demonstrativerelative

Demonstrativerelative is a linguistic term describing a class of relative clauses in which a demonstrative word—such as this, that, these, or those—serves as the marker that links the head noun to the relative clause. The demonstrative carries deictic information, signaling proximity or distance in the discourse, and can appear either as the relative pronoun that introduces the clause or as part of the noun phrase that hosts the relative clause.

Across languages, demonstrativerelatives show variation in how the demonstrative interacts with relativization. In many languages, a demonstrative acts directly as the relative pronoun, as in English with a sentence like the book that I bought. In other systems, demonstratives participate in a more elaborate marking of the noun phrase and the relative relation, sometimes distinguishing proximal and distal reference, definiteness, or number.

A typical English example is: the movie that I watched last night was excellent. In this case, that serves as a demonstrative relative pronoun pointing to the antecedent “the movie.” The study of demonstrativerelatives helps explain how deixis (the orientation of reference in space and discourse) interacts with syntax to shape how listeners identify referents.

See also: relative clause, demonstratives, pronouns.