Tense in Adjuncts Part 1: Relative Clauses

Abstract

Part 1 of Tense in Adjuncts presents a compositional analysis of tense in relative clauses (RCs). The languages under investigation are English, Russian, and Japanese. We introduce the syntax and semantics of tense and the theory of feature transmission under variable binding, which mediates between syntax/semantics and morphology. In sequence of tense languages such as English, the morphology of the tense in a RC will be licensed by a non‐local tense if the RC is embedded under will . In other constructions, the RC tense is licensed by a local tense. In non‐sequence of tense languages, the tense in the RC is also determined by a local tense. The paper says which factors are responsible for the tense distribution in the different languages under consideration.