat” and “burn.” The pronoun Po (“it” referring to bread)is not allowed in either object position.Extraction is not possible from the subject position of an embedded relative clause:(8-8) * “I hit the man1I burned the bread