Contrastive Studies on Relative Clause Constructions in Polynesian Languages

1.本研究发现在14种波利尼西亚语言(库克岛毛利语、复活节岛语、夏威夷语、乱安语、毛利语、马克桑语、皮莱尼语、伦内尔语/贝隆语、萨摩亚语、塔希提语、托克劳语、汤安语、塔瓦卢语、西富图纳-阿尼万语)中发现了什么样的关系从句。此外，关系从句可以分为两类(由动词性谓词构成的关系从句和由名词性谓词构成的关系从句)。3.关系从句的某些类型存在于大多数波利尼西亚语言中，而另一些类型仅存在于少数波利尼西亚语言中。例如，Gap类型可以在波利尼西亚各地的许多语言中找到，而施动者强调类型只能在东波利尼西亚的几种语言中找到。4.在大多数类型的波利尼西亚关系从句中，没有关系从句所特有的成分。因此，我们不能不看整个句子来判断某个结构是不是关系从句。但是，不带中心名词的关系从句中的<冠词>组合是关系从句所特有的。

1.This research project showed what kinds of relative clause constructions were found in 14 Polynesian languages (Cook Island Maori, Easter Island language, Hawaiian, Luangiuan, Maori, Marquesan, Pileni, Rennellese/Bellonese, Samoan, Tahitian, Tokelauan, Tongan, Tavaluan, West-Futuna-Aniwan).2.Relative clause constructions found in Polynesian languages can be classified into 7 types (the gap type, the personal pronoun type, the anaphoric particle type, relative clause constructions with a possessive subject, relative clause constructions without a head noun, the postposed demonstrative type, and the actor emphatic type). Moreover, they can be classified into two categories (relative clause constructions formed from a verbal predicate and relative clause constructions formed from a nominal predicate).3.Some types of relative clause constructions are found in most Polynesian languages, while others are found only in a few Polynesian languages. For example, the gap type can be found in many languages all over Polynesia, while the actor emphatic type can be found only in a few languages spoken in Eastern Polynesia.4.In most types of Polynesian relative clause constructions, there is no element which is unique to relative clause constructions. Therefore, we cannot decide whether a certain structure is a relative clause construction or not without looking at the whole sentence. However, the combination <ARTICLE + TENSE ASPECT MARKER> found in relative clause constructions without a head noun is unique to relative clause constructions.