本文旨在從語法及語句處理的觀點探討中文關係子句中接應代詞(resumptive pronouns) 的現象。在語法上，本研究認為中文的接應代詞屬於詞基生成 (base-generated) 元素而非句法變項 (syntactic variables) 。接應代詞的出現受限於派生簡約原則 (derivational economy) 及合法度 (grammaticality) 的要求，唯有當間隙型關係子句 (gap relatives) 為非法時，接應代詞才是必要的；在其他情況下，接應代詞在中文裡為選擇性的策略之一。在語句處理上，本研究施測了三份合法度問卷並進行了兩項線上閱讀測驗。合法度的判別及線上的閱讀反應時間顯示，接應代詞之所以不被喜歡是因為接應代詞本身會引發花園路徑效果 (garden path effect) (在此為主要子句假象 (main-clause illusion) 的形成)。然而，接應代詞在間隙型關係子句為非法或引發花園路徑效果 (在此為重建困難 (difficult reconstruction) 所造成) 時卻變得較受喜愛。當間隙型關係子句涉及到複雜結構或複雜語句處理領域 (在此指的是重建複雜 (intricate reconstruction) ) 時，中文母語使用者並不會偏好使用間隙(gap)或是接應代詞來形成關係子句。這些研究結果意味著中文接應代詞不僅受限於合法度的要求，也受制於語句可處理性 (processability) 的程度，亦即有無受到花園路徑效果所影響。 / This thesis examines resumptive pronouns in Chinese relative clauses from the perspectives of grammar and processing. In the grammar, it is claimed in this research that resumptives in Chinese are base-generated pronouns rather than syntactic variables. Their occurrence can be predicted via derivational economy and grammaticality. Resumptives in Chinese are obligatory only when the gap relatives are ungrammatical. Otherwise, resumptives are optional. As for processing, three grammaticality judgments and two on-line self-paced reading tasks were conducted. The grammaticality judgments and the on-line reading times show that resumptives were dispreferred because they induced a garden-path effect (the main-clause illusion). However, resumptives became preferred when the gap relatives resulted in ungrammaticality or led to a garden path, thus inducing the difficulty of reconstruction. There was no preference for gaps or resumptives when the gap relatives involved complex structures or complicated processing domains (the intricate reconstruction). These results suggest that resumptives in Chinese are related not only to the issue of grammaticality but also to that of the processability (i.e. the garden-path effect).

Neste trabalho, a partir de uma proposta de investigação híbrida, ao combinar elementos da pesquisa quantitativa aos da qualitativo-interpretativista, e com base em arcabouços teóricos advindos da área de alemão língua estrangeira e psicolinguística, entre outras, procura-se comparar os produtos do ensino-aprendizagem de alunos brasileiros de alemão língua estrangeira que aprendem as orações relativas do alemão a partir das propostas de progressão de tópicos gramaticais sintética e analítica, assim como descritas por Wilkins (1978). Para tal, realizaram-se coletas de dados junto a aprendentes que tiveram contato com as orações relativas alemãs em meio institucional, onde se adotava os livros didáticos Schritte International 5 e studio d A2. Considera-se que o ensino de tópicos gramaticais em blocos, com a transmissão de grandes volumes de informação de uma só vez, como na abordagem analítica e mediante o emprego de Schritte, possa gerar uma sobrecarga da memória de trabalho dos aprendizes, enquanto que o ensino da gramática em fases ou ciclos, a partir da abordagem sintética, permita o depósito paulatino de informações na limitada memória de trabalho (e de curta duração), com a possibilidade de que dados se assentem na memória de longa duração e possam ser acessados quando do depósito de novos dados relacionados. O trabalho confirma a hipótese inicial de que ambas as perspectivas, ao apresentarem seus bônus e ônus, conduzem a resultados semelhantes no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Adotando-se a tipologia de exercícios de Neuner et al. (1981), influente na área de alemão língua estrangeira, verifica-se a produção dos estudantes em exercícios que oscilam entre os mais reprodutivos e os mais produtivos, constatando-se que a performance dos alunos é superior nos primeiros, quando se avaliam as frases construídas de forma adequada morfossintática e semântico-pragmaticamente. Em resumo, os dados coletados e analisados, de forma geral, não apontam para uma suposta superioridade de uma ou outra abordagem de progressão de tópicos gramaticais em cursos de (alemão) língua estrangeira / In this work, from a proposed hybrid research method, by combining elements of the quantitative and qualitative-interpretative methods, and based on theoretical frameworks coming from the area of German as a foreign language, psycholinguistics etc., we seek to compare the products of teaching and learning German as a foreign language by Brazilian students, based on the proposals of the progression of synthetic and analytical grammatical topics, as described by Wilkins (1978). To this end, we collected data from learners who had contact with the German relative clauses in institutional environment, where two different textbooks were used, Schritte International 5 and studio d A2. It is considered that the teaching of grammar topics in blocks, with the transmission of large amounts of information at