Relativisation of Oblique Noun Phrases in the Old Basque Texts: Translating a Typological Constraint

Abstract

In Basque, absolutive, ergative and dative NPs can be relativized, cf. egin dudan etxea ‘the house which I built’. Other arguments are less accessible to relativization, though sometimes it is possible. In our paper, we analyze translation strategies that enable us to avoid the typological constraint in question. The study is based on four Old Basque translations of the New Testament from Spanish and French Basque Country. The basic strategy (suffix -n used for prepositional relative clauses) is indeed rarely observed with oblique cases. The relative pronouns zein ‘which’ and sometimes non ‘where’ are often used instead, especially when relativizing genitives. Instead of a relative construction two independent clauses can be used as a rare strategy. Another translation strategy is omitting the relative clause. It is extremely marginal, most probably because the translator deals with a sacred text, therefore such an omission can be accounted for as an accidental error. Finally, to avoid the relativization of an oblique NP it is possible to reformulate the original sentence using a core case instead of an oblique one. Some of the relativization strategies observed in the Old Basque translations are well-attested cross-linguistically. Refs 21.