Stephen Self

Ling 5330: Syntax II

Sabbagh
University of Texas at Arlington
September 29, 2015

Khmer relative clauses

1 Published claims

Natchanan (2005) and Natchanan & Amara (2008): both the gap strategy and pronoun re-
tention are primary relativization strategies in simple sentences in Khmer, but resumptive
pronouns are generally unacceptable for relativized direct objects (1)(4).

(1) Relativized subject:

a. kacrouN babu@l cmaa1 [dael 1 cie mWt] tWvleiN srok kamna@t rObOh
fox invite cat1 [rel 1 be friend] visit village birth gen
klu@n
self
The fox invites a cat [who is (his) friend] to visit his home village. (Natchanan
2005: 123)
b. kom skoal m@nuh1 klah [dael kei1 tv@:ka: nWv ti: nuh]
1sg know human1 some [rel 3sg1 work be.at place there]
I know someone who works there. (Natchanan 2005: 125)

(2) Relativized direct object:

a. ckae1 [dael kom sral@ 1 ] ba:n slap
dog1 [rel 1sg love 1 ] pst die
The dog that I love(d) has died.
b. *ckae1 [dael kom sral@ vie1 ] ba:n slap
dog1 [rel 1sg love 3sg1 ] pst die
(Natchanan 2005: 125)

(3) Relativized indirect object:

a. khme:N1 [dael kom Paoj luj 1 /vie1 ] Pa:juP pram cnam
child1 [rel 1sg give money 1 /3sg1 ] age five year
 Self 2

The child to whom I gave some money is five years old. (Natchanan 2005:
123,125)

(4) Relativized oblique:

a. boPrah [dael kom niPjiej ciemuaj 1 ] cie mWt
man1 [rel 1sg speak with 1 ] be friend
The man with whom I talk is (my) friend. (Natchanan & Amara 2008: 14)
b. boPrah [dael kom niPjiej ciemuaj ko@t1 ] cie mWt
man1 [rel 1sg speak with 3sg1 ] be friend
The man with whom I talk is (my) friend.1

This challenges the Accessibility Hierarchy of Keenan & Comrie (1977): if a given relativiza-
tion strategy is available to the most accessible NPs, subjects, then it must also be available
to any position or clause function lower down in the hierarchy, which is given in (5).

(5) The Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy:

sbj > do > io > obl > gen > ocomp
(Keenan & Comrie 1977: 66)2

What syntax underlies the two strategies? The basic possibilities are articulated by
Asudeh (2004: 124-125) (with references to the literature therein):

1. Filler-gap and binder-resumptive dependencies are structurally distinct, the latter not
involving gaps in the syntax (characterized by Asudeh as the majority view).

2. Binder-resumptive dependencies either are a form of filler-gap dependency or result

from the same process as is responsible for filler-gap dependencies, such that resumptive
pronouns constitute real gaps in the syntax.

3. Resumptives result from the spelling out of gaps in syntax (related to 2 above).

4. Resumptive pronouns are inserted to repair illicit filler-gap derivations.

5. Parataxis combined with zero anaphora and optional full arguments?

1 NB:
All unattributed examples derive from elicitation with the gracious and able assistance of
C.I., pastor of the Cambodian United Methodist Church of Carrollton, TX, his wife E.I., and his
assitant pastor B.H. Without these individuals patient and kind aid, this project would not have
been possible, and I am truly grateful to them for it.
2 Key to abbreviations: sbj = subject; do = direct object; io = indirect object; obl = oblique;

gen = genitive; ocomp = object of comparison.

 Self 3

2 New evidence

2.1 Island Sensitivity

(6) Relativized possessor:
a. boPrah1 [dael ckae (rObOh) */ko@t1 rU@h-bat] mWn sba:j-c@t
man1 [rel dog (gen) * /his1 run.away] neg happy
The man whose dog ran away is sad. (Natchanan 2005: 125)

The gap strategy is sensitive to left-branch islands (Boskovic 2014; Asudeh 2004: 127), while
resumption is not.

(7) Coordinate Structure Island:

a. *si@vph@v1 [daEl borah ba:n a:n /vi@1 nWN kasaet] thlaj nah
book [rel man pst read /it1 and newspaper] expensive very
*The book which the man read and the newspaper is very expensive.
b. si@vph@v nWN kasaet1 [daEl borah ba:n a:n 1 ] thlaj nah
book and newspaper [rel man pst read 1 ] expensive very
The book and the newspaper which the man read are very expensive.

(8) Complex NP Island:

a. *mhoup1 [daEl kom ba:n a:n rbaj-kar tha: borah ba:n am /nuh1 ]
food [rel 1sg pst read report comp man pst eat /that1 ]
cNa nah
delicious very
*The food that I read a report that a man ate (it) is very delicious.
b. rbaj-kar1 [daEl kom ba:n a:n 1 ] tha: borah ba:n am mhoup cNa
report [rel 1sg pst read 1 say man pst eat food
] delicious
nah
very
The report that I read says a man ate very delicious food.

2.2 Comp-trace effects

(9) borah [daEl kom k1t tha: *(ko@t) ba:n am mhoup] ba:n O:kun kom
man [rel 1sg think comp *(3sg) pst eat food] pst thank 1sg
The man who I think that he ate the food thanked me.
 Self 4

2.3 Pragmatics of resumptives

No particular prohibition on resumptives for relativized direct objects:

(10) mhoup1 [daEl borah ba:n am /nuh/vi@1 ] chNa nah

food [rel man pst eat /that/it1 ] delicious very
The food that the man ate is very delicious.

Availability of resumptive driven by information structure, activation, recoverability, etc.

(11) a. borah1 [daEl /(*ko@t)1 ba:n am mhoup] ba:n O:kun kom

man [rel /(*3sg)1 pst eat food] pst thank 1sg
The man who ate the food thanked me.
b. borah [daEl kom ba:n pdOl mhoup Paoj /ko@t/lo:k1 ]
man [rel 1sg pst caus.arrive food give /3sg/2sg.formal1 ]
ba:n O:kun kom
pst thank 1sg
The man I gave the food to thanked me.
c. borah1 [daEl kom k1t tha: str@j ba:n pdOl mhoup Paoj
man1 [rel 1sg think comp woman pst caus.arrive food give
/ko@t/lo:k1 ] ba:n O:kun ni@N
/3sg/2sg.formal1 ] pst thank girl
The man who I think that the woman gave the food to thanked her.

References
Asudeh, Ash. 2004. Resumption as resource management. Stanford, CA: Stanford University
Ph.D. Dissertation.
Boskovic, Zeljko. 2014. From the complex NP constraint to everything: On deep extraction
across categories. http://ling.auf.net/lingbuzz/002278.
Keenan, Edward L. & Bernard Comrie. 1977. Noun phrase accessibility and universal gram-
mar. Linguistic inquiry 8(1). 6399. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/4177973.
Natchanan, Yaowapat. 2005. Pronoun retention in Khmer and Thai relative clauses. SEALS
XV Papers from the 15th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Asian Linguistics Society 2003
121132. http://purl.org/sealang/natchanan2005pronoun.pdf. E-1.
Natchanan, Yaowapat & Prasithrathsint Amara. 2008. A typology of relative clauses
in mainland Southeast Asian languages. The Mon-Khmer Studies Journal 38. 123.
http://purl.org/sealang/natchanan2008typology.pdf.