Understanding Relative Clauses in English and Arabic

1. The Islamic University of Gaza Deanery of Higher Studies Faculty of Art Department of Linguistics & Translation English and Arabic Relativization Prepared by: Mohammed El-Jadili Submitted to: Prof. Dr. WalidAmer April, 2019

2. BehavioralObjectives By the end of this session, you are expected to: • be more aware of the syntactic and semantic functions of the relative clause structure in both languages. • be familiar with essential properties of relative clause structure in both languages. • recognize the main asymmetries and symmetries of these constructions in English and Arabic. • be more aware of main challenges in understanding relative clauses of English and how to overcome them.

3. Relative Clause in English • A relative clause is an adjectivalsubordinate clause that modifies a noun. • e.g. " theman who was not there’’ • man (noun) • who (relative pronoun) • who was not there (relative clause/ adjective clause) جملة الصلة / صلة الموصول

4. In English, relative clauses are introduced by relative pronouns, such as: • that • which • whichever • who • whoever • whom • whomever • whose

5. Relative sentences are made up of two parts: 1. antecedent.2. relative clause. (are joined with each other by a relative pronoun) e.g. This is the boy whostudies biology. • Relative clauses are subordinate clauses that attach to nouns and because they add information to a noun, they are referred to as adjective clauses.

6. In order to form a relative clause in English, a sentence needs to be constructed into a subordinate clausepreceded by a noun. 1. I read a book. 2. The book explains the difference between idioms and proverbs. I read a book which explains the difference between idioms and proverbs. (whichrefers to non-human antecedent and is considered as the object of the sentence.)

7. Relative clauses in English are also classified semantically, depending on their relationship with the noun they modify, into: • Defining relative clause • Non-defining relative clause

9. Identify whether the following sentences are defining, non-defining or free relative clauses: 1. My brother who lives in Canada is rich. 2. My brother, who lives in Canada, is rich. 3. The book that my sister recommended was quite useful. 4. Whoever designed this project is a genius. Defining Relative Clause Non-defining RelativeClause Defining Relative Clause Free Relative Clause

10. Non-defining Relative Clause 5. The teachers, who want to teach ESL, try to get a lot of classroom experience. 6. He knows why we are meeting. 7. Take whichever you like. Free RelativeClause Free RelativeClause

11. In English, there is an alternation among three relative pronoun options:

13. Relative Pronouns • Who: (subject or object - case human) e.g. I told you about the woman . The woman lives upstairs. I told you about the woman who lives upstairs. • Relative clauses follow the head noun • Relative pronoun agrees with the noun it places The woman who I told you about lives upstairs.

14. Which (subject or object – animals and things) e.g. Do you see the cat? The cat is hiding under the table. Do you see the cat which is hiding under the table?

15. Whose (humanand non-human possessive determiner) e.g. I met the boy. His mother is the famous surgeon. I met the boy whose motheris the famous surgeon. • The verb agrees with the subject of the adjective clause.

16. Whom (object case human) e.g. I was invited by the teacher. I met the teacher by chance. I was invited by the teacher whom I met by chance.

17. That (subject or object pronoun - people, animals, or things - in restrictive relative clauses) Do you see the cat which/thatis hiding under the table. I told you about the woman who/thatlives upstairs. The woman whom/thatI told you about lives upstairs.

18. Subject vs. Object Relative Pronouns • If the relative pronoun is followed by a verb, it is a subject pronoun. In this case, the relative pronoun must be used. e.g. That is the boy who plays basketball with us. • If the relative pronoun is followed by a noun or a pronoun, it is an object pronoun. In restrictive relative clauses, it may be deleted. e.g. I ate the apple whichSara put on the table. I ate the apple Sara put on the table.

19. Relative Adverbs • Sometimes relative adverbs may be used instead of relative pronouns: When (in/on which - time): e.g. The day was an unforgettable day. We met them on the day. The day when we met them was an unforgettable day.

20. Where (in/at which - place) e.g. The school is more than 30 years old. We study at the school. The school where we study is more than 30 years old. • Why (for which - reason) e.g. The reason is to graduate. We study for a reason. The reason why we study is to graduate.

21. English is distinguished of employing an innovative use of flexible optional position of the preposition. e.g. Jack is the boy with whom Jenny quarreled. e.g. Jack is the boy whom/ who / that Jenny quarreled with. e.g. Jack is the boy 0 Jenny quarreled with.

22. The verb in the adjective clause agrees with the antecedent. e.g. Ben is my friend who livesin New Zealand. e.g. John and Mary are my friends who livein New Zealand.

23. When whose + noun is the subject of an adjective clause, the verb agrees with the subject of the adjective clause. Maria is a person whose friends isimportant to her. Maria is a person whose friends areimportant to her. Arifand Yusefare the students whose friend comefrom London. Arifand Yusef are the students whose friend comes from London. Х √ Х √

24. Omission of the relative pronoun "whom" is common when the verb is linked to a preposition. The friend 0 I went out with last night bought a new car. Instead of: The friend with whom I went out last night bought a new car.

