This paperwork is an attempt to produce a contrastive analysis of the semantic and syntactic properties of relative clauses in English and German. This paper will offer a comprehensive overview of the general concepts related to relative clauses, their functions and processes which involve them.
The study of relative clauses in English will be based on the research of Bejan (2017) Eastwood (2008), Huddleston and Pullum (2005), Visan N. (2006). For the typological properties of relative clauses in German I will relay on the studies of Bertollo (2014), König and Auwera (1994), Resi (2010), Balcik, Röhe, Wrobel (2009)
The paper is organized into three chapters.
Chapter 1 will analyze general concepts concerning the relative clauses in English. It will begin with the structure of relative clause in English on the basis of two syntactic phenomena: pied-piping and preposition stranding. Then I will discuss the structural classification of relative clauses divided in dependent and free relative clauses, restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses and non-finite relative clauses.
Chapter 2 contains the properties of the relative clauses in German. I will discuss the structure of the relative clauses, the elements introducing relative clauses and the classification of the relative clauses. In structure I will consider the word order in German based of two possible movements, topicalization and scrambling. Then I will mention the declension of the relative pronouns and adverbs and their position towards the antecedent. Finally, I will classify the relative clauses on the basis of their syntactic features.
Chapter 3 will contain my personal contribution to the study of the relative verbs in both languages, English and German. The chapter will incorporate the syntactic functions and semantic features of the relative clause both in German and English, comparing the structure and the classification of relative clauses in an attempt to identify the similarities and differences that the two languages share.
CHAPTER 1: RELATIVE CLAUSES IN ENGLISH
Introduction
Relative Clauses are useful and very important grammatical constructions which people use to give additional information about something without starting another sentence. They are extremely useful because they enable writers to be more specific and they make writing more sophisticated. At the same time, they are also very confusing to many writers and not only students, either. The most common difficulties occur in understanding the structure of relative clauses, using the correct punctuation, choosing the right pronoun or adverb, and subject – verb agreement.
According to Huddleston and Pullum (2005: pg.183) a relative clause is a kind of subordinate clause that contains an element whose interpretation is provided by an antecedent on which the subordinate clause is grammatically dependent; that is, there is an anaphoric relation between the relativized element in the relative clause, and the antecedent on which it depends.
1.1 The structure of relative clauses
A relative clause is a dependent clause and is never a complete statement. It follows a noun phrase. By combining sentences with a relative clause, the text becomes more fluent and repetition of certain words is avoided. In order to form a relative clause, the initial sentence must be converted into a subordinate clause by adding an antecedent followed by a relative pronoun. For this process to occur, the two sentences must share a co-referential noun phrase.
1) A boy is talking to Diana. Do you know the boy?
2) Do you know the boy who is talking to Diana?
In the following context, a boy is talking to Diana. Someone wants to know who he is and asks a friend whether he knows him. Example (1) is rather complicated and would be easier with a relative clause by putting both pieces of information into one sentence and starting with the most important information.
3) a) I read a book. The book explains the differences between clauses and phrases.
b) I read a book which explains the differences between clauses and phrases.
To use the second sentence as a relative clause, it has to be changed by adding the appropriate relative pronoun who, whom, that, which, or whose selected on the basis of a combination of meaning and syntax. For example, whom is used to refer to people (or animals closely associated with people) and it must be the object of a verb or preposition.
When the relative pronoun functions as a prepositional object or an indirect object, English allows two constructions: According to Bejan (2017: 54) the first construction is called pied-piping and occurs when the preposition moves with the relative pronoun to front position in the relative clause. The construction known as preposition stranding occurs when the wh-word comes to first position in the relative clause, while the preposition is left behind, at the end, stranded or orphaned.
4) There is Herr Joseph, with whom I talk every day.- pied-piping
There is Herr Joseph, whom I talk to every day. –preposition stranding
If the relative pronouns are followed by verbs, the relative pronouns function as subject pronouns Relative pronouns used as subjects in relative clauses take verbs that agree with their antecedents.
5) This is the boy who studies Japanese.
In this sentence, the relative pronoun who replaces the singular noun boy, so the verb studies agrees with a singular noun and takes an -es ending
6) She has some friends who play tennis twice a week.
