Relative clause paper, part 2 of 2

So far, this paper has described the various kinds of relative
clauses (including relative phrases).  The list is now complete,
and the rest of the paper will be concerned with the syntax
of sumti that include relative clauses.  So far, all relative clauses
have appeared directly after the sumti to which they are
attached.  This is the most common position (and originally
the only one), but a variety of other placements are also
possible which produce a variety of semantic effects.

There are actually three places where a relative clause can be
attached to a description sumti:  after the descriptor ("le",
"lo", or whatever), after the embedded selbri but before the
elidable terminator (which is "ku"), and after the "ku".  The
relative clauses attached to descriptors that we have seen
have occupied the second position.  Thus Example 5.1, if written
out with all elidable terminators, would appear as:

6.1)	le gerku poi blabi ku'o ku cu klama vau
	the( dog which( is-white ) ) goes.
	The dog which is white is going.

Here "ku'o" is the terminator paired with "poi" and "ku" with
"le", and "vau" is the terminator of the whole bridi.

When a simple descriptor like "le gerku" has a relative clause
attached, it is purely a matter of style and emphasis where
the relative clause should go.  Therefore, the following examples
are all equivalent in meaning to Example 6.1:

6.2)	le poi blabi ku'o gerku cu klama
	The such-that (it-is-white) dog igoes.

6.3)	le gerku ku poi blabi cu klama
	The( dog ) which is-white goes.

Example 6.1 will seem most natural to speakers of languages
like English, which always puts relative clauses after the noun
phrases they are attached to; Example 6.2, on the other hand,
may seem more natural to Finnish or Chinese speakers, who put
the relative clause first.  Note that in Example 6.2, the
elidable terminator "ku'o" must appear, or the selbri of the
relative clause ("blabi") will merge with the selbri of the
description ("gerku").  The purpose of the form appearing in
Example 6.3 will be apparent shortly.

As is explained in detail elsewhere, two different numbers (known
as the "inner quantifier" and the "outer quantifier" can be
attached to a description.  The inner quantifier specifies
how many things the descriptor refers to: it appears between
the descriptor and the description selbri.  The outer quantifier
appears before the descriptor, and specifies how many of the
things referred to by the descriptor are involved in this
particular bridi.  In the following example,

6.4)	re le mu prenu cu klama le zarci
	Two-of the five persons go to-the market.
	Two of the five people [that I have in mind] are going to the market.

"mu" is the inner quantifier and "re" is the outer quantifier.
Now what is meant by attaching a relative clause to the
sumti "re le mu prenu"?  Suppose the relative clause is
"poi pu sipna" (meaning "who slept").  Now the three possible
attachment points discussed previously take on significance.


6.5)	re le poi pu sipna ku'o mu prenu cu klama le zarci
	Two of the such-that( [past] sleep ) five persons go to-the market.

6.6)	re le mu prenu poi pu sipna [ku] cu klama le zarci
	Two of the (five persons which [past] sleep) go to-the market.

6.7)	re le mu prenu ku poi pu sipna cu klama le zarci
 	(Two of the five persons ) which [past] sleep go to-the market.

As the parentheses show, Example 6.6 means that all
five of the persons were sleeping (at some point in the past),
whereas Example 6.7 means only that the two who are going
to the market were sleeping.  (The possibility that the other
three were also sleeping is not excluded.)  How do we remember
which is which?  If the relative clause comes after the explicit
"ku", as in Example 6.7, then only the sumti as a whole is
qualified by the relative clause.  If there is no "ku", or if the
relative clause comes before an explicit "ku", then the relative
clause is understood to apply to everything which the
underlying selbri applies to. 

What about Example 6.5?  By convention, it means the same
as Example 6.7, and it requires no "ku", but it does typically
require a "ku'o" instead.  Note that the relative clause
comes before the inner quantifier.

When "le" is the descriptor being used, and the sumti has no
no explicit outer quantifier, then the outer quantifier is
understood to be "ro" (meaning "all"), as is explained elsewhere.
In that case, there is no difference between a relative clause
after the "ku" or before it.  However, if the descriptor is
"lo", the difference is quite important:

6.8)	lo prenu ku noi blabi cu klama le zarci
	(some persons) incidentally-which are-white go to-the market.

6.9)	lo prenu noi blabi [ku] cu klama le zarci
	some (persons incidentally-which are-white) go to-the market.

