Oblique-headed relative clauses (Northern Mansi)

RelPro: Oblique-headed relative clauses include both the nominal head of the relative clause in the main clause and an obligatory coreferential pronoun in the relative clause, generally marked for its oblique role.

RCnonObl: While the nominal head of an oblique-headed relative clause can be understood to fulfill an oblique role in the clause, this role is not marked grammatically; instead, the noun is only marked for its syntactic role in the main clause.


(1) naŋ akwan-χōntχat-ne ńawram-әn wāśint-as-l-um.
you together-meet-ptc.prs child-2sg see-pst-obj-1sg
‘I have seen the child whom you met.’ (T. M.)

(2) ta ńawram wāśint-as-l-um, χōŋχa-tәl naŋ akwan-χōntχat-as-әn.
that child see-pst-obj-1sg who-ins you together-meet-pst-2sg
‘I have seen the child whom you met.’ (T. M.)


In Northern Mansi, the participle constructions are the primary means of subordination (1). Recently, relative pronoun subordination has also appeared in the language, probably due to Russian influence (2) (Rombandeeva 1979). The latter construction is only used with concrete nouns, while the former can express generalizations too (S. D., oral communication).

Author: 

Szilvia Németh