The complexity of the relative construction is highly interesting from a syntactic, typological and semantic point of view. This study mainly addresses the syntax of relative clauses, but considerable attention is paid to the typology of relativization, and its consequences for grammatical theory.
In the first part of this book a variety of (generative) analyses is systematically evaluated on the basis of well-known and less well-known properties of the relative construction. The author argues in favour of the so-called promotion theory of relativization, and provides a detailed account of the syntax of the major relative clause types around the world. Moreover, the various types of relative elements are discussed. The second part of this book examines three phenomena of a more general kind from the perspective of relativization. These are apposition, extraposition and possession.
The main conclusions are that i) specifying coordination is the central concept underlying both apposition and extraposition; ii) an appositive relative is in fact a false free relative that is an apposition to the antecedent; and iii) the periphrastic relative is the syntactic basis of all possessive constructions.
This study is of interest to anyone concerned with the relative construction, as well as a general syntactic readership.
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