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3.3.2.1.General introduction

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Relative clauses serve to provide information about an entity introduced by a noun (phrase) in the matrix clause, the antecedent. They are obligatorily introduced by (a phrase containing) a relative element coreferential with this antecedent and contain a trace indicating the original position of the relative element. The overall structure of relative clauses is therefore as indicated in (82); see De Vries (2002: appendix III) for an overview of different syntactic analyses of relative clauses.

Overall structure of relative clauses: Det Ni[RCRELi.... ti....]

For instance, the relative pronoun dat in the examples in (81), repeated here as (83), is coreferential with its antecedent boek'book', and the trace ti indicates the original position of the pronoun in the relative clause.

a.		Het boeki [RC	dati	ik	gisteren ti	gekocht	heb],	was erg duur.
		the book	that	I	yesterday	bought	have	was very expensive

b.		Ik	heb	het boeki, [RC	datiti	erg duur	was],	maar	niet	gekocht.
		I	have	the book	which	very expensive	was	prt	not	bought

Relative clauses can be either restrictive or non-restrictive. Like other restrictive modifiers, restrictive relative clauses form an intonation unit with their antecedent, while reducing the referent set of the noun phrase by restricting the denotation of the noun. Given this, it is plausible to assume that, like other restrictive modifiers, restrictive relative clauses are part of the NP-domain: in (84), this is expressed by placing the relative clause within the NP brackets and by coindexing the relative element with some projection of the head noun smaller than NP (which may contain other restrictive modifiers).

a.	De mani [RC	dieiti	naast	mij	woont]	speelt	goed	piano.
	the man	who	next.to	me	lives	plays	well	piano
	'The man who lives next to me plays the piano well.'

b.	Het boeki [RC	dati	ik ti	wilde	kopen]	was	uitverkocht.
	the book	that	I	wanted	buy	was	sold.out
	'The book I wanted to buy was sold out.'

c.	Het huisi [RC	waari	ik ti	geboren	ben]	is allang	afgebroken.
	the house	where	I	born	am	is long.ago	pulled.down
	'The house where I was born was pulled down long ago.'

Non-restrictive relative clauses are separated from the noun by an intonation break, represented in the examples in (85) by means of commas, and merely provide additional information about the referent set of the full noun phrase, which can be established independently of the relative clause. Given this, we assume that non-restrictive relative clauses are external to the NP, and that the relative element is coindexed with the NP; see Section 3.3.2.3.1 for details.

a.		Peteri, [RC	diei	ik	graag ti	mag],	speelt	goed	piano.
		Peter	who	I	well	like	plays	well	piano

b.	Dit boeki, [RC	datiti	erg spannend	is],	was	al	snel	uitverkocht.
	this book	which	very exciting	is	was	already	soon	sold.out
	'This book, which is very exciting, was soon sold out.'

c.	Dit huisi, [RC	waari	Rembrandt ti	woonde],	is nu	een museum.
	this house,	where	Rembrandt	lived,	is now	a museum
	'This house, where Rembrandt used to live, is now a museum.'

The abstract structure in (85) shows that we assume that the non-restrictive relative clause is still part of the DP-domain; the reasons for this are given in 3.1.2, sub II. Since many researchers have argued that besides the NP- and DP-projection, other intermediate projections can be distinguished within the noun phrase, such as NumP discussed in Section 1.1.2, sub IIA, example (6), it might be the case that the relative elements of non-restrictive relative clauses are coindexed with some higher projection in between NP and DP. The main issue here is, however, to indicate the scope of the two types of relative clauses: a non-restrictive relative clause provides additional information about the referent of the noun phrase, and since the reference of the noun phrase is determined by the determiner, the relative clause must have this determiner in its scope; a restrictive relative clause does not provide information about the referent of the noun phrase but restricts the denotation of the noun, and it is therefore plausible that it is only the NP that falls inside its scope
Since this section is mainly concerned with postmodification of nominal heads, the discussion will focus on relative constructions of the type in (84) and (85) above and semi-free relatives like (86a); free relative constructions such as (86b), in which an overt nominal antecedent is lacking, will not be extensively discussed.

a.	Degene	die gisteren opbelde,	was mijn broer.
	the one	who yesterday prt.-called	was my brother
	'The one who called yesterday was my brother.'

b.	Wie nu niet weggaat,	komt	te laat.
	who now not leaves	comes	too late
	'Anyone who doesnʼt leave now will be late.'

References:

Vries, Mark de2002The syntax of relativizationAmsterdamUniversity of AmsterdamThesis

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis, Evelien Keizer

Category: Dutch Syntax

Keywords: ClauseRelative ClauseNon-restrictive Relative Clause

Version: 1.0, December 2015

Version history:

version	editor(s)	date	remarks
1.0	Hans Broekhuis, Evelien Keizer	December 2015

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