Restrictive Relativization in Gullah

It is argued in this paper that there are three kinds of relative clause (RC) strategies in Gullah: the deletion, WH-pronoun, and resumptive pronoun (RP) strategies. The deletion strategy applies to RC's beginning with a null (0) COMP or a purposive fuh, the WH strategy applies to Ø-COMP RC's, and the RP strategy applies to any of the above kinds. The latter actually complements the former two in allowing relativization where a gap is not permitted, viz., from the genitive function to the bottom of the Keenan-Comrie NP Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH). However, it is sometimes attested where a gap is permitted. The deletion and WH strategies are akin in allowing a gap under the same NPAH-based constraints, which is the opposite of the application of the RP strategy. But it is argued that Gullah's WHrel is only COMP-like but not a COMP itself. In a different vein, the question of the origin of these RC strategies is also addressed in this paper. The evidence points to the predominant role of English superstrate influence and to the restriction of possible, corroborative, African substrate influence only to the COMP-like interpretation of WH_rel.