earticle

영어

This paper critically reviews some well-visited issues concerning relativization. After a relative clause (RC) is defined, its types and forming strategies are described. This is followed by an investigation of the association between the grammatical position of a noun phrase (NP) and its relativizability, which is referred to as the Accessibility Hierarchy (AH) in Keenan and Comrie (1977). After showing not every language allows all grammatical positions to be relativized, this study explores how restrictions in RC formation can be dealt with in languages. Lastly, the article points out that an RC may not be used if it sounds unnatural, even when the restrictions can be lifted. This leads to the conclusion that a language may abandon an RC and adopt another construction to represent the meaning/function of an RC.