Relative Clauses and their Equivalents in German and English: Comparing Tight and Loose Form–Meaning Mappings in Language Use
Journal: Journal of Germanic Linguistics
Year: 2025

This study compares postnominal finite relative clauses and their translation equivalents in a parallel corpus of German and English. Of particular interest are cases where one language, generally English, used a syntactically and semantically reduced nominal modifier instead of the finite relative. Such contrasts in language use are linked to contrasts in their grammars whereby German has been described as having a “tighter fit” in general between forms and their corresponding semantic represen