The semantics of multi-headed wh correlatives in Georgian

Abstract

Existing accounts of Georgian relative clauses mention two relativization strategies, one involving the complementizer rom, and the other involving the relativizing clitic -c. While Foley (2013); Bhatt & Nash (2023) provide a syntactic account of these structures, their semantics remains unstudied. In this paper I present novel data on preposed relative clauses in Georgian formed via the relativizing clitic -c, and argue for a correlative-like semantics of these structures along the lines Dayal 1996’s analysis of Hindi correlatives. Moreover, contra Bhatt & Nash (2023) I argue it is these multiple wh-romelic relative clauses rather than the multiple headed rom relative clauses that pattern like canonical correlatives in terms of definiteness effects, and their ability to license a pair-list interpretation.