Language serves as an interactive function because it is used to communicate. It allows us to perform speech acts or to expressivity exhibit an affect. Language can also be used to create scenes or contexts. So, this work is devoted to the study of two different languages that are, Wolof and English. Wolof is a language spoken in Senegal, in the Gambia and in Mauritania. Like the neighboring languages Seereer and Pular, it belongs to the Senegambia branch of the Niger-Congo language family. Unlike most other languages of the Niger-Congo family, Wolof is not a tonal language. English, as far as it is concerned, is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England. The main focus of these languages study is centered on relative pronouns. Wolof relative pronouns are formed from the consonant appropriate to the noun-class of the modified noun, plus the vowel -u which indicates the grammatical subordination.

In English, the relative pronoun may be considered to be a group of words which replace nouns or other pronouns. So, this work deals with the English relative pronouns which derive from wh- (who, which, whose, what, whom and whose) and the Wolof ones from -u. They can be used with humans, things and animals. A relative pronoun introduces a clause, or a part of a sentence that describes a noun. Therefore, there are adnominal relative clauses that are central types of relative clause, although sentential and nominal relative clauses are also briefly tackled. The antecedent of the adnominal relative clause forms a part of the main clause, whereas the nominal relative clause has its antecedent. 

In the sentential relative clause, the antecedent is the whole clause. Most of the relative clauses that occur in the present study are restrictive.  Restrictive relative clauses are closely linked with the antecedent and give essential information for the identification of the antecedent that they modify, whereas non-restrictive (also termed parenthetic or descriptive) relative clauses stand in loose relation to the antecedent and give additional, non-essential information about the antecedent they modify. Prototypically, the antecedent is either a simple noun phrase (NP) or the head noun with its various attributes. Relative pronouns also occur in subject function and in object function. 

Thus, the dominant position of the pronoun what in the present study may be a relatively recent development, although its use as a relative has a long history. What has been attested in relative use since the eleventh century, “but it is not very common” and “occurs mainly after antecedents of less definite character, like all and nothing”.  By the end of the nineteenth century, Wright had established that “[w]hat can be used when it refers to persons as well as to inanimate objects in some of the north-midland counties and in nearly all the counties south of the north midlands”. Wright further observed that what was in general colloquial use and illustrated the usage of various counties, including Suffolk. 

However, the problem raised in this paper is to see the characteristics of relative pronouns in English and Wolof. Do English and Wolof have the same methods of using relative   pronouns   in   morph-syntax?  The phenomenon does not work the same way in Wolof and in English since the two languages are from different linguistic families. This question needs to be highlighted in this work. Thus, this article aims at analyzing the wh- relative pronouns in English and -u relative pronouns in Wolof, in a contrastive view, especially in the ways they are morphologically and syntactically used in a sentence.

English relative pronouns

Learning a language requires discovering the rules of that language, for example, how words are ordered in clauses, and how sentences are formed.  In this case, they need to learn the linguistic items, especially the relative pronouns which can be formed from wh-.  At first, in morphology, we are going to study what, which can be used with both human and non-human antecedents in both object and subject function.

In some languages, words are built of several meaningful units called morphemes, the English pronoun what can be analyzed as being composed of the two morphemes wh- and at. As other forms of relative pronouns, who is used to link clauses together, like conjunctions. It may be the subject or the object of clause.

• What is the name of the tall man who just comes in

In this sentence the relative pronoun who links the two clauses. It is the subject of the second clause. Thus, it is used in the same way like he. Therefore, the relative pronoun who is morphologically, composed of the root wh- plus the vowel o, which can be regarded as a morpheme. Then, we can say that the relative pronoun who is built from the root wh- according to the traditional terminology. It only occurs with human antecedents. 

• The boy who plays tennis is the best                                           

The relative pronoun who links the grammatical subject boy to the verb plays within the dependent clause. Thus, the relative pronouns who and which play only a minor role in the relative system. However, who can refer to animals (only animals with names or special talents, like Socks the First Cat or Rex the Wonder Pooch).

• The student, who was a dope, said, "Professor Zigler, I don't believe I deserve this you’ve given me"

Some relative clauses identify nouns, for example, the relative pronoun who tells us which person is talked about, for instance, what is the name of the tall man who just came in? In this sentence, the enunciator resorts to who to tell the co-enunciator about the man that is identified.

