Editing Relative clause (section)

===Japonic languages===

====Japanese====
Japanese does not employ relative pronouns to relate relative clauses to their antecedents. Instead, the relative clause directly modifies the noun phrase as an [[attributive verb]], occupying the same syntactic space as an attributive adjective (before the noun phrase).

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|この おいしい 天ぷら
|kono oishii tempura
|"this delicious tempura"}}

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|姉が 作った 天ぷら
|ane-ga tsukutta tempura
|sister-SUBJ make-PAST tempura
|"the tempura [that] my sister made"}}

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|天ぷらを 食べた 人
|tempura-o tabeta hito
|tempura-OBJ eat-PAST person
|"the person who ate the tempura"}}

In fact, since so-called ''i-adjectives'' in Japanese can be analyzed as intransitive stative verbs,{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} it can be argued that the structure of the first example (with an adjective) is the same as the others. A number of "adjectival" meanings, in Japanese, are customarily shown with relative clauses consisting solely of a verb or a verb complex:

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|光っている ビル
|hikatte-iru biru
|lit-be building
|"an illuminated building"}}

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|濡れている 犬
|nurete-iru inu
|get_wet-be dog
|"a wet dog"}}

Often confusing to speakers of languages which use relative pronouns are relative clauses which would in their own languages require a preposition with the pronoun to indicate the semantic relationship among the constituent parts of the phrase.

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|紅茶を 淹れる ため に お湯を 沸かした やかん
|kōcha-o ireru tame ni oyu-o wakashita yakan
|tea-OBJ make purpose for hot-water-OBJ boiled kettle
|"the kettle I boiled water '''in''' for tea"}}

Here, the preposition "in" is missing from the Japanese ("missing" in the sense that the corresponding postposition would be used with the main clause verb in Japanese). Common sense indicates what the meaning is in this case, but the "missing preposition" can sometimes create ambiguity.

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|天ぷらを 作った 人
|tempura-o tsukutta hito
|tempura-OBJ made person
|(1) "the person who made the tempura"<br />
(2) "the person [someone] made the tempura '''for'''"}}

In this case, (1) is the context-free interpretation of choice, but (2) is possible with the proper context.

{{fs interlinear|indent=3
|僕が 記事を 書いた レストラン
|boku-ga kiji-o kaita resutoran
|I-SUBJ article-OBJ wrote restaurant
|(1) "a restaurant '''about which''' I wrote an article"<br />
(2) "a restaurant '''in which''' I wrote an article"}}

Without more context, both (1) and (2) are equally viable interpretations of the Japanese sentence.