Transformational

Process:
z
Relativization

JONATHAN B. DIESTA
ELT 502 – Structure of English
 z

 San Antonio is an experiencing very

rapid growth city.
 San Antonio is a type of city; it has
experienced very rapid growth.
 San Antonio is a city that
experienced very rapid growth.
 z

San Antonio is a city that experienced

very rapid growth.
 Introduction to
z
Relative Clauses
 z

 A relative clause derives from a basic

structure consisting of more than one
sentence.
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 It is a relationship brought about by a

process called embedding, which is
the generation of one clause within
another higher-order or
superordinate clause such that the
embedded clause becomes a part of
the superordinate main clause.
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In case of restrictive relative clauses, the

embedding consists of a clause
embedded within an NP and modifying
that NP.
The fans [who were attending the rock concert]
(NP [S])

had to wait in line for three hours.

 z
The fans [who were attending the rock concert]
(NP [S])

had to wait in line for three hours.

Restrictive clause has a modifying function much like an

adjective. They restrictive or identify for us which noun(s) – of
all nouns in the same set we are speaking about.

Keenan and Comrie (1972; 1977) help us better understand

the restrictions that obtain in any language on NPs that can
be relativized, i.e. replaced by relative pronouns.
 z

 Keenan and Comrie (1972;1977) posit the “noun

phrase accessibility hierarchy”
 Subject NP

 Direct Object NP

 Indirect Object NP

 Oblique Object NP (i.e. object of the preposition that is not

an indirect object)
 Genitive (i.e. possessive)

 Object NP of a comparison
 z

 Subject NP – The book that is on the coffee table

was written by Wallace.
 Direct Object NP – The authors that he mentioned
are well known.
 Indirect Object NP
The girl who we gave the message to is not here.
(to) whom we gave the message
 z
 Oblique object NP
The child from whom you took the candy is crying.
whom you took the candy from
 Genitive NP – The man whose name you wanted to
know is Cal North.
 Object NP of comparison
The only person that I was shorter than was Fritz.
*The only person than whom I was shorter was Fritz.
 z PROBLEMS FOR ESL / EFL STUDENTS

J. Schachter (1974) in discussing the work of Keenan and

Comrie (1972), identified three main dimensions along which
relative clauses can differ:
1. The position of the relative clause with respect to the
head noun, i.e. the noun being modified.
2. How relative clauses are marked.

3. Languages differ with respect to relative clause formation

is the presence or absence of a pronominal reflex.
 z THE RELATIVIZATION OF THE SUBJECT
IN THE EMBEDDED SENTENCE

Subject – Subject Relatives

The girl who speaks Basque is my cousin.
Subject of the embedded sentences is identical to the subject
of the main clause
Object – Subject Relatives
I know the girl who speaks Basque.
Subject of the embedded sentences is identical to the object
of the main clause
The
z girl who speaks Basque is my cousin.

Subject Predicate

NP AUX VP

T cop NP
NP S
Subj Pred -pres be det N
det N +3
+sg
NP VP my cousin
AUX
the girl det N T V NP
-pres N
the girl +3 speak
+sg Basque
 The
z girls who speak Basque are my cousins.

Subject Predicate

NP AUX VP

T cop NP
NP S
Subj -pres be det
Pred N
det N +3
NP
+pl my cousin -pl
AUX VP
-pl det NP
the girl N T V
the girl -pl -pres N
+3 speak
+pl Basque
 z I know the girl who speaks Basque.
Predicate
Subject
AUX VP
NP
T V NP

pro -pres know NP S

+1
+sg det N Subj Pred
I
the girl NP AUX VP

det T V NP
N
-pres speak N
the girl +3
+sg Basque
 z THE RELATIVIZATION OF THE OBJECT
IN THE EMBEDDED SENTENCE

Subject – Object Relatives

The man whom you met is my teacher.
Object of the embedded sentences is identical to the subject of
the main clause
Object – Object Relatives
I read the book that you mentioned.
Object of the embedded sentences is identical to the object of
the main clause
 The
z
man whom you met is my teacher.

Subject Predicate

AUX VP
NP
T cop NP
NP S
-pres be det N
det N Subj Pred +3
+sg my teacher
AUX VP
the man NP
T V NP
pro
-past meet det N
you +2
+sg the man
 I read the book that you mentioned.
z
Predicate
Subject
AUX VP
NP NP
T V
NP S
pro -past read
+1 det N Subj Pred
+sg
I the book AUX VP
NP
T V NP
pro
-past mention det N
you
+2
+sg the book
 z THE RELATIVIZATION OF THE OBJECT
OF THE PREPOSITION IN THE
EMBEDDED SENTENCE
One of the relative clause types apparent in the chart
that we have yet to examine is the one in which the
object of the preposition in the embedded sentence
is relativized.
I know the place which you spoke about.
I know the place about which you spoke.
 I know the place which you spoke about.
z

Predicate
Subject
AUX VP
NP
V NP
T

pro NP S
-pres know
+1 Pred
+sg det N Subj
I AUX VP
the place NP
V PrepP
pro T
prep NP
you -past speak det N
+2
+sg about
the place
 z THE RELATIVIZATION OF THE
POSSESSIVE DETERMINER IN THE
EMBEDDED SENTENCE

A relative clause that results when a noun marked

for possession in the embedded sentence is the
noun that refers to a noun in the main clause

The man whose wife you are admiring is a

wrestler.
Thezman whose wife you are admiring is a wrestler.

