engleski

Correlative relative clauses in Munda languages: an overview

The paper deals with the correlative-relative clauses (CRCs) in the Munda branch of the Austroasiatic language family. Two types of CRCs are distinguished: headed CRCs and headless CRCs, the former being the main focus of this paper. Headed CRCs are attested in most Munda languages and there is a consensus that this construction was borrowed from Indo-Aryan (IA). Despite a scarcity of evidence for most Munda languages, this article identifies a number of relevant characteristics of both headed and headless CRCs in Munda languages. Among those concerning headed CRCs, one can point out the variation in the form of the correlative pronoun (which can be a native interrogative pronoun or the borrowed IA correlative pronoun) as well as the variation with respect to the degree of integration of headed CRCs into the grammar of individual Munda languages. The latter issue awaits further research, notably regarding the competition between the headed CRCs and the prenominal relative clauses (the original Munda relative clause formation strategy), but a number of preliminary remarks were nevertheless put forward. As for the headless CRCs, which are also attested across the Munda branch, evidence can be adduced suggesting they are original in Munda (unlike headed CRCs). Evidence for this claim is found in the history of Dravidian languages (headless CRCs are attested in old Dravidian languages), as well as in crosslinguistic tendencies (headless CRCs are widespread, whereas headed CRCs are geographically and genetically restricted).

Munda languages ; Indo-Aryan languages ; correlative-relative clauses ; syntactic borrowing ; language contact

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