In relative clauses which contain a subject and a verb and the relative pronoun is followed by a noun or pronoun, not by a verb, the relative pronoun has the syntactic function of object
In example (6), the relative pronoun who replaces the plural noun friends, so the verb play agrees with a plural noun in simple present tense.
1.2 Elements introducing Relative Clauses
Relative clauses can be introduced by a relative pronoun such as who, whom, which, that, whose, a relative adverb (where, why and when) as well as the complementizer that.
7) The man who is standing there is a famous writer.
The restaurant where I have dinner is nice.
Visan N. (2006: 131) claims that relative clause introducers are usually placed at the beginning of the relative clause. In literary English they may sometimes be found later in the sentence after a present participle, after an infinitive or as the object of a preposition and after than:
8) [… saying which he left the room]. (present participle)
9) The African queen issued forth upon the Lake to gain which they had run such dangers and undergone such toils. (infinitive)
10) He was a railway fanatic, than whom few more can be more crashing. (than)
Sometimes the preposition can have partitive value.
11) He was prone to an inevitable series of moods, each of which has evolved its own system of harmony.
1.2.1 The Complementizer that
The complementizer that is used for people, animals and things. It appears only in defining relative clauses and can be function as the subject or the object of the relative clause:
12) I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.[-human] antecedent
13) The woman that is right next to you is my mother.[+human] amtecedent
That is used instead of who or which when the antecedent is a nominal predicative that refers to a human and a thing as in example (14).
14) The children were the parcels that filled the car.
15) She is the prettiest girl that I have ever seen.
It can also be used with a superlative antecedent as in example (15).
That can be used with an antecedent preceded by quantifiers such as: all, every, any, not any, much, little, as in the example below:
16) That ugly little house was the entire home that I have ever had.
17) Who that knew her would help loving her?
That is preferred when the rule of euphony must be observed and is also used in order to avoid repetition who-who as in example (17).
Within the relative clause, that can have the following syntactic functions such as Su, DO, PO and Predicative.
18) Did you see the letter that came today? – Subject
19) Did you get the books that I sent you? – Direct Object
20) That is the man that I was talking about.- Prepositional Object
21) He is not the man that he was.- Predicative
22) Tuesday was the day that he left.- Adverbial
1.2.2 Relative pronouns
Relative clauses are introduced principally by relative pronouns. The relative pronouns in English are who (whose and whom) which and what.
23) The dress which she saw was very expensive.
The basic relative pronouns are who and which. Who also has the derived forms whom and whose. Various grammatical rules and styles determine which relative pronouns may be suitable in various situations, especially for formal settings. In some cases the relative pronoun may be omitted.
Who
According to Eastwood (2008: 340), who is the relative pronoun which is used for people in defining and non-defining relative clauses. It can be a subject or an object pronoun.
24) I told you about the woman who lives next door.
25) I met a friend who I knew at college
Whoever is the compound form of who and ever also used to introduce relative clauses. Unlike who, whoever only introduces Free Relative Clause.
26) Whoever painted this graffiti should clean it off.
The person who painted is not important, the central action refers to the process of cleaning.
Who is more usual than the complementizer that for people, especially in writing.
27) The man who phoned is my great uncle.
28) The bus that came finally arrived.
In example (27) the antecedent is [+human] and in example (28) the complementizer that is used with antecedent [-human].
Who is also used to refer to animals, particularly domestic pets or for collective nouns.
29) Is Sheba the dog who was run over and nearly killed last year?
30) This was a tribe who moved from the Baltic Sea.”
The pronoun who is marked for the Accusative case, the form being whom as well as for the Genitive case, the form being whose.
31) The woman to whom you showed the painting was the Queen.” „The painting whose buyer she was looked marvelous.
In restrictive relative clauses who is colloquially preferred to whom.
32) I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.
Whom is formal, rather old-fashioned and people rarely use it in speech. It can be used in everyday speech or it can be left out. In more formal English is used after prepositions.
33) I am referring to the person with whom you were seen on that evening.
34) I will support whomever the committee recommends for the position.
In everyday English, the preposition is normally placed at the end of the relative clause and the pronoun may be included or omitted:
35) Does she know the boy (that) Tom is talking to.
36) I made a call, which I had to pay for.
It can appear in the complex form introducing Free Relative Clause.
The form whose is used to express possession for people animals and things.
37) Do you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?
Instead of using the Genitive form can be used the prepositional Genitive:
38) She sang a song, the sentiments of which moved the audience.
