Chapter 9
Noun-modifying clause constructions in Ainu
Anna Bugaeva |
Tokyo University of Science/National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (NINJAL)
The Ainu (Southern Hokkaido) relative clause construction is built on the model of the nominal attributive construction, while the noun-complement construction is based on that of the nominal possessive construction in which the head is marked with a possessive suffix. Also, relative and noun-complement clauses behave differently with regard to island violation constraints: only the latter allow such violations. However, there is a small number of noun-complement clauses without possessive marking on the perception/relational head noun, which makes them look like relative clauses; these are the so-called emergent GNMCCs. I suggest that these head nouns appear in non-possessive form in order to dissociate themselves from the few homonymous possessive heads which are grammaticalized as modal/evidential markers in the relevant constructions.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Basic properties of Ainu
- 2.1Basic clause types in Ainu
- 2.2Noun phrase structure
- 3.Noun-modifying clause constructions in Ainu: Relative clauses vs. noun-complement clauses
- 4.Relative clauses
- 4.1Relativization of arguments
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4.1.1Subject of intransitive verb (S)
- 4.1.2Subject of two-place transitive verb (A)
- 4.1.3Subject of three-place transitive verb (A)
- 4.1.4Object of two-place transitive (O)
- 4.1.5Object of three-place transitive (O)
- 4.2Relativization of non-arguments
- 4.2.1Relativization of adjuncts
- 4.2.1.1Instrumental, comitative, and dative adjuncts
- 4.2.1.2Standard of comparison equivalent
- 4.2.2Relativization of possessor
- 4.2.3Relativization of locative and allative adjuncts
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5.Noun-complement clauses
- 5.1Content-taking nouns as head
- 5.2Perception nouns as head
- 5.3Relational nouns as head
- 6.Grammaticalization of noun-modifying clause constructions
- 6.1Relative clause construction with bound nouns as head > lexical nominalizations
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6.2Noun-complement clause construction with perception nouns as head > ‘mermaid construction’
- 6.3Noun-complement clause construction with relational nouns as head > subordinate temporal clause construction
- 7.Noun + noun compounds
- 8.Emergent GNMCC
- 9.Island violation
- 10.Concluding remarks
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Acknowledgements
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Notes
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Abbreviations
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Sources
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References