The Typological Factors Influencing the Selection of Relative Strategies

In: International Journal of Social Science and Humanity: IJSSH

Abstract

This paper explores relative strategies of 62 languages and reinterprets the typological factors that influence the selection of relative strategies. On the whole, relative strategies in 62 languages strictly conform with Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH) and Filler-Gap Domain (FGD). Relative strategies are related to word order and language family/region. Influenced by the Primary Predicate Prominence Principle, SVO languages in Indo-European region prefer to use pronoun strategy for relativizing subject and direct object, while non-Indo-European SVO languages prefer to use gap strategy influenced by FGD. Under the influence of the Primary Predicate Prominence Principle and FGD, the gap strategy is preferred for SOV languages. In addition, relative strategies of Portuguese, Spanish, and Arabic depend on the speaker's intention.