Relativization in Kambaata from a typological point of view

International audienceKambaata (Highland East Cushitic) marks relative clauses in the affirmative supra-segmentally. In the negative, a morpheme -umb is used, which is not attested in related Cushitic languages. Whereas affirmative relative verbs are shown to share features with genitive nouns, negative relative verbs are adjectival in nature. Relative clauses are characterized by the absence of a relative pronoun or particle and, therefore, any indicator of the function of the head noun in the relative clause. Nevertheless, all arguments and adjuncts can be relativized upon. Adverbial and complement clauses are parasitic on the relative construction