12.1 Relativization 627(714) Examples of Definite Subject Relative Clauses
a. medd-aen
men-MaPl
[w-i orae-nen t-a-shsr-t
[Ma-Dem.Pl open.PerfP-Partpl.Pl Fe-Sg-door-FeSg]
'the men who opened the door'b. ae-hatas
Sg-man
[w-a-Mii i-ss-abdasd-een]
[Ma-Dem.Sg-\lSgO 3MaSg-Caus-stand.PerfP-Partpl.MaSg]
'the man who stopped (=arrested) me'c. ae-halss [w-α waer-aen 0-seqqima]
Sg-man [Ma-Dem.Sg Neg-PartpI.MaSg 3MaSgS-sit.PerfN]
'the man who did not sit' [R]d. t-α wser-t skhya
Fe-Dem.Sg Neg-Partpl.FeSg eat.PerfN
'one-Fe who didn't eat' [K-f]e. t-a-maett
Fe-Sg-woman
[t-α 0-t-ahnäffi-t]
[Fe-Dem.Sg 3FeSgS-LoImpf-groan.LoImpfP-Partpl.FeSg]
'the woman who is groaning' [K-d]Indefinite relatives are similar in structure except that a head noun is
obligatory and the demonstrative is absent. The participle is therefore attached
directly to the head noun. The participle has different forms in definite and
indefinite constructions, since some reductions of ablaut-induced V-length
(Resit, LoImpfP) and the shift or erasure of the ablaut accent, characteristic of
definite participles, do not apply to indefinite relative (whose verbs or
participles are based on the same stem shapes as verbs in main clauses).
The majority of examples of the indefinite construction in texts involve
intransitive verbs with adjectival meaning. Such stems have indefinite
participial forms with high text frequency, often based on a Resit stem and
translatable as modifying adjectives in English; see §8.5.7. In the text (Chapter
16), (920) uses an indefinite relative like an English parenthetical
(nonrestrictive) relative. A transitive example with object clitic following the
head noun is (715).