once, as in the analytical approach and by employing Schritte, can generate an overload of the working memory of the learners, while the grammar teaching in phases or cycles, from the syntetic approach, allows the gradual deposit of information in the limited working memory (short term), with the possibility that data be deposited in long-term memory and can be accessed when the deposit of new information occurs. The work confirms the initial hypothesis that both perspectives, in presenting their bonuses and burdens, lead to similar results in the teaching-learning process. Adopting the type of exercises of Neuner et al. (1981), influential in the area of German foreign language, we analyze the production of students in exercises ranging from the most reproductive and more productive, in order to verify if the performance of students is higher in the first, when evaluating sentences constructed appropriately in morphosyntactic and semantic- pragmatic terms. In summary, the collected and analyzed data, in general, do not point a supposed superiority of one of the two approaches to the progression of grammar topics in (German) foreign language courses

Cette thèse étudie la syntaxe et la typologie des propositions relatives en arménien parlé. Elle propose une analyse syntaxique et une classification des stratégies de relativisation disponibles en arménien, dans le cadre des approches théoriques et typologiques existantes de la relativisation, ainsi qu’à identifier les facteurs décisifs pour le choix des différentes stratégies. Chaque stratégie ayant des équivalents dans d'autres langues de la région, le contact linguistique peut influencer leur choix. Il est également probable que le rôle de l'élément relativisé dans la proposition relative soit pertinent pour le choix de la stratégie. En particulier, les données présentées dans de précédentes études sur l'arménien suggèrent que la distribution des relatives participiales peut constituer une violation de la hiérarchie d'accessibilité de la relativisation si elle est envisagée comme opérant directement en termes de fonctions grammaticales syntaxiques. L’étude se concentre sur les parlers de diverses régions d’Arménie. Les propositions relatives ont été saisies dans une base de données d’environ 2000 exemples avec des filtres portant sur les paramètres pertinents.Les résultats montrent que l’accessibilité à la relativisation est déterminée par la saillance liée aux rôles sémantiques (affectivité) et pragmatiques (thematicité) et par de fréquents modèles d’association rôle-référence plutôt que directement par des fonctions grammaticales syntaxiques. Ceci fournit une explication cohérente des violations apparentes de la hiérarchie d'accessibilité trouvées en arménien, ainsi que d'autres phénomènes qui se sont révélés problématiques pour les interprétations de l'accessibilité à la relativisation basées directement sur la structure syntaxique. / This thesis presents a study of the syntax and typology of relative clauses in colloquial Armenian. It proposes a syntactic analysis and classification of the relativization strategies available in Armenian within the framework of existing syntactic theoretical and typological proposals concerning relative clauses, and to identify the decisive factors associated with the distribution of these different strategies. As each of the available strategies is paralleled in other languages of the area, it is possible that language contact will have an impact on the choice of strategy. There is also evidence that the role of the relativized element in the relative clause is relevant for the choice of strategy; in particular, evidence presented in previous studies of Armenian suggests that the distribution of participial RCs may violate the Relativization Accessibility Hierarchy if this is envisaged as operating directly in terms of syntactic grammatical relations.The study is mainly based on data from sound recordings of native speaker consultants from various areas of Armenia, both spontaneous speech and responses to stimuli designed to elicit relative clauses with particular properties that have been proposed to affect the choice of relativization strategy. The relative clauses are entered into a database with filters for relevant features, which contains approximately 2000 examples. The results show that accessibility to relativization is determined by semantic (affectedness) and pragmatic (topicality) role prominence, and by frequent role-reference association patterns, rather than directly by syntactic grammatical relations. This provides a coherent explanation of the apparent Accessibility Hierarchy violations found in Armenian, as well as other phenomena that have proved problematic for syntactic structure-based interpretations of accessibility to relativization.

