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>"I don't know who(m) I saw last night".
>"I like the girl who(m) i saw last night.
>
>ok, the above two, to my feeble understanding, both contain relative
>clauses which are,
>1-defining
>2-and both have the relative pronoun as object
 
The thing is not to mix up function and form. 'Relative clause' is more on
the function side, so we'd better not call the clause in the first sentence
a 'relative clause' (I know that some grammars do). To call it 'noun
clause' (as other grammars do), is not very logical either. The term refers
neither to the form of the clause nor to its function. It refers to the
fact that occasionally a noun can be found in the same place: 'I don't know
JACK.' Not very helpful, and it has confused me through all my student
life.
 
Why not apply regular logical thinking to language. It makes things so much
easier.
 
Looking at texts we find that there are a great number of different
sentence types.
 
E.g.
     Many Americans can speak Spanish. This is the most basic type, usually
called statement.
     Can  many Americans speak Spanish?  Usually called question.
     Many Americans can not speak Spanish. Negative sentence.
     What many Americans can speak. This sentence type usually has no
single name, but a different name in each function.
 
I suggest the term 'wh-sentence'. A term which refers to the form. A
wh-sentence is one where one (or more) functional slots are filled by a
wh-pronoun, which goes to the front of the sentence (many Americans can
speak what --> what many Americans can speak).
 
Wh-sentences come in statement form (What many Americans can speak.) or in
question form (What can many Americans speak?)
 
Wh-statements can be used widely, in many different functions.
 
They can be used on their own, e.g. in headlines (How Lincoln grew a
beard).
 
They can fill the last slot in a paragraph (a paragraph about dogs, say, is
summarized by 'Which is why I hate dogs.')
 
They can be put in any sentence slot, i.e. they can function as subjects,
subject complements, objects, object complements, adverbials - did I forget
a function? In 'What you see  IS  what you get' the first wh-sentence
functions as subject, the second as subject complement. In 'I don't know
...' above it is the object slot which the who-sentence fills.
 
They can fill a functional slot in sentence parts - that is they can be
noun attributes, in this case they are traditionally called '(defining)
relative clauses'.
 
They can function as appositives (My wife, who comes from H., is asleep at
the moment). In this function they are traditionally called 'non-defining
relative clauses'.
 
There are still other functions in which wh-statements can be used. But
this should do for illustration.
 
To distinguish clearly between form and function and use appropriate
terminology makes grammar fascinating, even to students, while the
traditional absurdly illogical chaos makes it a hated subject. Which
certainly does not do justice to the importance that language has for us
humans.
 
B. Leuschner
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Burkhard Leuschner - Paedagogische Hochschule Schwaebisch Gmuend, Germany
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