Typically for the formal and literary style is preferred the use of the prepositional Genitive which in relative clauses.
Which
The relative pronoun which can be used for animals and things. It can be the subject or the object pronoun in the relative clause:
39) Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?
The complementizer that is more usual than which after a quantifier or pronoun.
40) There was little that we could do to help. (quantifier)
41) He is someone that I deeply respect. (pronoun)
The relative pronoun which can refer to the whole sentence, not just a noun, and it can be used for collective nouns.
42) Asiatic tribes and American tribes which resemble each other.
43) He couldn’t read which surprised me.
Which can refer to people when it has a partitive value (44) or arhaic value (45).
44) He couldn’t read which surprised me.
45) Our Father, which art in Heaven […]
Which can also be used when a personal denotation refers not to an individual, but to a type or a function.
46) He is not the man which he used to be.
Which refers in example (46) to the personality, character of a person.
What
The relative pronoun what can introduce only free relative clauses, there are rare occasions when what functions as an introducer of restrictive relative clauses. It can function as a Predicative when the Subject is an adjective.
47) It is rich what gets the peaches.
48) It is poor what gets the punches.
In the examples above can be archaic (47) or dialectal (48).
1.2.3 Relative adverbs
Relative adverbs are used to introduce restrictive relative clauses when their antecedents are nouns expressing places, time, reason, etc. and can be replaced by prepositional phrases with adverbial function:
When
When is used to refer to a time expression and it has the same meaning as in/on which. It is used after nouns such as time, day, weekend, moment, week, stage, etc. When can introduce both restrictive in example (49a) and non-restrictive relative clauses in example (50).
49) a) Ten o’clock is the time when they have lunch.
b) Ten o’clock is the time at which they have lunch.
50) I’d rather go next week, when I won’t be so busy.
When can introduce free relative clauses as well:
51) Remember when we went to the seaside?
In dependent clauses that can also be used instead of when:
52) Do you remember the time that we all went to a night club?
Where
Where is used to refer to a place, and it has the meaning of in/at which. It can also be used after nouns such as place, area, town, country, house, situation, etc.
53) a) Poland is the place where Christine was born.
b) Poland is the place in which Christine was born.
There are some cases which can be used instead of a relative clause with where, where, that or in which is more formal:
54) This is the house that I used to live in.
55) This is the house in which I used to live.
In informal English is more usual to omit the pronoun or complementizer and leave the preposition at the end.
When they introduce free relative clauses, no antecedents being required:
56) He went where he had been before.
Where can introduce both restrictive relative clause, as shown in example (56) before, and non-restrictive relative clause.
57) We walked up to the top of the hill, where we got a marvelous view.
Why
Why is used to refer to a reason and it follows frequently the noun reason.
58) The reason why we can sell so cheaply is because we buy in bulk.
59) The reason that we can sell so cheaply is because we buy in bulk.
As seen in example (59) why can be replaced by the complementizer that.
1.3 Classification of relative clauses
Relative clauses can be classified according to the criterion of form into dependent relative clauses and independent relative clauses. Also, according to their meaning, the dependent relative clauses can be divided into defining or restrictive relative clauses and non-defining or non-restrictive relative clauses.
1.3.1 Dependent relative clauses
Relative clauses can be dependent and in that case they need an antecedent in the main clause that is a nominal phrase to which the relative clause subordinator could send back.
60) This is the photo which I told you about last week.
The relative subordinate finds its antecedent in the main clause (the phrase the photo). Dependent relative clauses can be split up according to the criterion of meaning into defining or restrictive relative clauses and non-defining or non-restrictive relative clauses.
1.3.2 Independent relative clauses
Independent relative clauses are also called free relative clauses because their antecedent is missing that is they do not have an expressed antecedent in the main clause.
61) He likes what he wears.
In the example (61) the clause what he wears is a free relative clause, because it has no antecedent, but itself serves as the object of the verb like in the main clause.