Language-specific theories of sentence processing suggest that individuals interpret sentences based on the characteristics of their native language (e.g., Bates & MacWhinney, 1989). As such, competing linguistic cues are taken into account (including word order, morphology, and animacy) and the cue selected is most likely to yield a correct interpretation in the native language. However, research in this area has produced conflicting results. MacWhinney (2005) has proposed that examining the role of perspective shifting in sentence comprehension may demonstrate how cognitive and syntactic factors work together to facilitate sentence comprehension. The aim of the current study is to investigate the role of perspective shifting in the processing of relative clauses by bilingual children. A total of 16 bilingual and 13 monolingual children in grades 3 and 5 participated in this study. Difficulty in Spanish and English sentence processing was assessed using four types of relative clauses, that varied in the complexity of perspective shift, and a control sentence. A sentence comprehension task was devised using Mouse Tracker software (Freeman & Ambady, 2010) to assess the participant's ability to identify whether or not the presented picture reflected the relationship described in the oral sentence presentation. Difficulty in sentence processing was determined using measures of accuracy (percent correct and d') and response time (RT). Data were compared across languages for the bilingual children and with an monolingual English control group. MANOVA results revealed a significant main effect for sentence type and no effect of language in all analyses. Hence, bilingual participant performance on the sentence processing task was similar across languages and across language groups when compared to those monolingual English speakers. In general, accuracy levels and d' values were greater for the 0 switch and control conditions. RTs were longer for the more complex relative clauses. The 1+ condition consistently appeared to be the most difficult. These findings indicate that participants processed the relative clauses in a similar way across languages and that more complex perspective shifts resulted in poorer performance. These results suggest that perspective shifting is a relevant factor in syntax comprehension, but that the number of perspective shifts is less important. Instead, the direction of perspective shift and the role of the relative clause (subject versus object-modifying) seem to be more essential. These results support the Unified Competition Model (MacWhinney, 1997) by demonstrating the use of shared cognitive processes across languages. However, one cannot rule out the role of language dominance and language structure in relative clause processing as the sentences in this experiment maintained parallel syntactic structures across languages. Clinical and educational implications are provided.

This study investigated the relative clause formation and the coding of tense in the English interlanguage of thirty-two Palestinian students at the six colleges of the Islamic University of Gaza.Three composition topics were designed to elicit the learners' expression of the various English tenses and relative clauses.Findings: The data show that Palestinian learners' switching of tense results from using English morphology to express an aspectual system similar to that of Palestinian Arabic. The English past tense and present tense are used to mark Palestinian perfective and imperfective aspects, respectively. The subject-verb agreement marker and the concord markers 's/is and 'm/am are omitted in relative clauses and when there is a change in aspect.In the area of relative clauses, the data show that relative clauses are ninety percent independent of the Palestinian Arabic structuring of relative clauses. The learners use resumptive pronouns not only in clauses where the predicate incorporates a noun, adjective, or a prepositional phrase, but also before verbs. Conclusions:1. There is a large amount of influence from the Palestinian aspectual system on the learners' use of English tense.2. Subject-verb agreement problems can be solved when the problem of tense shift is solved, because of the cooccurrence of these phenomena.3. EFL teachers in Gaza Strip should not over-react to their students' tense usage in narrative passages and should not require them to write in a particular tense in an artificial manner.4. The learners' errors should be tolerated and should not be considered as indications of faulty learning.

The aim of this thesis is to test two hypotheses. The first one is about the nature of comprehension impairment in Broca&#039 / s aphasia, namely the Trace Deletion Hypothesis (TDH), and the other is about the similarity between child and aphasic language, namely the Regression Hypothesis. According to TDH, agrammatic patients are impaired in comprehension of certain structures that are formed by movement transformation whereas they show normal comprehension in canonical structures. TDH proposes that patients use a default strategy, which assigns the first NP the agent role. As for the Regression hypothesis, children follow a hierarchy while acquiring a language, which is also followed by aphasic patients in the reversed order. That is, what is learnt last is lost first as a result of brain damage. In order to test these two hypotheses, we designed a psycholinguistic test in which the comprehension of Turkish relative clauses is tested via sentence-picture matching task. The same test is applied to children, agrammatic patients, and normal control subjects. We expected that Broca&#039 / s patients would be impaired in their comprehension of subject relative clauses in order for TDH to be confirmed and that children would also exhibit the same impairment as the agrammatic patients in order for the Regression Hypothesis to be supported. The results we obtained were not compatible with the TDH hypothesis in that the patients did not show comprehension deficit in subject relatives but they had problems in object relative clauses, which led us to conclude that TDH did not offer a cross-linguistic explanation for the nature of comprehension deficit in agrammatism and that even if the traces were deleted, the default strategy applied in each language was a parametric feature. We propose that Turkish patients assign the agent role to the first NP that is in the pre-verbal position, which is called the pre-verbal strategy. Also, we hypothesize that the difficulty the Turkish agrammatic patients present might be due to an impairment in another feature, which is agreement morphology rather than the deletion of traces. This study is compatible with the Regression Hypothesis in that both the patients and children exhibited similar impairment in the comprehension of object relative clauses.

