Asymmetries in relative clauses in West Germanic

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Julia Bacskai-Atkari
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages ; Individual Linguistics, Historical Linguistics
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 460654685

The main objective of the project is to gain new insights into the syntactic and morphological factors underlying relativisation characteristic of European languages. The project examines the distribution of relative markers in West Germanic in particular and aims to account for the observed variation in a principled way. West Germanic languages constitute an ideal testing ground regarding the formal properties of relative clause since these languages allow various relative markers (invariable complementisers and inflected relative pronouns) and their combinations, which is cross-linguistically by no means a common pattern, especially because not all languages display finite relative clauses. Further, as West Germanic languages display multiple options, differences between these options can be attributed to the formal properties of these elements rather than to other differences between the languages that are governed by independent factors.The project has two fundamental assumptions. First, it is assumed that the origin of the various relative markers (interrogative-based or demonstrative-based) has a bearing on which elements can occur in which constructions and how pronouns and complementisers can be combined. This hypothesis needs to be investigated as this question has not been examined in the literature in detail. Second, it is assumed that the choice between the pronoun strategy and the complementiser strategy is affected by the function associated with the gap in the relative clause (subject, direct object etc.). This assumption follows from the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy. The more specific hypothesis regarding this is that while complementisers are assumed to spread from the unmarked subject function (since they do not overtly identify the gap), relative pronouns may spread either from the unmarked subject function (due to frequency effects) or from the lower, marked functions (as they identify the gap overtly). Either way, however, in a system maintaining both the complementiser and the pronoun strategy, complementisers will be eventually associated with higher functions, while pronouns will rather be associated with lower functions. This hypothesis needs to be tested as the literature so far offers only partial insights in this respect. The question still remains, however, how the distribution changes over time and to what extent the specific properties of Germanic and general typological implications apply. Since the project has a strong theoretical orientation, one major focus will be on a reconsideration of how well-known patterns should be analysed. In addition, the project will include questionnaires and experiments eliciting grammaticality judgements. Finally, the study of diachronic data will involve the use of annotated corpora.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants