where > relativizer?

[Gideon Goldenberg]

A common etymology of the Hebrew relative pronoun ’ăšέr is <  
“place” grammaticalized.

On 21 Oct 2009, at 10:54, peterarkadiev wrote:

> Dear colleagues,
>
> According to the dictionary of Lithuanian language (http://www.lkz.lt/startas.htm 
> ), the wh-word *kur*, whose basic meaning is 'where', can in some  
> dialects be used as a general relativizer similar to English *that*.  
> Cf. a nice example where this word is used both to form a question  
> about location, and to relativize the subject:
>
> Kur tas piemuo, kur gano šitas kiaules?
> where that(NOM.SG) shepherd(NOM.SG) who pasture(PRS.3) pig(ACC.PL)
> 'Where is that shepherd, who (lit. where) pastures pigs?'
>
> I wonder whether this or similar kinds of polysemy are attested  
> cross-linguistically.
>
> Thanks a lot!
>
> With best wishes,
>
> Peter Arkadiev
> Institute of Slavic Studies
> Moscow

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