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Volume 51, Issue 1
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Abstract

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate an array of morphosyntactic properties that constrain the formation of externally-headed relative clauses (EHRCs) in Siwkolan Amis, an Austronesian language in Taiwan. Additionally, it seeks to address two key issues related to the syntax of relative clauses: connectivity and modification. First, I adopt the head raising analysis, also known as the Ā-extraction analysis, in light of island effects and idiomatic discontinuity. This analysis is very much in line with the subject-only restriction (Keenan & Comrie 1977) and the Austronesian Extraction Restriction hypothesis (Erlewine, Levin & van Urk 2017). Second, I argue that the head noun is structurally integrated into the EHRC through complementation. This structural relation is formed by the linker , which behaves similarly to a complementizer selecting TP as its complement, suggesting that the EHRC has a full-fledged CP structure. A structural analysis of Amis EHRCs is proposed to account for these associated properties and has implications for the syntax of modification in Amis. First, Amis modifier phrases consisting of -inflected verbs can be analyzed on a par with Amis EHRCs. Second, the subject-only restriction can be recast as saying that the head noun at [Spec, P] is structurally privileged.

© 2025 Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University
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2025-05-22
2026-01-20

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/content/journals/10.1075/consl.24003.jhe
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On the syntax of restrictive relative clauses in Siwkolan Amis
Concentric 51, 70 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1075/consl.24003.jhe
/content/journals/10.1075/consl.24003.jhe
/content/journals/10.1075/consl.24003.jhe
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): adjunction; Amis; complementation; head raising; relativization; Ā-抽取; Ā‑extraction; 中心語提升; 加接結構; 補語結構; 關係化; 阿美語

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