[Lingtyp] Aspect as marking strategy for relative clauses

[Christian Lehmann]

Dear Maria,

first of all, let me confirm that I have never seen reduplication or 
aspect conjugation functioning as markers of a relative clause. From a 
theoretical point of view, this is even hard to conceive since the same 
reduplication or aspect marking also occurs outside relative clauses. So 
you would need an additional condition under which it functions as 
relative-clause marking.

My suggestion would be to pursue alternative hypotheses. In your 
example, it is, on the one hand, not at all obvious that the 
reduplication signals any aspect at all. On the other, reduplication may 
have the function of intensification or emphasis, which it has in many 
languages. It would also seem possible that emphasis is frequent in 
relative clauses, depending on how relative clauses are used in Modole.

On the other hand, it should be clear that there are, in the world, 
relative clauses which lack any special marking whatsoever. So it is not 
the case that you need to discover/identify such marking in Modole.

Best, Christian Lehmann
-- 

Prof. em. Dr. Christian Lehmann
Rudolfstr. 4
99092 Erfurt
Deutschland

Tel.: 	+49/361/2113417
E-Post: 	christianw_lehmann at arcor.de
Web: 	https://www.christianlehmann.eu
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