earticle

영어

This paper aims to examine the overall relative constructions in the theoretical framework of the Government-Binding Theory and Minimalist Program and then to propose a modest modification of the Convergence Principle in order to newly explain the deletion of relatives. Above all, we argue that Quirk et al.'s (1985) Pushdown construction, which has traditionally been regarded as a parenthetical clause, is an ordinary ‘defined relative construction’ and further that the optional deletion of the nominative relatives, which has generally been considered impossible in the typical ‘defined relative clause,’ might be explained by our Revised Convergence Principle. We also argue that the reason for the impossibility of the that-relative and null-relative in the ‘undefined relative clause’ might be explained by the Revised Convergence Principle and Chomsky's (1995) universal Locality Principle.