#Identifying Clauses


#Identifying clauses correspond to cleft sentences in English (Sneddon, 1996:281)
#It is one way to focus or highlight a particular element of a clause.
#In this construction particle -lah is often used.

#Observe examples (1) and (2): 

#1

#Neutral sentence:

Dokter itu mengobati saya

#doctor that MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#That doctor healed me


#2

#Identifying clause:

Dokter itulah yang mengobati saya

#doctor that-lah REL MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#It was that doctor who healed me


#In (2) dokter itu (that doctor) gets focused. the particle -lah marks
#the phrase to make it clear that it was that doctor and not someone else who
#was treating me. That doctor thus becomes the predicate of the sentence.

#Translation of sentence (2) in English would be:
#That doctor is the one who healed me.

#In example (2) yang 'who, which, that' is used to nominalise the predicate
#mengobati saya 'heal 1SG'. The nominalised relative clause now becomes the 
#subject of the clause. Without yang the sentence will be ungrammatical. Observe
#example (3):


#Ungrammatical:

#3

Dokter itulah mengobati saya (0! 0 0 0)

#doctor that-lah MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#It was that doctor who healed me

#Particle 'lah' cannot be inserted between a noun and a determiner or demonstrative.


#Ungrammatical:

#4

Dokterlah itu yang mengobati saya (0! 0 0 0)

#doctor-lah that REL MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#It was that doctor who healed me

#5

Dokterlah yang mengobati saya

#doctor-lah that MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#It was the doctor who healed me


#6

Itulah yang mengobati saya

#that-lah MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#That was the one who healed me



#It is common in English to stress the first word of the phrase.
#For example:
#THAT doctor healed me

#Indonesian also has  extra stress on the first phrase to indicate it as 
#the predicate. 

#Sneddon notes that particle -lah is common in identifying clauses but it is not
#obligatory.


#7

Dokter itu yang mengobati saya

#doctor that REL MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#It was that doctor who healed me


#The rising intonation on the first phrase dokter itu 'that doctor'
#in (7) marks the phrase as the predicate.


#The predicate can be a demonstrative pronoun, personal pronoun, or name of 
#a person. 


#8

Itu dokter yang mengobati saya

#that doctor REL MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#That was the doctor who healed me


#9

Itulah dokter yang mengobati saya  

#that-lah doctor REL MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#That was the doctor who healed me


#10

Thomas yang memperbaiki sepeda itu

#Thomas REL MEN-PER-good-i bicycle that
#Thomas was the one that repaired that bicycle


#11

Thomaslah yang memperbaiki sepeda itu

#Thomas-lah REL MEN-PER-good-i bicycle that
#Thomas was the one that repaired that bicycle


#12

Kamu yang harus bertanggung jawab

#2SG REL must BER-take-responsibility
#You are the one who must be responsible  


#13

Kamulah yang harus bertangung jawab

#2SG-lah REL must BER-take-responsibility
#You are the one who must be responsible



#Negation

#A predicate NP is negated by bukan.


#14

Bukan dokter itulah yang mengobati saya

#NEG doctor that-lah REL MEN-medicine-i 1SG
#It was not that doctor who healed me


#15

Bukan Thomaslah yang memperbaiki sepeda itu

#NEG Thomas-lah REL MEN-PER-good-i bicycle that
#It was not Thomas who repaired that bicycle


#16

Bukan kamulah yang harus bertanggung jawab

#NEG 2SG-lah REL must BER-take-responsibility
#It was not you who should be responsible



#Many Indonesians do not allow question words siapa 'who' and apa 'what' to be
#the subject of a basic passive clause. Instead they must occur in identifying
#constructions (Sneddon, 1996:283).


#Apa and siapa cannot occur as subject of a passive clause. Instead, the construction
#is changed to an identifying clause, with the question words as predicate. 
#The question word is the followed by yang which introduces the subject (Sneddon 1996:316).


#17

Apa yang diajarkan hari ini?

