Abstract
Previous studies have continued to deliberate on the syntax of relative
clause expressions in Yorùbá (Bamgboṣe1990, Dechaine 1993, Dechaine 2001, Ilọri 2010, Adeṣuyan 2014, Akintoye 2017, among
others), whereas little or no attention is given to the semantics of relative
clause constructions in the language. Therefore, the scarcity and undetailed
analysis of the semantic interpretations of relative clause constructions in Yorùbá literature necessitates this article for Yorùbá linguistic expansion. The data used for the study
were drawn from spontaneous relative clause expressions in Yorùbá from 20 native speakers of the language
in Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. Analysis in
this study is guided within the Information Structure (Chafe 1976, Prince 1981,
Halliday 1994, Lambrecht 1994, Ertechik-Shir, 2007, van der Wal et al 2025).
The Information Structure approach employed in this paper is contained in
Alternative Semantics of Rooth (1992, 2015). The
study discovers two materials (NPs) that are crucial in relative clause
interpretations. These materials occur internally and externally within the
scope of relative clause constructions. The paper illustratively discusses three
semantic interpretations of relative clause constructions, namely; appositive,
restrictive, and sortal-internal in Yorùbá. On
appositive reading, it claims crucial presence of external material; both
internal and external materials are essential for restrictive reading, while
sortal-internal reading relies on the content of relative clause. The study
relates the relative clause interpretations to one of the core aspects of
semantics - presupposition.
Keywords: Alternative Semantics, Information Structure, Relative Clause, Semantics, Yorùbá
DOI: 10.36349/sojolics.2026.v02i02.009
author/ỌlaideAkinwande
journal/Sokoto JOLICS 2(2) | August 2026 |
