c. Da-aka bo
hibin alikan
fary-n to
kalhina. I-tell
you already
who kill-SUB
the chicken
‘I already told you who killed the chicken.’ In spite of the similarity in appearance to relative clauses and free relative clauses, the
above clauses should not be analyzed as belonging to either group. These clauses occur only as sentential complements for verbs of saying and thinking like eithin ‘to know’, akan
‘to tell’, and onabyn ‘to answer’. Furthermore, except for the presence of the subordinating suffix,
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their form is identical to that of independent content question clauses. Figure 21 summarizes the occurrence of the subject- and object-relativizer suffixes, the
subordinator suffix, and WH-words in the various constructions discussed in the previous pages. RELATIVIZER
SUBORDINATOR WH-
SUFFIX SUFFIX
WORD PRE-HEAD RELATIVE
+ –
– POST-HEAD RELATIVE
+ –
+– FREE RELATIVE
+ +
+– EMBEDDED QUESTION
– +
+ NON-EMBEDDED QUESTION
– –
+– Figure 21. Structural Features of Relative-Clause-Like Constructions
4.4 Constituents Accessible to Relativization
Preceding sections have given a number of examples of relativized subjects and direct objects, but there has been no discussion of exactly which constituents are accessible to
relativization. As is the case with most languages, Arawak places restrictions on what con- stituents can be relativized with a given strategy. The following sections briefly discuss
how Arawak functions in this regard.
4.4.1 Subject Relativization
When the subject of a clause is relativized, the main verb of the clause is marked with the subject-relativizing suffix -thi WH.SUBJ if that subject is masculine, or with the
non-masculine suffix -tho WH.SUBJ if it is non-masculine.
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This is true for both event verbs and stative verbs. For example, in 210a, wadili ‘man’ is masculine and requires -thi
on the verb, whereas kabajaha ‘tick’ is classified as non-masculine and therefore requires -tho
in 210b. Simularly, in 210c a masculine suffix is required, while in 210d the ref- erent is non-masculine.
210 a. Masculine: Li
wadili [› siki-thi to
hala da-myn]
andy-fa mothi.
the man [› give-WH.SUBJ the
bench me-to]
arrive-FUT tomorrow ‘The man who gave the bench to me will arrive tomorrow.’
90 Relative Clauses
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The presence of the subordinating suffix also causes some adjustments in the last vowel of the verb stem. See Section 2.4.1.1 on basic- and a- stem verbs.
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See Sections 2.3.1.2 and 2.3.3.2 for a discussion of noun gender classes.
b. Non-masculine: Jan
papada to
kabajaha [›
rydy-tho-i]. John
squash the
tick [›
bite-WH.SUBJ-him] ‘John squashed the tick that bit him.’
c. Masculine: Li
[› tojo-thi]
anda. He
[› mature-WH.SUBJ]
arrive ‘The old, respected man arrived.’
d. Non-masculine: To
[› tojo-tho]
anda itshe
[› mature-WH.SUBJ]
arrive ‘The old, respected woman arrived.’
The relative pronoun corresponding to the subject of the relative clause may or may not be present if the clause is in the post-head position of the noun phrase.
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211 a. Li wadili [alikan
› siki-thi
to hala
da-myn] andy-fa mothi.
the man [who
› give-WH.SUBJ
the bench me-to]
arrive-FUT tomorrow ‘The man who gave the bench to me will arrive tomorrow.’
b. Jan papada
to kabajaha
[ama ›
rydy-tho-i]. John
squash the
tick [what
› bite-WH.SUBJ-him]
‘John squashed the tick which bit him.’
4.4.2 Direct Object Relativization
When the direct object of a clause is relativized in Arawak, the main verb of the clause receives the suffix -sia WH.OBJ. Unlike the subject-relativizer suffixes, the object-
relativizing suffix is not differentiated as to the grammatical gender of the referent. 212 a. Li
wadili [da-soko-sia ›
miaka] wada-bo
da-boran. the
man [I-hit-WH.OBJ
› yesterday]
search-CONT me-for
‘The man I hit yesterday is searching for me.’ b. To
hiaro [da-dykhy-sia
› to
mothia] obada-bo
da-bora. the
female [I-see-WH.OBJ
› the
morning] wait-cont.
me-for ‘The girl I saw this morning is waiting for me.’
c. To khota-ha
[l-ojo boko-sia
› lo-myn] minkakho semen.
the animal-NGEN [his-mother
cook-WH.OBJ ›
him-for] very sweet
‘The meat his mother cooked for him was delicious.’ 4.4 Constituents Accessible to Relativization
