Relative clauses 367
vized, actor voice is required. If the theme of a transitive verb (or its possessor)
is to be relativized, object voice is required.
In similar fashion, relativization is a syntactic determinant of the use of -e
and -agi. For example, if the goal of the verb kerem ‘send’ must be subject be-
cause it is to head a relative clause, the form of kerem with the locative suffix
must be used.
(137) a. ale' se e-kerem-e paket bi' Samidin
yngr.sibling REL OV-send-LOC package by Samidin
‘the little brother who was sent a package by Samidin’
b. *ale' se e-kerem paket bi' Samidin
yngr.sibling REL OV-send package by Samidin
c. *(ka) ale' (ka) se Samidin ngerem paket (ka)
to yngr.sibling to REL Samidin AV.send package to
In (137), only the a-example is acceptable. Here the relative clause has the mor-
phology appropriate for a goal subject, object voice and the locative suffix. As
demonstrated in Chapter 10 section 1.1, this morphology is obligatory in mak-
ing the recipient of the package, ale' ‘little brother’ (the Goal argument in the
clause) a subject, which is what makes it an accessible target of relativization.
When the locative suffix is missing, the string is ungrammatical (137b). Direct
relativization of the goal is impossible whether or not the preposition ka ‘to’
occurs in any of the conceivable locations indicated (137c). Similarly, if the
subject matter argument of a verb of communication is to be relativized, -agi
must be used on the object voice verb, as in (138a).
(138) a. buku se e-careta'-agi Romlah ka Hanina
book REL OV-tell-AGI Romlah to Hanina
‘the book that Romlah told Hanina about’
b. *buku se e-careta Romlah ka Hanina
book REL OV-tell Romlah to Hanina
c. *(bab) buku (bab) se Romlah a-careta ka Hanina (bab)
about book about REL Romlah AV-tell to Hanina about
Finally, a goal of a verb of motion requires the locative suffix on an object
voice form of the verb, as in (139).