Constructional and Lexical Semantic Approaches to Russian
March 24-26, 2011, St. Petersburg, Russia
Slavic relative clauses: the case of absolutive relativization in Czech
Mirjam Fried, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague
fried@ujc.cas.cz
I-A. Determinative restrictive RCs
(1) Concept/category membership/defining feature:
Jsou lidé,
které
o
tomhle nikdy
are people.NOM which.ACC.PL about this
never
‘There are people who you’ll never convince.’
nepřesvědčíš.
NEG.convince.FUT.2SG
(2) ‘Kind of’ specification (the referent doesn’t have to exist):
Hledáme
manažerku,
která
umí
francouzsky
seek.PRES.1PL manager.ACC.SG.F
which.NOM.SG.M know.PRES.3SG French
‘We’re looking for [a] manager who [can] speak French.’
(3) Identification
Podej
mi
knihu,
která
leží
tam na
hand.IMP.2SG 1SG.DAT book.ACC.SG.F which.NOM.SG.F lie.PRES.3SG there on
‘Hand me [the] book that’s over there on the table.’
stolku.
table
(4) Characterization
Včera
jsem
viděl
film,
který
natočil
yesterday AUX.1SG see.PST.SG.M film.ACC.SG.M which.ACC.SG.M make.PST.SG.M
{Forman ještě v Československu.}
‘Yesterday I saw [a] movie that Forman made {when still [working] in Czechoslovakia.}’
I-B. Determinative non-restrictive RCs
(5)
{ale nakonec mně bude chybět i}
ten Zetka,
kterým
jsme ve třídě všichni
opovrhovali
that Z.NOM.SG.M which.INS.SG.M AUX.1PL in class all.NOM.PL.M look.down.PST.PL
‘{but in the end I’ll be missing even} that [guy] Zetka, who the whole class looked
down on’
II. Non-determinative (always non-restrictive)
II-A. Explicative
(6)
{ale nakonec mně bude chybět i}
Zetka,
kterým
jsme ve třídě všichni
opovrhovali
Z.NOM.SG.M which.INS.SG.M AUX.1PL in class all.NOM.PL.M
look.down.PST.PL.M
‘{but in the end I’ll be missing even} Zetka, who the whole class looked down on’
II-B. Continuative (a.k.a. coordination)
(7)
Hledal
asi
hodinu poštovní schránku, kterou
nenašel
seek.PST.SG.M maybe hour mailbox.ACC.SG.F
which.ACC.SG.F NEG.find.PST.SG.M
‘He[spent] about an hour looking for [a] mailbox, which he didn’t find.’
Absolutive CO:
(8) relativized N serves as Subject in the relative clause (NOM):
ta paní,
co u nás bydlí, je moc hezká
that woman CO at us lives is much pretty
‘the woman who lives with us is very pretty’
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Constructional and Lexical Semantic Approaches to Russian
March 24-26, 2011, St. Petersburg, Russia
(9) relativized N serves as Object in the relative clause (ACC + resumptive pronoun):
a. Ten člověk, co
jste
ho
za mnou kdysi poslal, {viděl jste ho ještě
that man
CO
AUX.2PL 3SG.ACC after me
once sent
někdy potom?}
‘The man [CO] you sent [him] to me a while back, {did you ever see him again later)?’
b.
{Připravil jsem si tu pro každého z vás tisíc korun}
za tu práci, co jste
___ se mnou měli
for that work CO AUX.2PL ACC with me had
‘{For each of you, I have ready a thousand crowns here} for the work [CO] you had
with me’
(10) Temporal construction
od doby, co nám na Národní zavřeli Klub spisovatelů {živím se v centru Prahy
výhradně párkem v rohlíku}
‘from the time [CO] our Writers’ Club on Národní has been closed down on us, {I live
exclusively on hotdogs [when] in the center of Prague}’
(11) Quantifying construction
a. {Byl to nuzák […]; pomyslné vlastnictví lodí však vydalo}
za všechny drachmy,
co jich
bylo v Helladě.
for all
drachmas.ACC CO 3PL.GEN was in Hellas
‘{He was a pauper […]; but the imaginary ownership of ships was equivalent} to all
the drachmas that were [of them] in Greece.’
b. Všechny politické strany, co jich
máme,
{zastávají skvělé a objevné
all
political parties CO 3PL.GEN
have.PRES.1PL
myšlenky:prosperitu, pořádek, péči o potřebné, morálku, svobodu}.
‘All the political parties [CO] we have [of them] {advocate splendid, novel ideas:
prosperity, order, care for the needy, morality, freedom}.’
c. {má co dělat s největší poezií, jíž }
všichni bozi, co jich
kdy
stvořila lidská imaginace,
all
gods CO 3PL.GEN
ever created human:NOM imagination:NOM
{jsou hluboce podřízeni}
‘{this has to do with the greatest poetry to which} all the gods that human imagination
ever created [of them] are deeply inferior}’
(12) Explicative
a. Ten pán, co stojí
nad
vámi, je admirál Nelson, co porazil v roce
that man CO stands above you is Admiral N.
CO defeated in year
{1805 zlého Napoleona}
‘The man that is standing above you is Admiral Nelson, who in 1805 defeated {the
bad [guy] Napoleon}.’
b. Non-deictic pronouns
proč jsem nevyhrála
já,
co to víc potřebuji?
why AUX.1SG NEG.win.PST.SG.F
1SG.NOM CO it more need.PRES.1SG
‘Why wasn’t the winner me, who needs it more?’
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Constructional and Lexical Semantic Approaches to Russian
March 24-26, 2011, St. Petersburg, Russia
References:
Comrie, Bernard (1981). Language Universals and Linguistic Typology: Syntax and
Morphology. Oxford: Blackwell and Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Grepl, Miloslav & Petr Karlík (1998). Skladba spisovné češtiny. Votobia.
Svoboda, Karel (1972). Souvětí spisovné češtiny [Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Philologica
XLIII]. Praha: Universita Karlova.
Fillmore, Charles J. (1989). Grammatical Construction theory and the familiar dichotomies. In
R. Dietrich & C.F. Graumann (eds.), Language processing in social context, 17-38.
Amsterdam: North-Holland/Elsevier.
Fried, Mirjam (2010). Accusative resumptive pronouns in the Czech relative clauses with
absolutive relativizer co. Korpus, gramatika, axiologie 1(1): 16-29.
Fried, Mirjam (2011). Grammatical analysis and corpus evidence. In: M. Konopka, J.
Kubczak, Ch. Mair, F. Štícha, & U.H. Waßner (eds.), Grammar and Corpora 3.
Mannheim.
Fried, Mirjam (In press). Vztažné věty s nesklonným co. In: F. Štícha (ed.), Kapitoly z české
gramatiky. Praha: Academia.
Fried, Mirjam & Jan-Ola Östman (2004). Construction Grammar: A thumbnail sketch. In M.
Fried & J-O. Östman (eds.), Construction Grammar in a cross-language perspective, 1186. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
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