As far as whom is concerned, we can say that it is an object relative pronoun whose non-occurrence in Cambridge shire dialect speech is consistent; “Whom is never used in dialects”. Furthermore, as the morphology distinguishes between processes of inflection which modifies or elaborates on a word, the relative pronoun whom is composed of wh- + om-. In so doing, wh- is regarded as the root and –om as the suffix. Then, a new word is created from the root wh-. However the relative pronouns who which, what, and whom which have been analyzed in the morphological aspect, can also be studied in the syntactic level. 

Most of the relative clauses that occur in this study are restrictive but there are also non-restrictive cases. From the syntactic point of view, relative pronouns are often placed before the verb they realize in affirmative sentences. Which is used to refer to things, groups and unnamed animals. The choice between which and that depends on whether the clause introduced by the pronoun is restrictive or nonrestrictive.

We can use that or which for restrictive clauses and which with nonrestrictive clauses. A restrictive clause is essential to a sentence; a nonrestrictive clause adds extra meaning, and is set off by commas, and can be removed from the sentence. Some writers still reserve which for nonrestrictive clauses.

• Once, at a social gathering, Gladstone said to Disraeli, "I predict, sir, that you will die either by hanging or by some vile disease" 

This sentence shows that there is a restrictive clause introduced by the relative pronoun that. Thus, the relative pronoun which can be used in a nonrestrictive clause.. On the other hand, we have pointed out that a clause introduced by that is almost inevitably restrictive. In this case, we do not use a comma around restrictive clauses.

• Sacred cows, which are holy, make the best hamburger

In syntax, the place of relative pronouns is close to their antecedents. Most of them are placed before the verb they command. Nonetheless, Wolof learners of English have generally difficulties to make correctly a choice between which and that and between who and whom. In the infrequent cases where the relative that is used, it usually occurs with antecedents including one of the following items: only, first, last or an adjective in the superlative.

• With the best schoolmaster that’s ever been bred                                           

A great variety of antecedents are referred to with what. In addition to persons, objects and things, the reference may be nouns denoting animals. The latter are often referred to with masculine/feminine personal and possessive pronouns and may be referred to with who/that. What is also used to refer to the whole antecedent and to indefinite pronouns ending in -thing,

• Do you understanding all what I am saying

In this example, the antecedent is followed by a relative clause, which is followed in turn by clauses giving additional information, after which the main clause is restarted with a redundant personal pronoun. Sometimes, what may function as a subject or an object within the nominal relative clause, as it is respectively shown in the following example?

• What are you doing

The use of what has a long history in Old English. The dominant position of this pronoun in the study may be a relatively recent development. What has been attested in relative use since the eleventh century, “but it is not very common” and “occurs mainly after antecedents of less definite character, like all and nothing”.

• What happened at school

In many countries what is used differently, depending on the century.  In East Anglia, what has been used, at least, since the early century? This use of what in this area was first noted by Forby in his vocabulary. He observed that “what” is certainly provincial, if it is not peculiar to us.

• This woman what came yesterday

This example illustrates the usage of what with a human antecedent. Concerning constructions without a relative pronoun, linguists often speak of omission, deletion or ellipsis of the relative pronoun, or contact clauses. In Old English, there was “no ellipsis at all, for example, nothing that belonged to the organic structure of the statement was omitted. This instance which was often interpreted as pronominal ‘ellipses’ was usually that of non-expression of the personal pronoun, not that of the relative.

In addition to that, from the syntactic point of view, the majority of cases without a subject relative (marked by Ø) are used in sentences in which the set phrase “there” appears. They are also attested in sentences with the VP have/ (have/has) got.

Therefore, the constructions without an object pronoun are mostly those in which the antecedent contains one of the items first, next, last or the superlative, as in the example, “I think I can show you my first”. The constructions with zero pronouns are also regular after there is, there are, there was or there were.

Some prepositions always stand at the end of relative clauses. This preposition stranding occurs in relative clauses in which a relative pronoun is expressed as well as clauses with the non-expression of a relative pronoun (marked with Ø), as illustrated by the following example.

• The one what I worked on never had a cottage

As it might be expected, the stranding preposition is most frequent with the relatives what and zero, which are the two dominant relatives. The preposition stranding with who is a marginal phenomenon, since the relative what is also used with human referents. Which and that are not attested as prepositional objects. 

A relative clause may be extra-posed, that is, the relative clause may not immediately follow the antecedent to which it refers. The extra-posed relative clause usually begins with what, which is consistent with its dominant position among the attested relative pronouns.

• They are my two horses in the middle, what I always had

In syntax, the relative clause what may be used in clauses introduced by “than” or “as”. In this case, we will have comparative clauses introduced by “than” or “as” and the nominal relative what is often inserted. 