#What REL DI-taught-kan day this?
#What was taught today?


#Ungrammatical:

#18

Apa diajarkan hari ini? (0! 0 0 0)

#What DI-taught-kan day this?
#What was taught today?



#19

Siapa yang dia hukum?

#who REL 3SG punish?
#Who did he punish?


#Ungrammatical:


#20

Siapa dia hukum? (0! 0 0 0)

#who 3SG punish?
#Who did he punish?



#The subject of a passive clause cannot be a noun phrase containing
#siapa or apa, the same change being required here also (Sneddon,317).


#21

Sepeda siapa yang diperbaiki?

#bicycle who REL DI-PER-good-i?
#Whose bicycle was repaired?


#22

Pelajaran apa yang kamu ajar hari ini?

#PER-teach-AN what REL 2SG teach day this?
#What lesson did you teach today?



#Although some Indonesians allow the interrogatives to be subject of an active verb,
#many people always use an identifying construction here also (Sneddon,317). 


#23

Siapa yang mencuri bukumu?

#who REL MEN-steal book-2SG?
#Who stole your book?

#24

Apa yang membuat kamu kecewa?

#what REL MEN-make 2SG disappointed?
#What makes you disappointed?


#25

Siapa yang sakit?

#Who REL ill?
#Who was ill?


#26

Apa yang lucu?

#what REL funny?
#What is funny?



#The only exception to the occurence of a nominalised subject is if it is already 
#a noun or a pronoun. The interrogative predicate freely occurs before or after 
#the subject (Sneddon, 317).



#27

Apa ini?

#what this?
#What is this?


#28

Ini apa?

#this what?
#What is this?


#29

Siapa orang itu?

#who person that?
#Who is that person?


#30

Orang itu siapa?

#person that who?
#Who was that person?

#See more on apa and siapa in files 34 and 36.  



#The order of subject and predicate cannot be reversed in an identifying clause;
#reversal of order produces a basic clause in which the subject is a nominalised
#relative clause (Sneddon, 281).

#Identifying clause:

#31

Buku Biologi yang saya pinjam

#book biology REL 1SG borrow
#It was the biology textbook that I borrowed


#Basic clause:

#32

yang saya pinjam buku biologi

#REL 1SG borrow book biology
#What I borrowed was a biology textbook


#Identifying clause:

#33

Thomaslah yang memperbaiki sepeda itu

#Thomas-lah REL MEN-PER-good-i bicycle that
#It was Thomas who repaired that bicycle


#Basic clause:

#34

Yang memperbaiki sepeda itu Thomas

#REL REL MEN-PER-good-i bicycle that Thomas
#The one who repaired that bicycle was Thomas


#Basic clause:

#35

yang memperbaiki sepeda itu adalah Thomas

#REL REL MEN-PER-good-i bicycle that COP Thomas
#The one who repaired that bike was Thomas

#Note that in examples (31) and (33) the rising intonation falls on the predicate.
#Sentences (32) and (34) have normal intonation pattern.


#Note that particle -lah cannot be added to sentences (11) and (13) when the
#order of the sentences (subject and predicate) is reversed.


#Ungrammatical:

#36

Yang memperbaiki sepeda itulah Thomas (0! 0 0 0)

#REL REL MEN-PER-good-i bicycle that-lah Thomas
#The one who repaired that bicycle was Thomas


#Ungrammatical:

#37

Yang harus bertanggung jawablah kamu (0! 0 0 0)

#REL must BER-take-responsibility-lah 2SG  
#the one who must be responsible is you




#Examples (36) and (37) are nominalised relative clauses and therefore they cannot
#take particle -lah.

#Sentences (36) and (37)  can be grammatical if (1) copula adalah or ialah
#is inserted between subject and predicate or (2) particle -lah is deleted so 
#we have equated sentences. See examples (34) and (35).



#References:

#Sneddon, James, N. INDONESIAN: A Comprehensive Grammar,
#Roudledge, London, 1996 (pp. 281-3).