25. When the relative pronoun in a defining clause has an object case, it is optionally deleted, especially in the spoken English,you can delete who(m), that, and which, but not whose. She’s the writer whom I met. Or She’s the writer who I met. Or She’s the writer that I met. Or She’s the writer I met. More Formal/ Written Less Formal/ Spoken

26. Relative Clause in Arabic.

27. Relative Clause in Arabic. • Relative clause is one of the subordinate adjective clauses underlying the complex sentence in Arabic. • Many languages, including MSA, insert resumptive pronouns in relative clauses(pronoun retention), whereas many others, such as English don’t, using empty categories instead. e.g. ‘I saw the student whom I met yesterday’ رأيت الطالب الذي قابلتُهأمس Object clitic pronoun

28. e.g. ‘The one who is a helper to you came’ جاء الذي هو عونٌ لكم Subject overt pronoun

29. There are two types of relative clauses in Arabic depending on the grammatical definiteness of the head NP (antecedent): syndetic (definite) and asyndetic (indefinite): • In a complex sentence with syndetic relative clause , the antecedent NP must be definite and the relative pronoun is always present: رأيت الولدالذي كسر الباب. • Asyndetic relative clause is used when the antecedent is indefinite. In this case the relative pronoun cannot be used and the resumptive pronoun cannot be deleted: رأيتُ بيتا بناه عليُ. The two sentences do not exhibit island effects.

30. The relativiztion strategy in Arabic are characterized into the following classification: • Definite head +syndetic clause= relative structure . جلس الرجلُ الذي يتحدث ‘The man who is talking sat’ .

31. 2. Def. head + asyndeticclause = circumstantial structure/hal . جلس الرجلُ متحدثاً ‘The man sat talking’ . 3. Indefinite head +asyndeticclause = adjectival clause. .جلس رجلٌ متحدثٌ ‘A man sat talking’. 4. Indefinite head + syndetic clause is empty and there is no structure of this type in Arabic, like : .جلس رجلُ الذي يتحدث ‘ A man , the one who talked, sat’

32. Three cases of relative clauses in which an island effect is shown in Arabic sentences: the oath, vocative , and the caselesssentence.Considerthe following examples : جاء الذي -والله- أكرمته. ‘By God, The man who I was generous to came’ كافئتالذي -أيها الطلاب- تفوق منكم. ‘I rewarded the student who succeeded among you’

33. Relative Nouns الأسماء الموصولة • Relative nouns are of two types in Arabic: nominal relative(موصول اسمي) and particle relative((موصول حرفي. • The particle relatives such as "?nn", "laww" if, and "Keyy“ in order to, are not commonly used as relativizing elements. • The nominal relatives are of two types: specific مختص and common مشترك

34. NominalRelative Nouns الموصول الاسمي 1- The specific relative nouns thathave different forms for the singular, dual and plural. 

35. 2. The common relative nouns thathave the same form for the singular, dual, and plural.

36. Specific Relative Nouns • alladii(الذي) ) is used for human and non-humanmasculinesingular nouns, as in these examples:

37. 2. اللَّذَان is used for human and non-humanmasculinedual nouns, as in these examples:

38. 3. الَّذِيْنَis used for only humanmasculinepluralnouns, as in these examples:

39. 4.  الَّتِيis used for: Humanand non-human femininesingularnouns. Non-humanmasculineandfemininepluralnouns.

40. 5. اللَّتَانis used for human and non-humanfemininedual nouns, as in these examples:

41. اللائي/اللَّاتِي .6is used for humanfeminineplural nouns, as in these examples:

42. Common Relative Nouns The common relative nouns have the same form for the singular, dual, plural,feminine or masculine.

43. 1. “maa” مَاis used for non-humanmasculine and femininesingular, dual and plural nouns and is translated as "what“.Like .مثال (1): سرني ما قدمتم من أعمال I have been pleased with what you introduced. مثال (2):قَرَأتُ مَا كَتَبْتَ مِنْ مَقَالات. I read what you wrote of the articles. مثال (3): هَل سَمِعْتَ مَا قَالُوا (مِنْ خَبَر)؟ Did you hear what they said of the news?

44. 2. “man”مَنis used with humanmasculine and femininesingular, dual, and plural nouns and is translated as "who”. Like مثال (1): نجح مناجتهد. Those who worked hard succeeded.

45. 3. “Daa” ذا is used with human and non-human and it is considered relative only if preceded by "man" or "ma" which conveys the meaning of "what" in English. “يسألونك ماذا أحل لهم”مثال (1): “They ask you as to what is allowed to them.” “منذا الذي يعصمكم ”مثال (2): “Whois he that can withhold you”

46. 3. “?ay” أي is used with human and non-human. “أيهم أحسن عملا”مثال (1): “which of them is best in works”

47. In Arabic, all of the relative nouns do not take a case marker except for "alladaan" اللذان and "allataan“اللتان. They have the nominative dual case by "?alef“. They have the accusative and genitive by " yaa?" .

48. However, like English , the relative nouns have different case positions according to their syntactic functions in the sentence. مثال (1): «الذين آمنوا بآياتنا وكانوا مسلمين» ‘Who have believed in Our signs and submitted’

49. مثال (2): قال الذي سافر إلى غزة إن عناء الحصار شديد. The one whotravelled to Gaza said that the siege is strict. مثال (3): «إن الذين آمنوا» ‘Those who believed..’ مثال (4): كالذي قرأ الدرس. ‘Like whoread the lesson’

50. The Relative Clause in Arabic جُمْلَة صِلَة المَوْصُول • The relative clause جُمْلَة صِلَة المَوْصُول follows the relative nounالاِسْمُ المَوصُول in order to clarify the meaning of the relative noun and its antecedent. • Concerning the relative noun, ‘it is a noun used to refer to a specific entity by a sentence (clause) which isnominal, verbal, or sub-clause comes after the relative noun.