csubj:relcl: double pronoun construction or free relative acting as subject
This syntactic subrelation (also implemented for ccomp, advcl and xcomp) is used to distinguish a so-called free relative clause from other occurrences of clauses acting as arguments in another matrix clause, according to its function.
This is a kind of relative clause that might be interpreted as having an internal head which, in Latin, is always represented by a relative pronoun (typically, but not limited to, qui). Such pronoun is sometimes said to be “double”, because it apparently has a twofold function: one as argument inside the free relative clause, and one as argument inside the matrix clause, the latter being the same function carried out by the whole clause itself (which is thus subordinate). There appear to be strong constraints for a similar construction, in that the relative pronoun often assumes the same identical forms in both functions, even when these differ inside and outside of the free relative clause: e.g., a quod (neuter singular nominative/accusative) can act indifferently in any combination of (passive) subject or object in the relative and in the matrix clause; conversely, the occurrence of quibus (any gender plural dative/ablative) might be ruled out to occur e.g. as oblique argument in the relative clause and at the same time as object in the matrix clause. In data, however, we do observe similar asymmetries. In any case, the “double” pronoun is annotated morphosyntactically according to its function inside the free relative clause. We also observe that this pronoun extremely regularly appears at the beginning of the free relative clause: this behaviour seems to be typical for relative(/interrogative) pronouns in general, also for “prototypical” relative clauses (i.e. with an external head).
The use of the subtype relcl can in some cases obscure the fact that the clause acts as a passive subject (which would be signalled by the concurring subtype pass). This is however in most cases retrievable from the context.
Propter quod sciendum primo quod Deus et natura nil otiosum facit sed quicquid prodit in esse est ad aliquam operationem
nsubj(prodit, quicquid)
csubj:relcl(operationem, prodit)
‘Consequently the first point to bear in mind is that God and nature do nothing in vain; on the contrary whatever they bring into being is designed for a purpose.’ (UDante Mon-21, De Monarchia I iii 3, Dante Alighieri)
- quicquid is a neuter singular nominative/accusative form of quisquis ‘whoever, whatever’, which is annotated with
Case=Nom, as it is the subject of prodit ‘comes forth’, lit. ‘whatever comes forth into being’.
Ad illarum vero significata responsio etsi non erit qualem forsan pusillanimitas appeteret aliquorum ut sub examine vestri consilii ante iudicium ventiletur affectuose deposco
obj(appeteret,qualem)
nsubj(appeteret,pusillanimitas)
cop:outer(appeteret,erit)
advcl(deposco,appeteret)
‘My reply to what you have written, although perchance it be not of such tenour as certain faint hearts would desire, I earnestly beg may be carefully examined and considered by you before judgement be passed upon it.’ (UDante Epi-218, Letters XII 2, Dante Alighieri)
- This is a case where the free relative appears as non verbal predication with the copula erit ‘it will be’, and with the relative determiner qualis ‘of which kind’, literally: ‘even if it will not be of which kind the faintheartedness of some perhaps would strive for’. The
relclsubtype does not show in the annotation because of this embedding (the couplar construction is an adverbial clause on the whole). However, we observe a mismatch: while the non verbal predicate should show the nominative case, the accusative of the internal object prevails.
Note on the former annotation style
In previous (pre v2.11) versions of some treebanks, especially UDante, the annotation of this construction followed a different logic. Noticing the apparent constraints on the combination of internal and external functions of the relative pronoun, its position and making a parallelism with other relative constructions with explicite double pronouns (i.e. quod ‘what’ = id quod ‘that which’), the double pronoun was promoted as head, marked for its function in the matrix clause, and the rest of the clause made dependent as a relative clause where the relativised position is empty. So, the example above appeared as:
Propter quod sciendum primo quod Deus et natura nil otiosum facit sed quicquid prodit in esse est ad aliquam operationem
nsubj(operationem, quicquid)
acl:relcl(quicquid, prodit)
csubj:relcl in other languages: [it] [la]