Both Examples 68 and 6.9 tell us that one or more persons
are going to the market.  However, they make very different
incidental claims.  Example 6.8 merely tells us that those
persons, whoever they might be, are white; Example 6.9
claims that all persons (since "lo prenu" means "lo ro prenu",
some of all the persons that there are) are white!  This is
plainly false.  The safe strategy, therefore, is to always use
"ku" when attaching a "noi" relative clause to a "lo" descriptor.
Otherwise we may end up claiming far too much.

Finally, so-called indefinite sumti like "re karce", which means
the same as "re lo karce" (which in turn means the same as
"re lo ro karce"), can have relative clauses attached; these
are taken to be of the outside-the-"ku" variety.  Here is an
example:

6.10)	mi ponse re karce [ku] poi xekri
	I possess two cars which-are black.

The restrictive relative clause only affects the two cars being
affected by the main bridi, not all cars that exist.  It is
ungrammatical to try to place a relative clause within an
indefinite sumti (that is, before an explicitly expressed terminating
"ku".)


7.  Possessive sumti

In Examples 2.4 through 2.6, the sumti "le mi karce" appears,
glossed as "my car".  Although it might not seem so, this
sumti actually contains a relative phrase.  When a sumti
appears between a descriptor and its description selbri, it is
actually a "pe" relative phrase.  So

7.1)	le mi karce cu xunre
	my car is-red.

and

7.2)	le pe mi karce cu xunre
	the (associated-with me) car is-red.

mean exactly the same thing.  Furthermore, since there are
no special considerations of quantifiers here,

7.3)	le karce pe mi cu xunre
	The car associated-with me is-red

means the same thing as well.  A sumti like the one in
Example 7.1 is called a "possessive sumti".  Of course, it does
not really indicate possession in the sense of ownership, but
like "pe" relative phrases, indicates only weak association.
The inner sumti, "mi" in Example 7.1, is correspondingly called the
"possessor sumti".

Historically, possessive sumti existed before any other kind of
relative phrase or clause, and was retained when the machinery
of relative phrases and clauses as detailed in this paper so far
was slowly built up.  When preposed relative clauses of the
Example 7.2 type were devised, possessive sumti were most
easily viewed as a special case of them.

Although any sumti, however complex, can appear in a full-fledged
relative phrase, only simple sumti can appear as possessor sumti,
without a "pe".  Roughly speaking, the legal possessor sumti are:
pro-sumti, quotations, names and descriptions, and numbers
(although the last category makes little sense).  In addition,
the possessor sumti may not be preceded by a quantifier, as
such a form would be interpreted as the unusual "descriptor +
quantifier + sumti" type of description.  All these sumti forms
are explained in full elsewhere.

Here is an example of a description used in a possessive sumti:

7.4)	le le nanmu ku karce cu blanu
	The (associated-with-the man) car is blue.
	The man's car is blue.

Note the explicit "ku" at the end of the possessor sumti,
which prevents the selbri of the possessor sumti from merging
with the selbri of the main description sumti.  Because of the
need for this "ku", the most common kind of possessor sumti
are pro-sumti, especially personal pro-sumti, which require no
elidable terminator.

A possessive sumti may also have regular relative clauses
attached to it.  If attached before or after the terminating
"ku", then the relative clause has its usual meaning.  However,
a relative clause immediately following the possessor sumti is
understood to affect the possessor sumti, not the possessive.
For example:

7.5)	le mi noi sipna karce cu na klama
	The of-me incidentally-which( is-sleeping) car isn't going.

means that my car isn't going; the incidental claim of "noi sipna"
applies to me, not my car, however.  If I wanted to say that
the car is sleeping (whatever that might mean) I would need:

7.6)	le mi karce poi sipna cu na klama
	The of-me car which sleeps isn't going.


8.  Relative Clauses And Complex Sumti:  "vu'o"

	vu'o	VUhO		relative clause attacher

Normally, relative clauses attach only to simple sumti or parts
of sumti: pro-sumti, names and descriptions, pure numbers, and
quotations.  There is not too much use for relative clauses
attached to pure numbers; an incidental relative clause
attached to a quotation, as in:

8.1)	lu mi klama le zarci li'u
		noi mi cusku ke'a cu jufra
	[quote] I go to-the market [unquote]
		incidentally-which( I express IT) is-a-sentence.

may serve to identify the author of the quotation or some other
relevant, but subsidiary, fact about it.  All such relative clauses
appear only after the simple sumti, never before it.

