On demonstratives in relative clauses

This paper investigates the use of demonstratives as relativizers from a new empirical and theoretical perspective. Looking at three varieties, namely colloquial Italian, Venosino and Marebbano, we argue that relative demonstratives are the result of a renewal process of the relative pronoun. This process is described in terms of reanalysis starting from a nominal apposition structure. Basing our analysis on Cinque (2013)\u2019s idea that relative clauses have both an internal and an external head, we propose that demonstratives can undergo this reanalysis process because they can be reinterpreted as the spell-out of a portion of the internal head. The development of demonstratives as relativizers is thus accounted for in structural terms: the demonstrative, originally part of an apposition, is reanalyzed as part of the internal head of the relative clause