Neste trabalho, a partir de uma proposta de investigação híbrida, ao combinar elementos da pesquisa quantitativa aos da qualitativo-interpretativista, e com base em arcabouços teóricos advindos da área de alemão língua estrangeira e psicolinguística, entre outras, procura-se comparar os produtos do ensino-aprendizagem de alunos brasileiros de alemão língua estrangeira que aprendem as orações relativas do alemão a partir das propostas de progressão de tópicos gramaticais sintética e analítica, assim como descritas por Wilkins (1978). Para tal, realizaram-se coletas de dados junto a aprendentes que tiveram contato com as orações relativas alemãs em meio institucional, onde se adotava os livros didáticos Schritte International 5 e studio d A2. Considera-se que o ensino de tópicos gramaticais em blocos, com a transmissão de grandes volumes de informação de uma só vez, como na abordagem analítica e mediante o emprego de Schritte, possa gerar uma sobrecarga da memória de trabalho dos aprendizes, enquanto que o ensino da gramática em fases ou ciclos, a partir da abordagem sintética, permita o depósito paulatino de informações na limitada memória de trabalho (e de curta duração), com a possibilidade de que dados se assentem na memória de longa duração e possam ser acessados quando do depósito de novos dados relacionados. O trabalho confirma a hipótese inicial de que ambas as perspectivas, ao apresentarem seus bônus e ônus, conduzem a resultados semelhantes no processo de ensino-aprendizagem. Adotando-se a tipologia de exercícios de Neuner et al. (1981), influente na área de alemão língua estrangeira, verifica-se a produção dos estudantes em exercícios que oscilam entre os mais reprodutivos e os mais produtivos, constatando-se que a performance dos alunos é superior nos primeiros, quando se avaliam as frases construídas de forma adequada morfossintática e semântico-pragmaticamente. Em resumo, os dados coletados e analisados, de forma geral, não apontam para uma suposta superioridade de uma ou outra abordagem de progressão de tópicos gramaticais em cursos de (alemão) língua estrangeira / In this work, from a proposed hybrid research method, by combining elements of the quantitative and qualitative-interpretative methods, and based on theoretical frameworks coming from the area of German as a foreign language, psycholinguistics etc., we seek to compare the products of teaching and learning German as a foreign language by Brazilian students, based on the proposals of the progression of synthetic and analytical grammatical topics, as described by Wilkins (1978). To this end, we collected data from learners who had contact with the German relative clauses in institutional environment, where two different textbooks were used, Schritte International 5 and studio d A2. It is considered that the teaching of grammar topics in blocks, with the transmission of large amounts of information at once, as in the analytical approach and by employing Schritte, can generate an overload of the working memory of the learners, while the grammar teaching in phases or cycles, from the syntetic approach, allows the gradual deposit of information in the limited working memory (short term), with the possibility that data be deposited in long-term memory and can be accessed when the deposit of new information occurs. The work confirms the initial hypothesis that both perspectives, in presenting their bonuses and burdens, lead to similar results in the teaching-learning process. Adopting the type of exercises of Neuner et al. (1981), influential in the area of German foreign language, we analyze the production of students in exercises ranging from the most reproductive and more productive, in order to verify if the performance of students is higher in the first, when evaluating sentences constructed appropriately in morphosyntactic and semantic- pragmatic terms. In summary, the collected and analyzed data, in general, do not point a supposed superiority of one of the two approaches to the progression of grammar topics in (German) foreign language courses

The structure of embedded relative clauses in English may involve several grammatical elements, generating different grammatical rules with respect to word order. Studying the impact of first language (L1) transfer in the production of English embedded relative clauses is important to reveal valuable information about specific challenges in second language acquisition (SLA). Online methods used by researchers to measure the degree to which the L1 impacts the processing and learning of a second language (L2) have limitations regarding measurement of L1 transfer in English embedded relative clauses. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to present a new tool that enables the assessment of how structures in Swedish affect learning English as an L2, with special respect to embedded relative clauses. A new online tool, LinguaMapping, was developed by the author of this thesis, which enables the detection of Swedish L1 transfer in Englishembedded relative clauses. LinguaMapping is also proved to be more accessible, affordable, and sustainable than the online methods eye-tracking and self-paced reading. In the future, the supervisor of this project will submit LinguaMapping for pilot testing prior to conducting main studies of embedded relative clauses as well as other L2 phenomena to shed light on the role of L1 transfer in shaping L2 proficiency.

[pt] Esta tese investiga a compreensão de orações relativas resumptivas no Português do Brasil. O trabalho busca articular teoria linguística de orientação gerativista e processamento linguístico. Estudos de orientação gerativista, baseados, principalmente, em julgamentos de aceitabilidade, sustentam que os pronomes resumptivos envolvem custo nas interfaces (pronomes como estratégias de último recurso - ROSS, 1967; SELLS, 1984; SHLONSKY, 1992; HORNSTEIN, 2001; GROLLA, 2005). Do ponto de vista do processamento, sua ocorrência está relacionada a situações não planejadas (FERREIRA e SWETS, 2005; CORRÊA et al., 2018) e a contextos de alto custo, que tornam o antecedente menos acessível (ARIEL, 1999): distância entre elemento anafórico e antecedente, posição sintática do elemento anafórico, natureza e características do antecedente, etc. No Português do Brasil, os pronomes resumptivos permanecem como estrutura marginal, embora sejam licenciados em diferentes posições sintáticas (TARALLO, 1988; LESSADE- OLIVEIRA, 2008,2009; RIBEIRO, 2009; MIRANDA, 2005). Pretendemos investigar, por meio de uma metodologia experimental, possíveis fatores de custos associados à compreensão dessas estruturas. Reportam-se quatro experimentos: dois de julgamento de aceitabilidade e dois de escuta automonitorada. No primeiro, contrastou-se a aceitabilidade de relativas padrão vs resumptivas na posição de sujeito e em outras posições mais complexas (objeto direto, objeto preposicionado e genitivo), em que há sempre um elemento interveniente (FRIEDMANN, BELLETTI e RIZZI, 2009). No segundo experimento, foi avaliada a aceitabilidade de relativas padrão, cortadoras e resumptivas nas posições de oblíquo e genitivo. Os resultados mostraram uma preferência pela estratégia padrão. Resumptivos foram altamente rejeitados na posição de sujeito e apresentaram notas bem distribuídas pela escala nas demais posições investigadas. O terceiro e quarto experimentos avaliaram o processo de compreensão de relativas padrão e resumptivas (experimento 3) e de cortadoras e resumptivas (experimento 4) em função da posição sintática ocupada pelo elemento anafórcio (pronome/lacuna) e da distância linear (curta, média e longa) entre os elementos correferentes na compreensão de relativas. Nesses dois experimentos, observou-se que os pronomes resumptivos tornam o processamento mais rápido quando fatores adicionais de custo são evidentes (intervenção de DP e/ou distância linear). Na posição de sujeito, em que não há efeito de interveniência, os resumptivos tornaram o processamento mais fácil em distância longa, convergindo com os estudos de corpora (MOLLICA, 2003) e com o princípio da acessibilidade (ARIEL, 1999). Na posição de objeto direto, foram encontrados resultados significativos para distância curta (quando há somente o DP interveniente) e distância longa. Nas posições de oblíquo e genitivo, relativas resumptivas apresentam tempo de escuta menor e, à medida que a distância linear aumenta, o processamento de resumptivas se torna mais rápido que das cortadoras. Em conjunto, os experimentos mostram que, a despeito de os resumptivos terem sido menos aceitos que a estratégia padrão, eles não parecem comprometer o processo de compreensão, podendo servir como elementos facilitadores em situações de alta demanda, em termos de distância linear e de pouca acessibilidade do antecedente. / [en] This thesis investigates the comprehension of resumptive relative clauses in Brazilian Portuguese. The study seeks to reconcile a linguistic theory grounded in generativism and language processing. Generativism-guided studies based mainly on acceptability judgment tasks support that resumptive pronouns have cost at the interfaces (pronouns as last resource strategy - ROSS, 1967; SELLS, 1984; SHLONSKY, 1992; HORNSTEIN, 2001; GROLLA, 2005). From the point of view of processing, its occurrence is related to non-planned situations (FERREIRA e SWETS, 2005; CORRÊA et al., 2018) and to high-cost contexts, being licensed in whenever the antecedent less accessible (ARIEL, 1999), when distance between the anaphoric element and its antecedent is too long, syntactic position of the anaphoric element, the nature and features of the antecedent etc. In Brazilian Portuguese, resumptive pronouns remain a marginal structure, although they are licensed in different syntactic positions (TARALLO, 1988; LESSA DE OLIVEIRA, 2008,2009; RIBEIRO, 2009; MIRANDA, 2005). We intend to investigate, through an experimental methodology, the possible costs of resumptives related to comprehension. We conducted four experiments: two acceptability judgment tasks, and