Types of relative clauses (Surgut Khanty)

ExtRel: The head appears outside the relative clause. This is called an external relative clause.

AdjnRel: The head obligatorily appears in the main clause, and the relative clause contains no anaphoric referent to the head, neither noun nor pronoun. This is called an adjoined relative clause.


(1) ʌow mōq-ʌ-aʌ päwəʌtə-tə nīŋ pūpi

bear_cub-pl-3sg bath-prs.ptc woman bear

‘the mother bear which is bathing her cubs’ (Csepregi 2012b)


(2) āťe-m pūʌt-əm awʌ-ət

father-1sg harness-pst.ptc sledge-pl

’apám befogta szánok’ (Csepregi 2012b)


(3) pūɣəʌ, qot säm-a pīt-əm, ənəʌ ʌɔ̄r qɔ̄nəŋ-nə ɔ̄məs-ʌ.

village where I eye-lat fall-pst.1sg big lake shore-loc sit-prs.3sg

‘The village, where I was born, is on the shore of a large lake.’ (Csepregi 2012b)


(4) awʌ-ət, āťe-m-nə pūʌt-əm, qɔ̄t poŋəʌ-nə ʎɔ̄ʎ-ʎ-ət.

sledge-pl father-1sg-loc harness-pst.ptc house side-loc stand-prs-3pl

‘The sledges, which my father prepared for the ride, are next to the house.’ (Csepregi 2012b)


Traditionally, relative clauses are expressed by the participle + noun construction, which means that the head noun is outside the relative clause. The participle can be a present participle (also known as participium imperfectum) (1) or past participle (also known as participium perfectum) (2). Sometimes the relative clause is initiated by a grammaticalized conjunction (3). There are some rare sentences in which the head noun is put after the relative clause without a conjunction, like an adjunct (4) (Csepregi 2012b: 61–94.).

Author: 

Márta Csepregi