According to Visan N. (2006: 127) these relatives, cannot function as attributes, they currently fulfill the function of subjects or objects, as follows:
62) Whoever touches pitch shall be defiled. – Subject Free Relative Clause
63) I would like to know what you need.- Direct Object
64) He gave whoever came to the door a winning smile.- Indirect Object
65) You should vote for whichever candidate you think best.- Prepositional Object
66) This was what she intended.- Predicative
67) Go wherever you want.- Adverbial
1.3.3 Restrictive relative clauses
According to Bejan (2017: 55) Restrictive Relative Clauses (also known as Defining Relative clauses) are clauses which delimit or identify the antecedent. They are used to identify a NP referent by providing further information to narrow down the reference:
68) The girl who came to me was my niece.
In example (68) only that girl was the particular niece, the relative clause identifies the girl in question.
Relative Clauses are not separated by commas and are often used in definitions.
69) A sailor is a person who travels by sea.
A defining relative clause is different from non-defining relative clause because it identifies a noun and if it is omitted, the sentence does not make sense.
1.3.4 Non-restrictive relative clauses
Non-restrictive or appositive relative clauses are dependent relative clauses that do not offer crucial information about the antecedent. They only provide supplementary information about a noun, which already has a clear reference, and is separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. For example:
70) Mr. Brown, who is the best writer, is my favourite writer.
If this type of clause is omitted, the sentence still makes sense. The function of non-restrictive relative clauses is that of appositive attributes. Their meaning is also reinforced by orthography, and by the intonation the speaker uses in uttering the whole sentence. The use of commas marks the difference between defining and non-defining relative clauses. The distinction between relative clauses in English is marked by prosody, in speaking, and punctuation, in writing.
A non-restrictive relative clause is typically preceded by a pause in speech or a comma in writing, whereas a restrictive clause normally is not.
71) a) The boys who played table tennis are very tall.
b) The boys, who played table tennis, are very tall.
In the example (71) relative clauses have two quite different meanings and correspondingly two clearly distinguished intonation patterns, depending on whether the commas are inserted. The restrictive relative clause shows that only those boys who played tennis are very tall and implies that there were other boys who didn’t play table tennis and aren’t tall. The non-defining relative clause tells that all the boys played table tennis and that all of them were very tall.
1.2.5. Non-finite relative clauses
According to Huddleston and Pullum (2002: 1171) non-finite relative clauses are reduced relative clauses. On the basis of the inflectional form of the verb there is a distinction between participial relative clauses with a participle and infinitive relative clauses.
1.2.5.1. Participial relative clauses with a participle
Relative clauses can be reduced to a participle clause or an infinitive clause. It can go before the noun or after it. A non-finite relative clause can be reduced to a non-finite clause by omitting the pronoun, the subject and the auxiliary verb.
72) a) Helen was the woman who was living in the flat underneath us at the time.
b) Helen was the woman living in the flat underneath us at the time.
Present participles can be used in a shortened relative clauses which can be used to refer to a state, to a repeated action, to report a message or especially in journalism.
73) a) Money that belonged to the club was stolen.
b) Money belonging to the club was stolen.
74) There’s a sign warning of the danger.
75) a) People who travel into London every day are used to the hold-ups.
b) People travelling into London every day are used to the hold-ups.
There are no auxiliary participles, and the verb changes from finite to non-finite.
According to Bejan (2017:58,59), a finite relative clause can be reduced to an infinitive construction by omitting the relative pronoun and the subject and by turning the finite verb form into an infinitival form.
According to Eastwood (2008: 342), past participles are used to reduce finite passive relative clauses for single and repeated sentences:
76) a) This is the design which has been chosen for the logo.
b) This is the design chosen for the logo.
In example above (76) occurred the deletion of which, has, been.
1.2.5.2. Infinitive relative
Another possibility to reduce relative clauses is to use an infinitive clause. A finite relative clause can be reduced to an infinitive relative clause after words such as: first, second, next, last, only, and after a superlative adjective (78).
77) a) Newton was the first person who really understands the laws of gravity.
b) Newton was the first person to really understand the laws of gravity.
78) He became the youngest player to represent his country.
In example 77 (a) the Subject is deleted and become an infinitive relative clause as in 78 (b).
Conclusion
In this chapter I have discussed the structure of the relative clauses on the basis of two syntactic phenomena: Pied-piping and prepositional stranding. I have also observed that relative clauses can be introduced by the complementizer that and by the relative pronouns and adverbs. Then I noticed various categories of classification of the relative clauses into dependent and independent relative clauses, restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses and the non-finite relative clauses which have two forms: infinitive relative clauses and the participial relative clauses with a participle.