Subject Predicate

AUX VP
NP
T cop NP
NP S
det N
Pred -pres be
det N Subj +3
+sg a wrestler
AUX VP
the man NP
V NP
T prog
pro det N
-pres be admire -ing
you +2 the man’s wife
+sg
 THE MEANING OF RELATIVIZED NOUN
z
PHRASES
RELATIVE PRONOUN FEATURES
Every relative pronoun is entered in the lexicon together with its
semantic (and other) features. The feature specifications allow us to
select the appropriate relative pronoun depending upon the features of
the NP it replaces and the discourse context in which it will be used.

who + subject NP which + subject NP

+ human - human
whom + object NP that + subject NP
+ human + human
whose + human
+ possessive
+ determiner
 z THE USE OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS AND
RELATIVE CLAUSES
RELATIVE PRONOUN USE
Whom – replace a relativized human NP in object position – or the
object of the preposition without a fronted preposition.

I spoke with the student who(m) I loaned the book to.

I know the student whom you loaned the book.
That / who or which – In informal conversation discourse, that is often
preferred over either which or who(m). In written discourse, who(m) is
preferred for human antecedents; which and that are both used to
indicate a nonhuman head noun. (Stauble, 1978)
 z
Whose – generally refers to the human head noun; refers also to an
inanimate noun.

I found an old coin whose date has become worn and illegible.
THE USE OF RELATIVE CLAUSES
Summary of Earlier Points
The relative pronouns that replace relativized objects are optionally
deletable.
Stauble (1978) found that deletion was preferred when the relative pronoun
had a nonhuman antecedent.
The latest novel he wrote is excellent.
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When prepositional objects are relativized, the relative pronoun

is either deleted or fronted and the preposition is left behind in
speech, whereas in writing the preposition is fronted along with
the relative pronoun and must be which. (Stauble, 1978)
Speech: “War and Peace” is the book (that) he was referring to.
Writing: “War and Peace” is the book to which he was referring.
 z

USE OF RELATIVE CLAUSES IN CONVERSATION

There are clearly preferred patterns of use of relative clauses
according to the following criteria (Fox and Thompson,1990):
1. The syntactic roles of the head noun and the relative pronoun

2. The definiteness and specificity (or identifiability) of the

referent
3. The animacy or humanness of the referent

4. The discourse information of the relative clause – that is

whether it functions to give background or new information.
 z
Grounding
The car that she borrowed had a low tire.
Characterizing
They’re selling these candies that explode when you chew on
them.
Giving new information
There were two people there who were constantly on stage.
Ordering
One thing they said in the article that was really interesting
was that in the US there are over a hundred thousand people
who are over a hundred years old.
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USE OF RELATIVE CLAUSES IN WRITING

Biber, Conrad and Reppen (1994) found that relative clauses and
participles are not nearly as frequent as prepositional phrases if
all postnominal adjectivals are examined.
There have been other corpus-based studies of relative clauses in
English such as Olofsson (1981).
When body parts function as head nouns, the relativized subject
is that rather than which.

She was in a girl in a sunbonnet with eyes that flashed at the

guests.
Olofsson’s
z corpus analysis finds that the following syntactic
environments favor certain relative pronouns:
relativized nonhuman subjects: that
relativized nonhuman objects: no relative pronouns (it’s normally deleted
relativized prepositional objects: which
Lapaire and Rotge (1996) suggest that the relative pronouns that
and which though often appearing to be interchangeable after
inanimate head nouns, codify psycho-grammatical strategies.
George Balanchine was the foremost exponent of “abstract: or plotless
ballet… But ballet that told no story did not always win favor with
the public.
Which is explanatory and fact-finding while that signals something
the speaker / writer regards as preestablished.
 Nonrestrictive
versus
z Restrictive
Relative Clauses
 z
Mrs. Jensen, who lives next door, is a Girl Scout
troop leader.
The relative clause in this sentence is called a
nonrestrictive relative clause
The climbers who reached the summit were exhausted.
Restrictive relative clause

The climbers, who reached the summit, were exhausted.

Nonrestrictive relative clause
z
The climbers,
z who reached the summit, were exhausted
S2
S1

Subj Pred
Subj Pred

NP VP
NP AUX VP AUX
det N NP
det N cop T V
T AP
-pl -pl reach det N
the climber the climber -past
be
-past ADJ +3 the
+2 +pl summit
+pl
exhausted
 Jason
z got off work early, which was nice.
S2
S1

Subj Pred
Subj Pred

Advl NP (=S1) VP
NP AUX VP AUX
AP
N PV NP Advl P T cop
T
-past be ADJ
Jason V prt N ADV
-past +3
+3 +sg
+sg get off work early nice
 Sam knows the place where we are meeting.
z

Predicate
Subject
AUX VP
NP NP
T V

NP S
pro -pres know
+3 Subj Pred
+sg det N
VP
Sam NP AUX
the place PrepP
pro V
T prog NP
prep
we -pres be meet -ing det N
+3
at
+sg the place
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CONCLUSION
z
REFERENCE