Table Of ContentRelative Clauses in Time and Space
Typological Studies in Language (TSL)
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Editors
Spike Gildea Fernando Zúñiga
University of Oregon University of Zurich
Editorial Board
Balthasar Bickel John Haiman Marianne Mithun
Zurich St Paul Santa Barbara
Bernard Comrie Martin Haspelmath Doris L. Payne
Leipzig / Santa Barbara Leipzig Eugene, OR
Denis Creissels Bernd Heine Franz Plank
Lyon Köln Konstanz
William Croft Paul J. Hopper Dan I. Slobin
Albuquerque Pittsburgh Berkeley
Nicholas Evans Andrej A. Kibrik Sandra A. Thompson
Canberra Moscow Santa Barbara
Carol Genetti František Lichtenberk
Santa Barbara Auckland
Volume 101
Relative Clauses in Time and Space. A case study in the methods of diachronic
typology
by Rachel Hendery
Relative Clauses in Time and Space
A case study in the methods of diachronic typology
Rachel Hendery
The Australian National University
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Amsterdam / Philadelphia
TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
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the American National Standard for Information Sciences – Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Relative clauses in time and space : a case study in the methods of diachronic typology /
Rachel Hendery.
p. cm. (Typological Studies in Language, issn 0167-7373 ; v. 101)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Grammar, Comparative and general--Relative clauses. 2. Space and time in language.
3. Typology (Linguistics). 4. Historical linguistics. I. Title.
P297.H46 2012
415--dc23 2012012902
isbn 978 90 272 0682 4 (Hb ; alk. paper)
isbn 978 90 272 7368 0 (Eb)
© 2012 – John Benjamins B.V.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, photoprint, microfilm, or any
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John Benjamins Publishing Co. · P.O. Box 36224 · 1020 me Amsterdam · The Netherlands
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Table of contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of abbreviations xi
chapter 1
Introduction 1
1.1 What is diachronic typology? 2
1.1.1 Typology as a tool for investigating language change 3
1.1.2 Historical linguistics as a tool for investigating typology 3
1.1.3 ‘What’s where why’ becomes ‘what’s where when and why’ 4
1.2 About this book 7
1.2.1 Demonstrating the methods of diachronic typology 7
1.2.2 Why use relative clauses as a case study?
Some methodological considerations 7
1.3 A brief introduction to the relative clause 13
1.3.1 What is a relative clause? 13
1.3.2 The types and subtypes of relative clauses 16
1.3.3 Relative clause markers 24
1.3.4 Relative clauses around the world 29
1.3.5 Relative clauses through time 32
chapter 2
Sources and extension of grammatical markers 43
2.1 Types of relationship between grammatical markers 43
2.2 Case studies of sources and extensions 48
2.2.1 Pronouns 48
2.2.2 Classifiers and generic nouns 59
2.2.3 Discourse markers 66
2.2.4 Possessives 71
2.2.5 Comparatives 89
2.2.6 Adverbial clauses 97
2.2.7 Complement clauses 108
2.2.8 General subordination 115
2.2.9 Adjective markers 117
vi Relative Clauses in Time and Space
2.2.10 General linkers 121
2.2.11 Less well-documented extensions 123
2.3 Conclusions: What came from where, when and why? 130
chapter 3
Other types of relationship between grammatical markers 133
3.1 Redistribution of markers 133
3.2 Loss of markers 144
3.2.1 Loss and general typological change 145
3.3 Formal changes 152
3.3.1 From invariant complementiser to inflecting pronoun
and vice versa 153
3.3.2 From free-standing marker to verb affix 155
3.4 Grammatical markers: What’s where when and why? 158
3.4.1 Relative clause markers in space and time 158
3.4.2 Relative clause markers and language contact 159
3.4.3 Implications for the methods of diachronic typology 160
chapter 4
Syntactic change in the development of RC constructions 163
4.1 The origins of embedded clauses 165
4.2 Deranking and balancing of verb forms 169
4.3 Correlatives 179
4.4 Change in clause order 186
4.4.1 Relative clauses that follow the head 188
4.4.2 Relative clauses that precede the head 192
4.5 Syntax: What’s where, when and why? 193
4.5.1 Stability 196
4.5.2 Implications for the methods of diachronic typology 196
chapter 5
Relevant factors in language change: The importance of contact 199
5.1 ‘Basic word order’ as a factor in relative clause change 199
5.2 Other word order ‘harmonies’ as a factor in relative clause change 207
5.3 Embedding as a factor in relative clause change 211
5.4 The relationship between grammatical marker type
and syntactic change 212
5.5 The relevance of language family affiliation to relative clause change 216
5.6 Language contact and relative clause change 218
5.7 The relative influence of internal and external factors 226
Table of contents vii
chapter 6
Conclusions 229
6.1 What’s where when? Mapping relative clauses in three dimensions 229
6.2 … and why: Processes and mechanisms 234
6.3 Language contact 235
6.4 Implications for the structure of relative clauses 237
6.5 Implications for taxonomies of relative clause types 242
6.6 The methods of diachronic typology 244
References 247
Appendices 263
Language index 275
Subject index 279
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the invaluable support and feedback I received
from numerous people while writing this. In particular I would like to thank
Cynthia Allen, Harold Koch and Avery Andrews for their ongoing advice, en-
couragement, and general professional support. I am extremely grateful to the
numerous people who have read drafts of this book at various stages and offered
comments: as well as those mentioned above, this includes Lyle Campbell, Alice
Harris, Malcolm Ross, Talmy Givón, Andrej Kibrik, and several anonymous
reviewers. Many helpful suggestions were also offered by those who have at-
tended my conference presentations on this topic over the years, and for this I
am also grateful.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to Mattias, who has been an untir-
ing source of support and encouragement, as well as of great practical assistance
when I would rather be diagramming sentences than doing the laundry or the
washing up.
