Relative clauses with overt marking in Early Modern Welsh

Abstract

This study investigates the function of overt relative markers (yr hwn etc.) in a sample of the 16th-century Welsh translation of Gesta Romanorum. Using previous findings from a collection of 14th-century texts, the following results were obtained: (1) The relative frequency of the construction significantly increases in this text compared to the earlier period, which points to the expansion of this construction. (2) The data both from the 14th- century sample, as well as from the Gesta Romanorum, demonstrate that this construction is used to mark non-restrictive relative clauses. (3) Moreover, in Gesta Romanorum, another usage of this construction is found frequently, where overt marking is used in presentative relative clauses. This testifies that the category proposed by Lambrecht (2000) for French is valid for other languages.