Relative (Adjective) Clauses Linguistics 140 Winter, 2014 Dr. Jan FrodesenRelative clauses (also called Adjective clauses) Introduction •Relative clause: A type of complex adjective modifer that comes after a noun and is introduced by a relative pronoun: The Central Park Zoo is a place [that attracts many visitors every year]. *The Central Park Zoo is an attracting many visitors every year place.Relative clauses Noun phrase accessibility hierarchy (Keenan & Comrie 1977) Predicts what is difficult for learners (Relative pronoun as subject NP least difficult  possessive NP most difficult) •Subject NP The food that is in the box is for the elephants. •Direct object NP The bananas that he bought are very sweet. •Indirect object NP The girl whom we gave the ticket is not here. •Oblique object NP (with prepositions) The old man from whom you took the ticket is here. •Possessive) NP The animal whose name you wanted to know is Marty.Relative clauses Differences between English and other languages •In English, relative clauses follow the head noun – in Japanese, Chinese, or Korean, e.g., they precede the head noun •In English, we use relative pronouns to mark relative clauses – Farsi, Arabic, or Chinese speakers employ other markers between head noun and relative clause •In English, the relative pronoun substitutes for the identical NP in the embedded sentence: Mort called all the friends that he had. *Mort called all the friends that he had them. -- In Arabic, Hebrew, and Farsi, the head noun is often retained.Relative clauses Relative pronoun features (syntactic, semantic) •who: + subject NP +human •whom: + object NP +human •which: ± subject NP -human •that: ± subject NP ± human •whose: ± human +possessive + determinerRelative clauses Restrictive vs. non-restrictive relative clauses The animals who made it out of their cages left the zoo. The animals, who made it out of their cages, left the zoo.  What’s the difference?Relative clauses Restrictive (essential) vs. non-restrictive (non-essential) relative clauses •Restrictive relative clauses limit or characterize the meaning of the noun phrase they modify: The animals who made it out of their cages left the zoo. (Which animals? Those who made it out of their cages. The ones who didn’t make it out didn’t leave) •Non-restrictive relative clauses have no such limiting meaning; they simply provide additional meaning: The animals, who made it out of their cages, left the zoo. (Which animals? All of the ones we are talking about.)Relative clauses Restrictive (essential) relative clause Non-restrictive (non-essential) relative clause Provides information needed to identify/limit a noun in the main clause: The animal that is next to the lion is a zebra. Provides additional information that is irrelevant to identifying the noun in the main clause. The zebra, which looked rather puzzled, wouldn’t leave its cage. No pauses or special punctuation Commas, parentheses, dashes, or pauses to mark the boundaries of the relative clause May not modify an entire proposition, only a head noun May modify a head noun or an entire proposition: The animals who left the zoo didn’t get their lunch, which was a shame.Relative clauses Restrictive (essential) relative clause Non-restrictive (non-essential) relative clause Takes that, who(m), which, … The suggestion that you gave was great! Takes only wh-pronouns: The suggestion, which everyone agreed with, was immediately implemented. Does not usually modify proper nouns. Exception: The John Smith that I know doesn’t look like that! May modify proper and common nouns: Chancellor Yang, who came from Purdue University, lives on campus. May modify a head noun with a generic determiner (any, every): Every person that attends will get a gift certificate. May not modify a head noun with a generic determinerRelative clauses What kind of relative clause is the following: restrictive (essential) or non-restrictive (non-essential)? Headline: New York Times, May 16, 2008: Some people who have lost jobs, and many more struggling to hold them, say banks are keeping employees in the dark about the size and timing of layoffs.Relative clauses Reduced Relative Clauses Relative pronouns replacing some sort of object in the relative clause can be deleted: The iceberg that the penguins hit was huge. (iceberg=object) The iceberg the penguins hit was huge. Relative pronouns replacing the subject of an embedded relative clause cannot be deleted: The giraffe who stars in the movie looks familiar. *The giraffe stars in the movie looks familiar.Relative clauses Reduced Relative Clauses BUT: Deletion is possible when the relativized subject is followed by a BE verb (RP + BE verb are both deleted) The giraffe that is in the movie looks familiar  The giraffe in the movie looks familiar.Relative clauses Relative pronoun + be deletions Non-restrictive clause: Marty, who is a zebra, likes clownfish because they have stripes too. Marty, a zebra, likes clownfish because they have stripes too. the resulting structure is called an appositiveRelative clauses Relative pronoun + be deletions Restrictive Clause: How could the penguin who was steering the ship not see the iceberg? How could the penguin steering the ship not see the iceberg? pronoun + be deletion works with –ing (present) participles - progressive verbsRelative clauses Relative pronoun + be deletions Non-restrictive clause The newspaper article, which was favorable to the zoo, appeared yesterday. The newspaper article favorable to the zoo appeared yesterday. Relative pronoun + be deletion works with complex adjective modifiers after the nounRelative clauses Head noun deletion of relative adverbs (where, how, why, when) Gloria knows the place where we are meeting. Gloria knows where we are meeting. the resulting structure is called a free relative (because the relative clause has no head noun it refers to in the main clause) *That is the way how you make a hippo talk. That is how you make a hippo talk. That is the way you make a hippo talk.  head noun deletion is obligatory with how! (note: acceptable in some AmE dialects and also in earlier standard English)Relative clauses Deletion of relative adverbs other than how why: The reason (why) I