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Article published In: Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 40:2 (2025) ► pp.403–425

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Guest column

The nature of relativization and free relatives in Vincentian

ORCiD logo with link | Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France
Published online: 31 October 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.25019.pre
Abstract
The study first introduces relativization, then describes strategies for relativization in Vincentian, as well as the syntactic positions that can be relativized. Comparative references to Eastern Maroon Creole (EMC) are made, particularly concerning gapping and the use of resumptive pronouns. The phenomenon of headless or free relative clauses is also examined. It is argued that both headed and free relatives in Vincentian and EMC can be analyzed similarly, except that the slot typically filled by the head of the relative clause remains empty and is understood implicitly. This absence of an explicit head highlights the distinctive capacity of free relatives to operate independently.
Article outline
  • 1.Preliminaries
  • 2.Between noun complements and post-nominal modifiers
  • 3.Relative clauses in Vincentian
  • 4.Relativizable positions
  • 5.Gapping and resumptive pronouns
  • 6.From headed to headless or free relatives
  • 7.Cases to be resolved
  • 8.Final remarks
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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