Clause-combining: Relative clauses

This chapter presents a survey of constructions in the languages of Native North America that could properly be considered relative clauses. Relative clauses are subordinate clauses or clause-like structures that describe nouns and either fully occupy the position of a noun phrase in a sentence or appear as dependents of a noun phrase, either modifying or delimiting the head noun or associated statement. From the perspective of language acquisition, one may consider the primary function of a restrictiverelative clause as assisting the speaker in directing the attention of the listener to a particular entity or type-an identifying function.