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Part of
New Trends in Grammaticalization and Language Change
Edited by Sylvie Hancil, Tine Breban and José Vicente Lozano
[Studies in Language Companion Series 202] 2018
► pp. 163–182

The grammaticalization of interrogative pronouns into relative pronouns in South-Caucasian languages

Internal development or replica?

| University Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3

South Caucasian languages spoken in Caucasus (Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan) resort to finite postnominal relative clauses (henceforth RC) introduced by a relative pronoun as one of their main relativization strategies. The relative pronouns are formally identical to the interrogative pronouns with the addition of a subordinating particle, which suggests that the former has developed from the latter. This paper addresses the issue of whether this is an internal development, or a contact-induced one, more specifically, a case of replica grammaticalization.

Keywords: South Caucasian languages, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, grammaticalization, internal development, contact-induced change
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Postnominal relative clauses introduced by relative pronouns in South Caucasian languages
  • 3.The possibility of an internal development
    • 3.1Correlative relatives in South Caucasian languages
    • 3.2A development from correlative relatives into postnominal finite relatives?
    • 3.3An argument in support: Cases of case attraction in Old Georgian
  • 4.The possibility of a contact-induced development
    • 4.1‘European’ languages in contact with Old Georgian
    • 4.2Other languages of the South Caucasus area displaying postnominal finite RCs introduced by relative pronouns built on interrogative pronouns
    • 4.3The subordinating particle
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.202.07gan
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