SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to provide an explicit account of Malay relative clause formation using the transformational approach. It aims at providing an analysis which can characterize Malay relative clauses in the most adequate manner. Various analyses which have been proposed for English are examined and their problem as applied to Malay discussed. It is found that there is no justification for assuming that yang, introducing relative clauses is a relative pronoun and I propose that this element be analyzed as a complementizer. The standard analysis of relative clause formation, ie the wh-movement analysis, is found to be inadequate for describing Malay relatives and as an alternative a deletion rule is proposed. It is shown, however, that only nominals in the left-most position of the embedded clause may be relativized (deleted) and it is argued that whenever the relativized element does not occupy this position, other rules such as Passives, Topicalization, Tough Movement and Left-Dislocation have to apply prior to relativization process. The proposed analysis is found to be capable of accounting not only for restrictive relatives but also for free relatives as well as non-restrictive relatives.