View source for Restrictiveness

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In [[semantics]], a [[grammatical modifier|modifier]] is said to be '''restrictive''' (or ''defining'') if it restricts the [[reference#Semantics|reference]] of its [[head (linguistics)|head]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Slavjano-germanskie jazykovye paralleli/Slawisch-germanische Sprachparallelen|last=Kordić|first=Snježana|publisher=Belorusskij gosudarstvennyj universitet|year=1996|editor1-last=Suprun|editor1-first=Adam|series=Sovmestnyj issledovatel'skij sbornik slavistov universitetov v Minske i Bochume|location=Minsk|page=163|language=de|chapter=Pronomina im Antezendenten und Restriktivität/Nicht-Restriktivität von Relativsätzen im Kroatoserbischen und Deutschen|trans-chapter=Pronouns in antecedents and restrictive/non-restrictive relative clauses in Serbo-Croatian and German|oclc=637166830|mode=cs2|author-link=Snježana Kordić|access-date=24 October 2015|editor2-last=Jachnow|editor2-first=Helmut|chapter-url=http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/426662.PRONOMINA_IM_ANTEZEDENT.PDF|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925183731/http://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/426662.PRONOMINA_IM_ANTEZEDENT.PDF|archive-date=25 September 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> For example, in "the red car is fancier than the blue one", ''red'' and ''blue'' are restrictive, because they restrict which cars ''car'' and ''one'' are referring to. ("The car is fancier than the one" would make little sense.) By contrast, in "John's beautiful mother", ''beautiful'' is [[non-restrictive]]; "John's mother" identifies her sufficiently, whereas "beautiful" only serves to add more information.

Restrictive modifiers are also called ''defining'', ''identifying'', ''essential'', or ''necessary''; non-restrictive ones are also called ''non-defining'', ''non-identifying'', ''descriptive'', or ''unnecessary'' (though this last term can be misleading). In certain cases, generally when restrictiveness is marked [[syntax|syntactically]] through the lack of commas,{{Clarify|date=April 2009}} restrictive modifiers are called ''integrated'' and non-restrictive ones are called ''non-integrated'' or ''supplementary''.

==Restrictiveness in English==
{{main|English relative clauses}}
English does not generally mark modifiers for restrictiveness, with the exception of [[relative clause]]s: non-restrictive ones are set off in speech through [[intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] (with a pause beforehand and {{dubious span|an uninterrupted melody|date=December 2017}}) and in writing by using commas, whereas restrictive clauses are not. Furthermore, although restrictive clauses can be headed by any of the [[relative pronoun]]s ''who(m)'', ''which'', ''that'' or by a [[English relative clauses#Zero relative pronoun|zero]], non-restrictive clauses can only be headed by ''who(m)'' or ''which''. For example:

*Restrictive: ''We saw two puppies this morning: one that was born yesterday and one that was born last week. The one '''that ('''''or'' '''which{{efn|In formal [[American English]], the use of ''which'' as a restrictive pronoun is often considered to be incorrect. See [[English relative clauses#That or which|That or which]].}}) was born yesterday''' is tiny.''
*Non-restrictive: ''We saw a puppy and a kitty this morning. The puppy, '''which was born yesterday''', was tiny.''

Although English does not consistently mark ordinary [[adjective]]s for restrictiveness, they can be marked [[periphrasis|periphrastically]] by moving them into relative clauses. For example, "John's beautiful wife" can be rewritten as "John's wife, who is beautiful", to avoid the suggestion of disambiguation between John's various wives.  A sentence unmarked for restrictiveness, like "The red car is fancier than the blue one," can—if necessary—be rephrased to make it explicitly restrictive or non-restrictive: 
*Restrictive: ''The car that's red is fancier than the one that's blue.''
*Non-restrictive: ''The car, which is red, is fancier than the other, which is blue.''

English speakers do not generally find such locutions necessary, however.

==See also==
* [[Apposition]]
* [[English relative clauses]]
* [[Relative clause]]
* [[Relative pronoun]]

== Notes and references ==

===Notes===
{{notelist}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===

* On the intonation question, see Beverly Colins and Inger M. Mees (2003), ''Practical Phonetics and Phonology'', London: Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415506496}}.

{{formal semantics}}

[[Category:Semantics]]
[[Category:Grammar]]