• Snowing makes more water than what rain does

According to the Suffolk’s dialect these relative pronouns that, what and which seem to be about equal in general frequency and as appears as a relic form in a few instances, and the predominant relative is zero. Thus, we have also noticed that the relative pronoun in Southern British English can be omitted in dialect speech not only in object position but also in subject position. 

• There’s a train goes through without stopping and it ain’t the best ones finish first

In a nutshell the English relative pronouns are complex but our study is essentially focused on who, whom, which and what. Contrary to English, Wolof language has other forms of relative pronouns.

Wolof relative pronouns

This section presents some of the basic morpho-syntax of Wolof relative clauses and a brief discussion of the noun class system. Wolof displays basic SVO word order and typologically mixed head-initial/head-final characteristics (e.g. post-nominal relative clauses and prepositions, but pre-nominal indefinite determiners, and Wolof is almost exclusively suffixing). Like the other Atlantic languages Wolof is a noun class language with an intricate system of noun class agreement. Class membership is not typically indicated on the noun itself, but on other elements in DP, such as articles and demonstratives.

The key insight for the part of this analysis comes from close examination of the distribution of the u-forms, which also occur in relative clauses and other subordinate clause constructions. To form relative pronoun, Wolof uses an appropriate determiner consonant with the vowels -u...-i. and -a. There is not any specific word which is used as a relative pronoun. The object noun, with its object relative pronoun formed in this way, is followed by the subject and verb.

• xale  ba ko wax   nekufi

• Boy- relt- TAM  -  V

• “The boy who said it was not here”

In this example there is a noun class marker followed by a-. We resort to ‘a-forms’ to refer to the rationale. It can be said that the interpretation of the relative clause varies according to whether a u-form, i-form, or a-form occurs on the left edge or not. When a u-form occurs, the head of the relative clause is interpreted as indefinite. When an i-form occurs, the head of the relative clause is interpreted as definite and spatially, temporally, or conversationally proximal. When an a-form occurs on the left edge of a relative clause, the head of the relative clause is interpreted as definite and distal. The i/a-forms occur in the same position as the u-forms in relative clauses and they agree in class with the immediately preceding relativized noun. 

Adjectival clauses are formed by creating a relative clause with the noun connected to a modifying verb or noun by a relative pronoun, for example, gileem gu rëy (a big camel).  Then, a Wolof relative verb phrase is also made up of a relative pronoun plus a verb. We can notice that this kind of relative verb phrase containing a stative verb (baax) is identical in structure to Wolof verb phrases containing an active verb.

On the other hand, the active verb in such constructions is perfective (completed action), and must take the particle di to have a habitual connotation. Example: xaj bu-y mbaw (the dog which barks). When the noun modified by a relative verb phrase is determined, the determiner comes after the verb phrase, rather than directly after the noun, xale bu yaru bi (a polite child). When the relative verb phrase is itself followed by another noun plus a determiner, the determiner of the first noun is not used. In such cases, the first noun is usually interpreted as being determined

• Xale    bu   nekk  ci biir  kër     gi

• child  - rel- TAM - adv  - house - cm

• “The child who is inside the house”

In u-relatives, the subject and non-subject immediately follow the u-form and precede a DP subject. Relative clause can also be formed in negative sentences by adding the full form of the negative suffix, which is ...ul after consonants and ...wul after vowels, on the verb base.

• Xale     bu   baax-ul

• child -  Relt - adj- neg

• “A child who/that is not good”

• Xale    bu  baax ul   bi

• child – Relt- adj-neg-cm

• “The child who/that is not good”

Besides, no relative pronoun is used in such constructions and if the noun is determined, the determiner follows it rather than the verb phrase. Wolof personal pronouns may also be used in relative clauses. Thus, if the verb's subject is pronominal, the subject pronoun also precedes the verb. When they are used in this kind of construction, the subject pronouns have the following forms:

Singular                 Plural

Ma                   ñu

Nga                 ngéen

Mu                  ñu

• Xar      mi  mu   jënd

• sheep - cm - Relt -  V

• “The sheep (that) he has bought”

When the verb in such constructions is marked with the particle di to denote habitual action, this particle occurs between the subject pronoun and the verb. The absence of “di” indicates that the action is completed. It is placed immediately before the verb.

In addition to the relative pronouns which modify or relate the nouns they follow, there is another set of relative pronouns that is used without a modified noun. Since there is no noun to govern the choice of formative consonants in these noun-fewer relative pronouns, there is a special idiomatic construction, consisting of the phrase bu dee followed by a verbal or predicative construction and a kind of a relative pronoun. Sometimes, a relative clause may be built with a definite article and the latter comes after the relative verbal phrase.

