The Syntax of Early English - Cryptm.org

58 The syntax of early English2.5.1 Relative clausesRelative clauses are adjectival in the sense that they modify a noun.It is customary to make a distinction between restrictive relatives (which addessential information) and non-restrictive relatives (which give additionalinformation), as in the present-day English The car that was used in the robberyhas now been found vs. The police found the car, which had run out of fuel. Thedistinction between restrictive and non-restrictive is one of meaning, which inthe present-day language is, however, reflected in important phonological andsyntactic effects: non-restrictive relatives are often separated from their antecedentby an intonation break (in writing commas are used) and the relativepronoun/conjunction that or the ‘zero’ relative are employed in restrictive relativesalone. For Old English, we do not have many clear-cut criteria: thepunctuation of the surviving manuscripts is different from what we use today,and it is not always easy to make a consistent distinction between restrictiveand non-restrictive clauses.We can make a formal distinction between three major types of relativeclauses by the relative marker(s) used in them, and some minor types. Themajor types are:1. se relatives, with a form of the demonstrative pronoun se as a relativepronoun:(56) he gefor mid firde ongean Aristonocuse æm cyninge, se woldehe went with army against Aristonocusus the king who wantedgeagnian him a læssan Asiamusurp to-himself the lesser Asia‘then he went with an army against King Aristonocusus, who wanted tousurp Asia Minor’ (Or 5.4.118.1)This is the type which was said above to illustrate plausible paratactic origin.This makes it likely that they were mostly non-restrictive relatives.2. se e relatives, combining a form of demonstrative se with the indeclinablerelative e:(57) æt heo ne woldon heora Gode hyran, one e heo gelyfdonthat they not wanted their God (D) obey who (A) they believed‘that they did not want to obey their God, in whom they believed’(Bede 3.15.222.22)3. e relatives, introduced by the indeclinable relative e:(58) a sende se biscop æm wife e ær untrum læg sumne dælthen sent the bishop the woman who there sick lay a part