GrammarSoft ApS

Relative clauses

Some further comments on the treatment of relative clauses may be necessary. A piece of standard code is inserted in the beginning of a copy of each rule that needs to handle relative clauses. This code basically says 'skip the relative clause and ...'. The code is: *1 CLB BARRIER VFIN LINK *1 VFIN LINK 0 @FS-N LINK *1 VFIN BARRIER @SUBJ LINK -1 ALL. This code finds a clause boundary (CLB) to the right (with no intruding finite verbs) followed somewhere to the right by a finite verb with the tag @FS-N, indicating that it is the head of a finite clause (in Danish: 'finit sætning' FS) modifying a noun to its left, i.e. a relative clause. Having identified the relative clause, we now want to find the main verb of the matrix clause. We cannot just find the next main verb to the right, as it may be part of either the relative clause (having composite tense) or the matrix sentence. But we are certain that the next finite verb belongs to the matrix sentence, but only if there are no further embedded sentences, either another relative clause or a clause modifying something in the first relative clause.¹¹ To avoid further embeddings we prohibit any subjects between the two finite verbs ('...BARRIER @SUBJ ...'). Having found the matrix finite verb, which may or may not be the main verb, we go left one word ('...LINK -1 ...'), regardless of what we find in that location ('...ALL ...'), and we are now ready to search for the matrix main verb to the right, which may be either the finite verb, that we just found, or an non-finite main verb further right. It is this main verb that assigns case to the subject¹²before the relative clause.