In addition, sumti with attached sumti qualifiers of selma'o
LAhE or NAhE+BO (which are explained in detail elsewhere)
can have a relative clause appearing after the qualifier and
before the qualified sumti, as in:

8.2)	la'e poi to'ercitno lu le xunre cmaxirma li'u
		cu zvati le vu kumfa
	A-referent-of (which is-old) [quote] The Red Small-horse [unquote]
		is-at the [far distance] room.
	An old "The Red Pony" is in the far room.

Example 8.2 is a bit complex, and may need some picking apart.
The quotation "lu le xunre cmaxirma li'u" means the string of
words "The Red Pony".  If the "la'e" at the beginning of the
sentence were omitted, Example 8.2 would claim that a certain
string of words is in a room distant from the speaker.  But
obviously a string of words can't be in a room!  The effect of
the "la'e" is to modify the sumti so that it refers not to the
words themselves, but to the referent of those words, a novel
by John Steinbeck (presumably in Lojban translation).  The
particular copy of "The Red Pony" is identified by the restrictive
relative clause.  Example 8.2 means exactly the same as:

8.3)	la'e lu le xunre cmaxirma li'u
		poi to'ercitno cu zvati le kumfa
	A-referent-of [quote] The Red Small-horse [unquote]
		which is-old is-at the [far distance] room.

and the two sentences can be considered stylistic variants.

Sometimes, however, it is important to make a relative clause
apply to the whole of a more complex sumti, one which involves
logical or non-logical connection.  For example,

8.4)	la frank. .e la djordj. noi nanmu cu klama le zdani
	Frank and George incidentally-who is-a-man go to-the house.
	Frank and George, who is a man, go to the house.

The incidental claim in Example 8.4 is not that Frank and George
are men, but only that Frank is a man, because the incidental
relative clause attaches only to "la djordj", the immediately
preceding simple sumti.

To make a relative clause attach to both parts of the logically
connected sumti in Example 8.4, a new cmavo is needed,
"vu'o" (of selma'o VUhO).  It is placed between the sumti and
the relative clause, and extends the sphere of influence of that
relative clause to the entire preceding sumti, including however
many logical or non-logical connectives there may be.

8.5)	la frank. .e la djordj. vu'o noi nanmu cu klama le zdani
	Frank and George incidentally-who are-men go to-the house.
	Frank and George, who are men, go to the house.

The presence of "vu'o" here means that the relative clause
"noi nanmu" extends to the entire logically connected sumti
"la frank. .e la djordj."; in other words, both Frank and George
are claimed to be men, as the colloquial translation shows.


9.  Relative Clauses In Vocative Phrases

Vocative phrases are explained in full elsewhere.  Briefly,
they are a method of indicating who a sentence or discourse
is addressed to: of identifying the intended listener.  They
take three general forms, all beginning with cmavo from selma'o
COI or DOI (called "vocative words"; there can be one or many),
followed by either a name, a selbri, or a sumti.  Here are three examples:

9.1)	coi. frank.
	Hello, Frank.

9.2)	co'o xirma
	Goodbye, horse.

9.3)	fi'i la frank. .e. la djordj.
	Welcome, Frank and George!

Note that Example 9.2 says farewell to something which doesn't really
have to be a horse, something that the speaker simply thinks of as
being a horse, since it is equivalent to:

9.4)	co'o le xirma
	Goodbye, that-which-I-describe-as a-horse.

Similarly, Example 9.1 can be thought of as an abbreviation of:

9.5)	coi la frank.
	Hello, the-one-named "Frank".

Syntactically, vocative phrases are a kind of free modifier,
and can appear in many places in Lojban text, generally at
the beginning or end of some complete construct; or, as in
Examples 9.1 to 9.3, as sentences by themselves.

As can be seen, the form of vocative phrases is similar to
that of sumti, and as you might expect, vocative phrases
allow relative clauses in various places.  In vocative phrases
which are simple names (after the vocative words), any relative
clauses must come just after the names:

9.6)	coi. frank. poi xunre se bende
	Hello, Frank who is-a-red team-member
	Hello, Frank from the Red Team!

The restrictive relative clause in Example 9.6 suggests that there is
some other Frank (perhaps on the Green Team) from whom this
Frank, the one the speaker is greeting, must be distinguished.

