Syntax II							Spring 2012

Assignment 9:	Relative Clauses				Due Monday May 7


I.  Rumor Nouns

There is a class of Nouns (called "rumor nouns") that can take a CP complement:

   (3)  The fact that pigs can't fly disturbs me.
   (4)  Never ignore the possibility that a pig might fly.
   (5)  The rumor that Harvey keeps a pig in his yard is being spread by
	his neighbors.

Most nouns are not rumor nouns:

   (7) *The cat that pigs can't fly disturbs me.
   (8) *Never ignore the ignorance that a pig might fly.

What needs to be said in the grammar to account for this?

In this problem we will not be concerned particularly with rumor nouns.

II.  Some Relative Clauses

Consider the following:

   (9)  The cat that can't fly disturbs me.
  (10)  Never ignore the ignorance that a pig might have.
  (11)  That healthy pig that Harvey bought ate my hamster.
  (12)  I'm looking for the book that I found that recipe in.
  (13)  The man that you met's dog is the dog that bit my pig.
  (14)  That coat I bought that has a hidden pocket got stolen.

First, determine the overall structure of these sentences.  What is
"the man that you met" in (13)?

Second, what do you think is the internal structure of "that healthy pig
that Harvey bought" in (11)?

Third, determine whether any (new) transformational operation has taken
place in these sentences.  If so, formulate a statement of it.  Discuss
anything interesting.

III. More Relative Clauses

Now consider these:

  (15)  The person who has been eating my porridge is in deep trouble.
  (16)  I'm tired of the lies which the dwarves have been telling.
  (17)  The prince whose car the princess was riding in was me.

Investigate this kind of construction carefully.  Propose whatever modifications
to the grammar are necessary so that such sentences will be generated.



IV.  More Facts To Consider

  (18)  The pig that we all thought Sally believed was about to fly just went
	to sleep.
  (19)  We must put a stop to the vicious rumor that the prosecution says
	our client has been accused of spreading.
  (20)  The cookbook in which I thought I had the best hope of finding the
	recipe is unfortunately in storage in San Jose.

What do these examples show about these constructions?  (Make up more; these
are just pointers.)  If your analysis so far does not account for them, fix
it so that it does.  Then show explicitly how such sentences are derived.

To figure out what's going on here, you'll need some ungrammatical
examples.  Make them up yourself.

Discuss anything interesting.