Constructions and Mixed Categories: Determining the semantic interpretation of person/number marking1

1 I would like to thank the following people for enormously helpful discussion on many aspects of these constructions: In diverse languages considered separately, each for itself and in its own functioning, the analysis of the relative clause shows a formal structure ordered by a certain function that is not always visible. The problem is to uncover that function. This can be arrived at by observing that the relative clause often has, in a given linguistic system, the same formal marks as another syntagm of a denomination so entirely different that no one would think that they could be related. Guided by this formal analogy, the interpretation of the relative clause becomes possible in terms of function. It is the internal relationship which we propose to bring to light first. 1. Introduction This paper focuses on two aspects of prenominal non-subject relative constructions (hereafter NSR) typified by W. Armenian and Dagur in (1) and (2): this type of relative, to the best of my knowledge, has been overlooked in descriptive typological studies, despite being one prevalent pattern of person/number marking for NSRs within the Uralic and Altaic languages of Eurasia. As will be seen, it raises significant questions concerning the theoretical assumptions required for an appropriate account.