Free relatives free from silent operators

Abstract

Free relatives have long posed challenges for theories of the syntax-semantics interface: although clausal in form, they have the same distribution and interpretation as definite noun phrases. In this paper, I present a typologically novel class of free relatives from Old Avestan: those introduced by non-interrogative-based pronouns, contrasting with the standard definition which assumes an interrogative-based pronoun as the relativizer (Caponigro 2003). I also propose a new analysis of free relatives at the syntax-semantics interface that, based on the unique properties of the Old Avestan data, minimizes the need for silent operators to derive the definite reading of free relatives.