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Part of
Widening Contexts for Processability Theory: Theories and issues
Edited by Anke Lenzing, Howard Nicholas and Jana Roos
[Processability Approaches to Language Acquisition Research & Teaching 7] 2019
► pp. 231–254

Chapter 10
Modelling relative clauses in Processability Theory and Lexical-Functional Grammar

This chapter formally analyses English relative clause (RC) constructions within the framework of Processability Theory (PT) (Pienemann, 1998, 2005) using the grammatical formalism of Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG) (Bresnan, 2001) as an analytical tool. A theoretical account of (a) the classification of RCs in terms of the PT hierarchy of processing procedures and (b) a processing hierarchy of different types of RCs is provided that is based on the linear and non-linear mapping processes between c- and f-structure. This approach is extended by the discussion of the syntactic role of the head noun phrase (NPhead) in the matrix clause considering general assumptions about working memory (Kuno, 1974) and the grammatical memory store (Levelt, 1989).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Relative clauses
    • 2.1Relative clauses in LFG
    • 2.2RCs in Processability Theory
  • 3.Classification of RCs
    • 3.1Inter-clausal information exchange
    • 3.2Syntax and phrase structure rules
  • 4.Differences in mapping processes
    • 4.1The NPhead as subj of the matrix clause
    • 4.2Processing of the NPhead as subj vs. obj of the matrix clause
  • 5.Future research
  • 6.Summary and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 November 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.7.10not
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