Contrastive analysis between Wolof and English relative pronouns

Morphological Aspect

This part further elucidates the properties of Wolof relatives by comparing them to English language ones. As an Atlantic language in Senegal, Wolof has the -u form which is used to form a relative pronoun, while English possesses the operator wh- plus -o, -at, -ich, etc….to present a relative clause.

• Gis      naa   kër       gi    m-u   jay   Mussa

• TAM - 1psg – house- cm Relat- v  - Mussa

• “I saw the house that he sold to Moussa” 

In this example the m-u form is composed of a noun class marker, m-, followed by -u. In fact, this example is interpreted as “the house that Mussa sold rather than what house Mussa sold”, because the sentence is in the affirmative form.  There is also the presence of the singular human noun class marker m-. U-forms like k-u are complementizers that do not concord in gender and number. Wolof uses the -u construction to form relative pronouns with things, animal and human. But with the silent wh- expression, English has specific pronouns for each noun, for example, who or that for human, which for animals and things.

Even if the -u form is more employed as a Wolof relative pronoun, other constructions are allowed in Wolof, for instance, lekk na ceeb bi nga toggoon démb. (I ate the rice you cooked yesterday). There are two clauses in this sentence: a main clause and a subordinate clause.  Here the article bi functions as a subordinating conjunction and determines its antecedent. A structure like that does not exist in English. When relative clauses containing i-forms or a-forms occur in isolation, they are interpreted as free relative clauses, for example, ki mu door sama xarit la (the one he has hit is my friend). In a word, Wolof and English do not have the same way of building pronouns.      

In Wolof, the morpheme –a can change and becomes ë, whereas in English this kind of structure does not exist. Unlike in English, in Wolof the particle d+I can be used with a relative pronoun in order to indicate a completed action. English and Wolof use relatives differently but they share many common properties. As the equivalent of English relative pronouns that refer to a noun as the object of a verb, Wolof uses the appropriate determiner with the vowel “i”.

The object noun, with its object relative pronoun formed in this way, is followed by the subject and verb – in that order.

• Xale         bi    suma    xarit        indi

• child-   cm - Poss  -  friend -   V

• “The child whom my friend has brought”

• Kër       gi     benn   tubaab        jënd

• house-  cm- NC  -  French -  V

• “The house (that) a European has bought”

Wolof and English have as well similarities as dissimilarities. As in English, the Wolof relative pronouns can be formed from consonants, for example, f, j, b for Wolof and wh- or th- for English. As the equivalence of the construction of English relative pronouns, Wolof relative pronouns are composed of a prefix plus a root, for example, xale bu jigeen (a girl). In English and Wolof, the choice of the relative pronouns in a sentence depends on the function and the nature of the word they modify. Wolof uses an appropriated class mark for the noun it determines.

In English, there are many independent words which are used to form relative clauses, the same constructions may be found in the formation of Wolof relative clauses. Therefore, like English relative pronouns, Wolof relative pronouns are very important in language speaking because they allow people to avoid the repetition of words and make fluent their expressions.

In addition, each language has its own way of using relative pronouns in subordination clauses. When one moves forward in a language, the sentences tend to move from the simplest to the more complicated ones. There can be at least two clauses in a sentence. Subordination is the fact of linking those parts or clauses to make it grammatically sound good. In the previous part, we have seen the conditional and temporal subordination: “When I go to Dakar, I will buy a car.” Wolof has the same structure, buma demee Dakar dina jënd oto.  In a word, in the morphological aspect, Wolof and English use relative pronouns differently but there are some similarities. However, whatever these morphological similarities and differences may be, there are also some in the syntactic phase. 

Syntactic Analysis

English relative clauses are typically introduced by relative pronouns, and that the relative pronoun can function as a possessive pronoun, an object, or a subject. Wolof often refers to the item bu to form a relative clause. Frequently, English relative pronouns go with comma but this structure is unusual in Wolof. However, when English relative pronouns introduce restrictive relative clauses, no comma is used to separate the restrictive clause from the main clause.

Wolof and English study differently relative pronouns. Wolof can form relative clauses while basing on the construction of adjectival clauses, xele bu ndaw (a small or little boy). However, to form this kind of sentence, English language uses a noun + relative pronoun + a verb + an adjective, for example, a child who is small. 

