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On Diversity and Complexity of Languages Spoken in Europe and North and Central Asia
Edited by Pirkko Suihkonen and Lindsay J. Whaley
[Studies in Language Companion Series 164] 2014
► pp. 275–310

Anaphora in Ossetic correlatives and the typology of clause combining

| Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences & Sholokhov Moscow State University for the Humanities
Ossetic, an Iranian language of the North Caucasus, makes extensive use of correlatives in its system of subordination. I argue that most subordinate clause types in Ossetic belong to this construction, with their function being derived from the combination of the meaning of the subordinating element and the form of the demonstrative correlate. I further argue that the link between the relative phrase and the correlate may involve indirect relations such as bridging and split antecedence. They must therefore be viewed as involving obligatory pronominal coreference, where correlates are semantically no different from ordinary anaphoric pronouns or definite descriptions.
Keywords: anaphora, clause combining, correlatives, Iranian languages, Ossetic, relative clauses, subordination, syntax
Published online: 17 December 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.164.10bel
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