Arguments vs. adjuncts as heads of relative clauses

[Matthew S Dryer]

Ileana Paul seems to have interpreted my message as objecting to Whitney
Paul's choice of terminology.  I not only did not intend such but went out
of my way to carefully word my message so that there would be no such
implication.  My message was simply intended to clarify a point that might
easily have caused confusion (I know from experience that this distinction
is often a point of confusion) so that readers of the list would
understand her query more clearly.  It was just intended to be helpful.

Matthew Dryer


On Fri, 19 Oct 2001, Ileana Paul wrote:

> I believe that this is an inappropriate response. This
> list is for asking and answering questions. Not for
> making pedantic points. If you wish the person asking
> the question to know that he or she is using
> nonstandard terminology, you should write to that
> person, not to the list.
>
> Ileana Paul
>
> --- Matthew S Dryer <dryer at acsu.buffalo.edu> wrote:
> >
> > I think it should be emphasized that the query
> > repeated below uses the
> > question of what NPs can be relativized in a
> > nonstandard sense.  Normally,
> > when linguists talk about what NPs can be
> > relativized or what grammatical
> > roles the head of a relative clause can have in a
> > language, they are
> > referring to the grammatical role of the head in the
> > RELATIVE clause, not
> > in the MAIN clause.  In all three examples cited by
> > Whitney Postman in her
> > message, repeated here, the head of the relative
> > clause is functioning as
> > the subject in the relative clause (though they have
> > different functions
> > in the main clause):
> >
> > (1) The woman [who is singing a lullaby] is holding
> > a baby.
> > (2) The woman is holding a baby [who is sleeping].
> > (3) The baby is held by the woman [who is singing a
> > lullaby].
> >
> > These contrast with examples like (4) to (6), where
> > the heads differ as to
> > their role in the relative clause:
> >
> > (4) The woman [who is singing a lullaby] is holding
> > a baby.
> > (5) The baby [that the woman is holding] is
> > sleeping.
> > (6) The woman [that the baby is being held by] is
> > singing.
> >
> > Grammatical restrictions on what role the head can
> > have in the main clause
> > are much less common than restrictions on what role
> > the head can have in
> > the relative clause.
> >
> > Matthew Dryer
>
>
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