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    Relative clause
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    Agreement and clitics differ in that clitics cannot be resumptively bound in a relative clause construction.

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    The following example shows that clitics cannot be resumptively bound in a relative clause construction:

    1
    *Hy, dy't er gjin siler is
    he who he no sailor is
    He who is not a sailor

    The -st suffix, on the other hand, can easily occur in such a construction:

    2
    Do, dy't.st gjin siler bist
    you who.2SG no sailor are.2SG
    You who aren't a sailor

    Interestingly, the -o suffix cannot enter this construction, confirming its clitic status, as is borne out by the ungrammaticality of (3):

    3
    *Do, dy't.st.o gjin siler bist
    you who.2SG.you no sailor are.2SG
    You who aren't a sailor

    For completeness' sake, it should be mentioned that the Frisian Language Corpus also contains instances of 2SG relative clauses in which there is no agreement on the complementiser, such as the following:

    4
    Do, dy't my yndielt by de lju, dêrst net fierder mei komst
    you who me categorises with the people which.2SG not further with come.2SG
    You who categorise me with the people whom you do not make any progress with

    Although such examples are found in established writers, the phenomenon has the feel of an interference.

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      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra
      Category: Frisian Syntax
      Keywords: relative clause
      Version: 1.0, December 2015
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra December 2015
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