Relative Clause in Borna
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Date
2011-01
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This thesis deals with description of the structure of relotive clause in Bon1l1. Concerning the
ways of relali viZClliol1 of Barna, there is a controversy as 10 whether Ihe relative pronolln is Llsed or
not. According to Lamberti (1993), elemenls like Its6, wi, tSllwo6tsi, iruw6, iruu, iruwo6tsi, ettuw6,
ettuu, ettu wo6tsil are relative pronouns in Barna and implies relative pronoun strategy.
Whereas, Bikita (2003) and Felming (1976) maintained that I-tsl is a relativizer.But the position of the present study is like Bikila (2003) and Felming (1976) claim Itsl is a
relativizer, the element is portmantu that encodes relativity of the verb and past tense. The
language employs pro in situ, pronoun retention and gapping strategy. The pro in situ strategy
occurs in posltlominal subject and direct object relativization. The prenominal subject and direct
object relativization employs gapping strategy. The rest of the positions like indirect object,
oblique complement and possessor position apply pronoun retention ,tralegy. Based on the
position of the RC with respect to head noun, Barna RC has a prenominal, postnominal alld
headless type of relative elause. Barna has no restrictiveness marker of structure of relative
eluase. That is, the meaning of the relative eluase is not restricted or non-restricted by either
fo rmal or distributional change. In connection to these, Keenan and Comrie (1977)'s five
accessibility hierarchy: subject, direct object, indirect object, oblique complement alld possessor
position relativizations Barna covers all the accessibility hierarchy positions.
The function of adjectives and the RC is similar in Barna; both can f unction as headless,
prenolllinal and postnominal. 1n the language, negative relative verb drops tense marker and add
negative suffix I-a/. I-al is a portmantu morpheme that negates verbs in present, past and fu ture
tenses and encodes relativity of the verb.
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Keywords
Relative Clause