The Syntactic Derivations of Split Antecedent Relative Clause Constructions

In this paper, I propose a syntactic derivation for Split Antecedent Relative Clause Constructions such as Mary met a man and John met a woman who knew each other well. I claim that the two antecedents of such a construction are originally two conjuncts of a coordinate nominal. Then each has undergone a sideward movement, landed in a new working site, and been selected by a verb. After that, a coordinate clausal complex is constructed. In the old working site, a complex nominal is also constructed, in which the relative clause takes the remnant coordinate nominal as its antecedent. Finally, the complex nominal adjoins to the coordinate clausal complex. This analysis shows how the freedom in the selection of the landing site gained from sideward movement makes the syntactic derivations of this special type of relative clause construction possible, while at the same time avoiding the problems of the alternative three-dimensional analysis.