A vocative phrase containing a selbri can have relative clauses either before
or after the selbri; both forms have the same meaning.  Here are some examples:

9.7)	co'o poi mi zvati ke'a ku'o xirma
	Goodbye, such-that( I am-at IT ) horse
	Goodbye, horse where I am!

9.8)	co'o xirma poi mi zvati
	Goodbye, horse such-that( I am-at-it).

Examples 9.7 and 9.8 mean the same thing.


10.  Relative Clauses Within Relative Clauses

For the most part, these are straightforward and uncomplicated: a sumti
that is part of a relative clause bridi may itself be modified by a
relative clause:

10.1)	le prenu poi zvati le kumfa poi blanu cu masno
	The person who is-in the room which is-blue is-slow.

However, an ambiguity can exist if "ke'a" is used in a relative clause
within a relative clause: does it refer to the outermost sumti, or to
the sumti within the outer relative clause?  The latter.  To refer to
the former, use a subscript on "ke'a":

10.2)	le prenu poi zvati le kumfa poi ke'axire zbasu ke'a cu masno
	The person who is-in the room which IT-sub-2 built IT is-slow.
	The person who is in the room which he built is slow.

Here, the implication of "IT-sub-2" is that sumti attached to the second
relative clause, counting from the innermost, is used.  Therefore,
"ke'axipa" (IT-sub-1) means the same as plain "ke'a".


11.  Index of Relative Clause cmavo

Relative clause introducers (selma'o NOI):
	noi		incidental clauses
	poi		restrictive clauses
	voi		restrictive clauses (non-veridical)

Relative phrase introducers (selma'o GOI):
	goi		pro-sumti assignment
	pe		restrictive association
	ne		non-restrictive association
	po		extrinsic (alienable) possession
	po'e		intrinsic (inalienable) possession
	po'u		identity
	no'u		non-restrictive identity

Relativizing pro-sumti (selma'o KOhA):
	ke'a		pro-sumti for relativized sumti

Relative clause joiner (selma'o ZIhE)
	zi'e		joins relative clauses applying to
				a single sumti

Relative clause associator (selma'o VUhO)
	vu'o		causes relative clauses to apply to all
				of a complex sumti

Elidable terminators (each its own selma'o)
	ku'o		relative clause elidable terminator
	ge'u		relative phrase elidable terminator


12.  Relative Clause BNF

What follows is the complete syntax of Lojban sumti and free
modifiers, although many features appearing here are only
described elsewhere, if they aren't relevant to relative clauses.

umti<90> = sumti-1 [VUhO relative-clauses]

sumti-1<91> = sumti-2 [(ek | joik) [stag] KE # sumti /KEhE#/] ...

sumti-2<92> = sumti-3 [joik-ek sumti-3] ...

sumti-3<93> = sumti-4 [(ek | joik) [stag] BO # sumti-3]

sumti-4<94> = sumti-5 | gek sumti gik sumti-4

sumti-5<95> = [quantifier] sumti-6 [relative-clauses] |
	quantifier selbri /KU#/ [relative-clauses]

sumti-6<97> = (LAhE # | NAhE BO #) [relative-clauses] sumti /LUhU#/ |
	KOhA # | lerfu-string /BOI#/ | LA CMENE ... # |
	(LA | LE) sumti-tail /KU#/ | LI mex /LOhO#/ |
	ZO any-word # | LU text /LIhU/ # | LOhU any-word ... LEhU # |
	ZOI any-word anything any-word #

sumti-tail<111> = [sumti-6 [relative-clauses]] sumti-tail-1 |
	relative-clauses sumti-tail-1

sumti-tail-1<112> = [quantifier] selbri [relative-clauses] | quantifier sumti

relative-clauses<121> = relative-clause [ZIhE relative-clause] ...

relative-clause<122> = GOI term /GEhU#/ | NOI sentence /KUhO#/

free<32> = SEI # [term ... [CU #]] selbri /SEhU/ | SOI sumti [sumti] /SEhU/ |
	vocative selbri [relative-clauses] /DOhU/ |
	vocative relative-clauses sumti-tail-1 /DOhU/ |
	vocative CMENE ... # [relative-clauses] /DOhU/ |
	vocative [sumti] /DOhU/ | (number | lerfu-string) MAI |
	TO text /TOI/ | XI number /BOI/ | XI lerfu-string /BOI/ |
	XI VEI mex /VEhO/





-- 
John Cowan					cowan@ccil.org
		e'osai ko sarji la lojban.