Relative Clauses in Naayi

Abstract

This article investigates the syntactic features of relative clauses in Naayì. The corpus data have been collected using informant method and analysed qualitatively. The research follows a descriptive approach, and as a theoretical framework, it employs the basic linguistic theory. As specific objectives, the study examines the position of a relative clause with respect to the head noun, the mode of relativization in relative clause, the grammatical functions of relativized NP in relative clauses, and the accessibility Hierarchy of the grammatical functions of NP in relative clauses. In Conclusions, in Naayì, RCLs are typically prenominal, the mode of relativization in the language is a gap strategy, and the types of grammatical functions of NP in Naayì are subject relativization, object relativization, indirect object relativization, oblique relativization and possessor relativization. Regarding accessibility hierarchy of grammatical functions, all the grammatical functions are relativized in Naayì except the object of comparison.