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Concentric
Vol. 51:1 (2025) ► pp.71–123

On the syntax of restrictive relative clauses in Siwkolan Amis

ORCID logo | Fu Jen Catholic University
This paper aims to investigate an array of morphosyntactic properties that constrain the formation of externally-headed relative clauses (EHRCs) in Siwkolan Amis, an Austronesian language in Taiwan. Additionally, it seeks to address two key issues related to the syntax of relative clauses: connectivity and modification. First, I adopt the head raising analysis, also known as the Ā-extraction analysis in light of island effects and idiomatic discontinuity. This analysis is very much in line with the subject-only restriction (Keenan & Comrie 1977) and the Austronesian Extraction Restriction hypothesis (Erlewine, Levin & van Urk 2017). Second, I argue that the head noun is structurally integrated into the EHRC through complementation. This structural relation is formed by the linker a, which behaves similarly to a complementizer selecting TP as its complement, suggesting that the EHRC has a full-fledged CP structure. A structural analysis of Amis EHRCs is proposed to account for these associated properties and has implications for the syntax of modification in Amis. First, Amis modifier phrases consisting of ma-inflected verbs can be analyzed on a par with Amis EHRCs. Second, the subject-only restriction can be recast as saying that the head noun at [Spec, vP] is structurally privileged.
Keywords: relativization, Amis, complementation, head raising, Ā-extraction, adjunction
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Modification problem: Complementation or adjunction?
  • 3.Connectivity problem: Movement or base generation?
  • 4.The syntactic category of the linker a
  • 5.The internal structure of EHRCs in Amis
  • 6.Proposed analysis
    • 6.1Theoretical assumptions
    • 6.2Derivation of Amis EHRCs and other constructions
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • List of abbreviations
  • References
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