B. Those that are structurally dissimilar are the following:
Passive
E: BE/GET + PP; W: GET Poss V
Present Perfect:
E: have + PP; W: wedi + V(non-f in ite)
Time conjunctions
E: before SV(finite)(O), pro V(finite)(O)
W: cyn i SV(non-finite)(O), V(finite)
OS Relative Clauses:
E: N[that/who V]; W: N[V]
SS Relative Clauses:
E: N[that/who V]; W: N[V]
SO Relative Clauses:
E: N[that NP V]; W: N[Art/Complementizer Aux NP O-poss V]
The passive in English is formed with an auxiliary be or get followed by the
past participle of the main verb, whereas the passive in Welsh is formed with
the auxiliary cael ‘get’ followed by the verb modified by a possessive adjective –
the Welsh passive in Table 4.3 is literally ‘got the clown his push’. In the forma-
tion of the present perfect, English uses a form of the auxiliary have in
combination with the past participle of the verb (e.g., eaten), whereas Welsh uses
the auxiliary bod ‘be’ in combination with the preposition wedi ‘after’ and the
infinitival form of the verb. For structures involving time conjunctions, English
and Welsh both have introductory conjunctions (before, cyn), but English before
usually introduces a finite clause (before the teacher fell.. .), whereas Welsh cyn
introduces a non-finite structure (cyn i’r athrawes ddisgyn.. .. ‘before to the teacher
falling.. ..’ [cf. the relatively formal (and hence unlikely to occur in input to
children in English) prior to the teacher falling.. ..]).
Finally, relative clauses are also constructed differently. For SO relatives,
in English the subject is followed by the relative clause introduced by the
(optional) complementizer that, and there is no resumptive pronoun for the
direct object in the embedded clause, as in (1):
(1) a. The policeman [that a lady called — ] was wearing red shoes.
b. The card [that a painting showed — ] had a flower on it.
In the equivalent sentences in Welsh, as in (2), there may or may not be
a complementizer (here yr) and there may be a resumptive pronoun in the
form of a possessive adjective (ei) modifying the embedded verb, as in (2b):
(2) a. Roedd yr plismon [wnaeth y ddynes ffonio] yn gwisgo sgidiau coch.
was the policeman [did the lady call] PRT wear shoes red
b. Roedd y cerdyn [yr oedd y llun yn ei ddangos] efo blodyn arno.
was the card [the was the picture PRT its show] with flower on
70 Part 2: Bilingual Language Development