Relative pronoun

The relative pronouns are a type of pronoun that are related to a previous referent or antecedent, and introduce a relative subordinate clause. Relative pronouns are usually considered to occupy the position of the clause specifier, and therefore the relative clause they head can be seen as a complement phrase.

Introduction

Indo-European languages introduce adjectival subordinate clauses using relative pronouns, although not all languages of the world have relative pronouns of this style that introduce adjectival subordinates.

Syntactic tree for example prayer: "The child who greeted me hates me".

In languages with relative pronouns that introduce subordinate adjectives, these pronouns have a double function: in addition to introducing the sentence, they also fulfill a syntactic function in it. Example:

The child [chuckles]that He greeted me.] She hates me..

The adjectival subordinate clause is enclosed in square brackets. The relative pronoun que, in addition to acting as a complement that introduces the subordinate adjective, is fulfilling a grammatical function in it: the subject function. Other examples of relative clauses with functions other than subject are:

Resolution of this criminal case, that You know very well, it's not complicated.. (direct shipment)

The man to the You gave him the money. (indirect supplement)

People with which lets you see in public they are not fiar.

The fact that the relative pronoun has a function within the sentence is reflected in the fact that it agrees, or that it can be preceded by adjectives:

Aduced factors, which imply...

The aduced factor, which implies...

Note that in these last two sentences the plural number of the relative pronoun agrees with the number of the verb of the subordinate clause and also with the number of the antecedent. In Indo-European languages with a morphological case, the relative pronoun agrees in gender and number with the antecedent, although it receives the case according to the function it performs within the subordinate clause. In Spanish cuyo, -a functions as a genitive form of que, cual. In Latin the following sentences show different morphological cases of the relative pronoun given by its function within the subordinate clause:

Acies ipsa qua cernimus, quae Pupil vocatur, ita parva est...

'The aim of the eye itself with the that See, that We call a pupil, it's so small that...'

Here qua is feminine and takes the ablative case, while the following relative pronoun quae is also feminine but takes the nominative case.

Relative pronouns in various languages

Spanish relative pronouns

In Spanish, the following pronouns can act as a subordinating link of the adjective clause:

(the / the / the / the) that,

who / who,

which / which / which / which

how much / how many / how many / how many (= all that / all that / all that) works also as determining

and the adjective

whose / whose / whose /

Another type of relative link are the so-called "relative adverbs": donde, cuando, como.

Examples:

The boy that vi.

Who? You can leave..

The man whose Father got sick..

The house where I was..

Everything The I gave it to him..

This system of Spanish pronouns is the one found, with slight variations, in most Romance languages.

Pronouns in Old Indo-European Languages

In many Indo-European languages there are relative pronouns derived from the Proto-Indo-European form *k^we-/ *k^wo-. From these forms, specific forms were developed that varied according to gender, number, and case. Latin is a fairly typical example of the maximum set of forms that can exist:

English Relative Pronouns

In English there are relative pronouns derived from Proto-Indo-European *k^we-/ *k^wo- as the forms which, who,... along with more recently created forms such as that. In English, relative clauses can be introduced by any of the relative pronouns, but they can dispense with the relative pronoun as long as it is the object and not the subject of the relative clause:

The man that I (subject) told you about is a doctor.

The man Ø I told you about is a doctor.

The man that(subject) treated my mother is a doctor.

This is an innovation of English compared to other Indo-European languages, which retain the obligatory nature of a relative pronoun to introduce adjectival subordinate clauses.

Languages without relative pronouns

Some, such as Nahuatl or the Altaic languages, lack relative pronouns, although they do not stop having relative subordinate clauses. Turkish is an interesting example, because in addition to the original way of forming relative clauses without a relative (1a) influenced by Persian, which is an Indo-European language, it has developed relative clauses introduced by relative pronouns (ki) as (1b):

(1a) [kapıyı kapamıyan] bir çocuk

[door not-close it] a child = 'a child who does not close the door'

(1b) bir çocuk [chuckles]ki kapıyı kapamaz] bir çocuk

One child [REL door no-closes] = 'a child who does not close the door'

Basque also lacks relative pronouns and instead uses a verbal clitic to mark a relative clause. Sentence (2a) is a complete sentence while (2b) is a noun phrase supplemented by a relative clause:

(2a) gizona-k sagarrak erosi ditu

man...DEF apples buy AUX

'Man has bought apples'

(2b) [sagarrak erosi dituen] gizona

[men buy AUXMan

'(The man) that He bought apples'