Furthermore, English has some relative pronouns (what, which, and who) which respectively refer to animals, things, or humans, but Wolof forms relative pronouns by using some class marks. English makes a difference between a restrictive clause and a nonrestrictive clause whereas Wolof does not make any distinction between them. English relative pronouns are usually placed before the verbs they modify, whereas Wolof relative pronouns can be used without a verb and are close to their antecedents.

• Guy            gu     rëy.

• baobab -     Rel -   adj

• “A baobab which is big”

The English relative pronoun what may be combined with the personal pronoun them or can correspond to the pronominal group “those who”. Wolof does not know this phenomenon.

The relative clause what may be extra-posed, that is, the relative clause may not immediately follow the antecedent to which it refers. In this context the relative clause usually begins with what. Wolof does not use this structure. In Wolof, there is a relative clause in which the noun modified by a relative verb phrase is determined, in this case, the determiner comes after the verb phrase, rather than directly after the noun.

• Xaj   bu   soxor      bi

• dog -  Rel – wicked   cm

• “The dog which is wicked/ the wicked dog”

Now we are going to see the subordination introduced by relative pronouns. In English, it is the clauses that are introduced by: who, which and that. These words are considered to be relative pronouns. They can play the role of subject or be followed by a subject and act as objects.

• I work with farmers who are very motivated

In Wolof, the relative pronouns are reinforced by the articles that are used to form meaningful clauses. There are also different ways of using relative pronouns in Wolof. There can be relative pronouns as: bu, ju, ku, su, mu, for singular and yu and ñu for plural; it just depends on the article that is supposed to go with the noun.

Besides, some Wolof personal pronouns may function as relative pronouns and the subject pronoun precedes the verb, while English uses two subjects and relative pronouns in the same sentence. In addition to these constructions, Wolof may employ some items like di, which is placed before a verb, but English does not apply this kind of relative clause. The and-coordination can also be used with relative pronouns in English. In Wolof there are other forms that are different from those ones. Some of these English prepositions always stand at the end of relative clauses. In the syntactic side, the two languages present some differences and similarities. 

Generally, English relative pronouns come before verbs; this construction is identical to the Wolof relative clauses containing a pronoun. Note that there are some personal pronouns that appear as subjects with a minimal verbal construction. Indeed, these personal pronouns may be built with relative pronouns. The same structure can be seen in English relative clauses in so far as the relative pronoun is placed between the noun and the verb. In both languages, relative clauses can be accumulated with or without a connector such as “te” in Wolof and “then” in English.

In Wolof, when the modified noun is the object of the phrase, the object relative pronoun is followed by the subject and the verb. When the subject is a pronoun, for example, the pronoun (mu) is used before the verb. The same construction can exist in English, as illustrated below.

kër gi Fatu jënd (the house that Fatu bought) ; baykat bu mu fa xaritool ( A farmer with whom he has tied of friendship). English and Wolof build temporal clauses starting with a time marker by using a relative pronoun.

In addition, the construction with zero pronouns is as well possible in English as in Wolof. This phenomenon is frequent in both languages and may be called the omission of pronouns.

Wolof and English have many similarities and differences in the use of relative pronouns. The same thing can also be found with Wolof and English interrogative pronouns. Finally from the morpho-syntactic point of view, Wolof and English are two different languages but they share many common properties.

A relative pronoun is a type of pronoun used to connect a relative clause to the main clause in a sentence. Relative clauses either help to clarify who or what a sentence is talking about (known as the antecedent), or else give extra information about it. Thus the study has shown that it is very interesting to identify and demonstrate relative pronouns in English and Wolof. They play a very important part in a language.

There are many differences in the use of English and Wolof relative pronouns especially from the morphological and the syntactic level. Wolof has no real relative pronouns. Contrary to English, Wolof uses words which behave grammatically just like relative pronouns. The choice of relative pronouns in Wolof and English is different. They can also be combined with different items of the language to form good sentences. In a word, English language forms relative pronouns from the morphemes th- or wh- plus -at or –o, whereas, Wolof focuses on the use of an appropriate consonant to the noun class plus the vowels u or i. These vowels can be regarded as independent definite articles and are used in the plural forms. However, English has specific words such as who, which, what, which represent relative pronouns. At the morphological aspect, a Wolof relative pronoun is composed, of noun +class indicator +-I, -a, - but English uses only noun +th- or wh- + - or –o, at. 

These findings have shown how languages can be deconstructed into their conceptual parts and put back together pedagogically so that learners can grasp relative pronouns. This contrastive method is even useful for people before engaging in communicative and other expressive tasks.

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