The Syntax of Appositive Relativization: On Specifying Coordination, False Free Relatives, and Promotion

Appositive relative clauses differ in some essential respects from restrictive relative clauses. I argue that appositive relatives and appositions can be put together as a third class of coordination denoting specification. Thus, an appositive relative is a specifying conjunct to the visible antecedent. It is a semifree relative with a pronominal head that is normally empty. Therefore, its internal syntax is equivalent to that of restrictive relatives; hence, there is one syntax for both types of relative clauses. In essence, it is the context of specifying coordination that accounts for the different behavior of appositive relatives. In the light of this analysis, the properties of appositive relatives (as opposed to restrictive relatives) are systematically reviewed.