Polish Relative Pronouns -- an HPSG approach

This paper discusses an analysis of Polish relative pronouns introducing
noun-modifying relative clauses.  The aim of the presentation is to provide
a uniform description of relative clauses which modify noun phrases and
begin with nominal pronouns (ktory, jaki, kto, co, 'what', 'which', 'who',
'what') and adverbial pronouns (eg.  gdzie, kiedy, 'where', 'when').

Polish relative clauses manifest a wide range of linguistic interrelations.
Generally, it is agreed that the case form of a relative pronoun is
determined by the function of the pronoun while its number and gender have
to agree with the phrase it modifies.  There are however facts, which have
been neglected and were never fully described in a unified analysis.
First, there are relative clauses beginning with plural form of 'jaki'
pronoun, in which only gender agreement holds, (1).

(1) dziewczyna{fem,sing,nom}, jakie{fem,pl,acc}/*jakich{masc,pl,acc} lubie
    a girl                     which		                     I like	
    'a girl like those I like'

As the second problem we can point to different scopes of pronouns usage.
Clauses beginning with 'ktory' and 'jaki' modify noun phrases headed by nouns,
proper nouns or personal pronouns, while 'kto' and 'co' relative pronouns can
modify impersonal or negative pronouns.  Adverbial pronouns can occur in
context where the pronoun 'ktory' (preceded by a preposition) can be used, as
well as in places where 'ktory' cannot appear (after place-defining pronouns
like 'tam' there, 'nigdzie' nowhere).  What is more, usage of 'jaki' and
'ktory' is not uniform, (2).  
(2) prezent, o jakim/o ktorym nie marzyles (a gift you havent't dream about)
    ten prezent, *o jakim/o ktorym nie marzyles

Relative clauses beginning with relative pronouns are analyzed as filler-gap
constructions within which the phrase containing a relative pronoun plays the
role of a filler corresponding to some element missing within the relative
clause.  We analyze relative clauses  phrases that select the element
they modify via the MOD attribute.  The connection between a relative pronoun
and the modified noun phrase is established by identifying the value of
phrases INDEX attribute with the value of the REL attribute introduced within
the lexical description of the relative pronoun.  This connection enables to
describe relation between the relative clause and the noun it modifies, i.e.
number and gender agreement.  

The agreement between a type of a relative pronoun and a type of a noun phrase
is achieved via distinguishing different types of noun phrases with respect to
the specificity of objects they describe.  This distinction is done via
introducing subtypes of type index. We divide index into general- and
specific-index.  General-index is ascribed to noun phrases which do not
identify any particular object (or group of objects).   Other nouns (and noun
phrases) as well as relative pronouns 'ktory' and 'jaki' have their INDEX
attribute of the specific-index type.  The adverbial pronouns are defined as
introducing the REL value of the type index.  They can then modify objects
with both specific and general-index type.

The clauses like (1) are analyzed by introducing lexical entries for the
pronouns 'jakie' and 'jacy', which have the REL values underspecified for the
number.  This enables 'jacy' and 'jakie 'to modify noun phrases both in the
singular and plural form. 

The lexical character of the HPSG theory together with the mechanism of types
and multiply inheritance of constraints make HPSG quite powerful grammar
framework.  The presented analysis is more general and complete than other
formal descriptions of Polish relative clauses (Szpakowicz, 1983; Swidzinski,
1992).


References 

Mykowiecka A.  (1999) Opis skladniowy polskich konstrukcji wzglednych w
formalizmie HPSG, Ph.D. Thesis, IPIPAN, Warsaw.

Pollard, C. & Sag, I. A. (1994) Head-driven Phrase Structure Grammar,
Studies in Contemporary Linguistics series, Center for the Study of Language
and Information, Stanford.  The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Szpakowicz, S.  (1983) Formalny opis skladniowy zdan polskich.  Wydawnictwa
Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa.

Swidzinski, M.  (1992) Gramatyka formalna jezyka polskiego, Wydawnictwa
Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, Warszawa.

Swidzinski, M.  (1995) Problem jednostek wzglednych.  W Wyrazenia funkcyjne w
systemie i tekcie, Uniwersytet Mikoaja Kopernika, Torun.