Kodni sistem Slovenska književnost Avtorji Uredništvo <-> bralci |
Jezik in slovstvo Povzetki |
Jezik in slovstvo Kazalo Kazalo letnika |
Robert Cazinkić
Oziralni prilastkovi odvisniki
Relative Attributive Clauses
Slovenski sinopsis
English synopsis
English summary
The category of a dependent clause is normally determined on the basis of formal and functional criteria. In the formal typology, dependent clauses are divided into conjunctive, relative and (dependent) interrogative clauses; from a functional point of view, there is a difference between those functioning as a clause element and those functioning as part of a phrase which realizes a clause element.
Attributive elements --- both clausal and non-clausal --- are of two types, depending on whether they restrict or not the number of items to which their noun phrase refers: restrictive (not omissible) and nonrestrictive (omissible). This semantic distinction is reflected in syntactic differences on the level of noun phrases containing a relative attributive clause (the nonrestrictive attributive clause is an immediate constituent of the noun phrase, while the restrictive attributive clause is not). The use of a restrictive or nonrestrictive clause respectively leads also to a different logical relation in the deep structure of such a sentences (implication or conjunction). In Slovene, questions with kakšen ('of what sort') may usually be answered using either a restrictive or a nonrestrictive clause, while the question kateri ('which') is always answered using a restrictive clause. The frequency of the two types is to some extent different in written and spoken language.
The type of the attributive element depends on the content and structure of the relative clause and its antecedent, on the context, and on the addressee's extralinguistic knowledge. The definite »article« tisti ('that'; = 'the'), (relative)indefinite, universal and negative adjectival pronouns in the antecedent typically make an attributive clause restrictive, while proper names, personal pronouns (with specific reference), demonstrative adjectival pronouns ta ('this'), tisti ('that'), oni ('distant that'), possessive pronouns (including the reflexive possessive), and the indefinite »article« nek(i) ('some'; = 'a(n)') contribute towards a nonrestrictive interpretation of the attributive clause.
All Slovene relative words are pronouns, a subcategory either of the nominal, adjectival or adverbial category. But they also belong to the category of conjunctives, linking the relative clause to the antecedent in the superordinate clause. Most relative pronouns differ morphologically from interrogative and indefinite pronouns; therefore relative clauses and relative words are usually determined on the basis of formal properties.