two self-paced listening tasks. In the first one, it was contrasted the acceptability of standard vs resumptive strategies in subject position and in other more complex positions (direct object, prepositional object, and genitive) in which there is always an intervening element (FRIEDMANN, BELLETTI e RIZZI, 2009). In the second experiment, the acceptability of standard, chopped and resumptive relatives in oblique and genitive positions was evaluated. The results showed a preference for the standard strategy. Resumptives were highly rejected in subject position and had quite spread values through the scale in the other examined positions. The third and fourth experiments evaluated the comprehension process of standard and resumptive relatives (experiment 3) and of chopped and resumptive relatives (experiment 4), according to the syntactic position of the pronoun/gap and to the linear distance (short, middle, long) between the coreferent elements. In these two experiments, it was observed that resumptive pronouns seem to make processing faster when additional cost factors are added (intervention effects and linear distance). In the subject position, in which there is no intervention effect, resumptives made processing easier in long distance contexts. This result is in accordance with corpora studies (MOLLICA, 2003) and with the accessibility principle (ARIEL, 1999). In the direct object position, it was found significative results on short and long distance. In oblique and genitive positions, resumptive relatives have shorter listening times than chopped relatives, and as linear distance increases, the processing of resumptive relatives become faster than that of chopped ones. Taken together the experiments show that, despite resumptives being less acceptable than standard strategy, they do not compromise the process of comprehension, being able to act as a facilitator element in high-demand situations, in terms of linear distance and little accessibility of the antecedent.

Submitted by Ricardo Cedraz Duque Moliterno (ricardo.moliterno@uefs.br) on 2016-10-10T20:43:46Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTA??O FINAL - JANAINA MASCARENHAS - PDF.pdf: 6135751 bytes, checksum: 49e2f8bd4d781fa4a3090079dba67983 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-10T20:43:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERTA??O FINAL - JANAINA MASCARENHAS - PDF.pdf: 6135751 bytes, checksum: 49e2f8bd4d781fa4a3090079dba67983 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-24 / Funda??o de Amparo ? Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia - FAPEB / The main goal of this work is to identify and describe relative clauses in 91 personal letters written between 1906 and 2000 by semi-illiterate Bahian inlanders, edited by Santiago (2012), who has called them unskilled hands (MARQUILHAS, 2000). From the analysis of the process of relative clauses construction by these writing-subject, it is intended to describe the relativizing strategies employed, observing either their similarity with popular variants of Brazilian Portuguese (TARALLO, 1983, 1993), or trying to understand whether these processes are similar to those in specific clauses of adults who are acquiring the written language, as relative clauses analyzed in studies of language acquisition by children (LESSA DE OLIVEIRA, 2008), or if it happens in both situations. To do so, the researchwas based on the theoretical assumptions of the Historical Linguistics (socio-historical perspective) as defined by Mattos e Silva (2008) and the Labovian Sociolinguistics theory (LABOV, 1972). / Esta disserta??o tem por objetivo identificar e descrever as senten?as relativas em 91 cartas pessoais, escritas entre 1906 e 2000 por sertanejos baianos semi-alfabetizados, editadas por Santiago (2012), que os define como in?beis (MARQUILHAS, 2000). A partir da an?lise do processo de constru??o das relativas por esses escreventes, pretende-se descrever as estrat?gias de relativiza??o utilizadas, observando ora a proximidade desses processos com as variantes populares do portugu?s brasileiro (TARALLO, 1983, 1993), ora buscando perceber se esses processos apontam para constru??es comuns de indiv?duos adultos em fase de aquisi??o de escrita, como constru??es pr?ximas ?s encontradas em estudos sobre aquisi??o, a exemplo do que ocorre com crian?as (LESSA DE OLIVEIRA, 2008), ou ainda, se ocorrem ambas as situa??es. Para tanto, foram mobilizados pressupostos te?ricos da Lingu?stica Hist?rica s?cio-hist?rica, nos termos definidos por Mattos e Silva (2008) e da Sociolingu?stica Laboviana (LABOV, 1972).