Displacement of relative clauses is possible in DGS. Relative clauses typically follow the head noun they modify, i.e. they are right-adjacent to the head noun as in example (a) below. In this case, the head noun together with the relative clause typically occupies the sentence-initial position of the main clause (example (b)). However, in certain contexts, the relative clause may occupy the sentence-final position (example (c)). In this case, the relative clause is separated from the head noun it modifies. While the relative clause is situated at the right edge of the main clause (this is indicated by the trace ‘t’ and the corresponding index ‘i’), the head noun stays in its usual sentence-internal position in situ. The syntactic position of sentence-final relative clauses is similar to the syntactic position of sentence-final complement clauses.
a. ix1 [ man [ ix(B)3 cat stroke ]CP ]DP like 1pam3
re
b. [ book[ ix(H)3 poss1 father read ]CP]DP/i ix1 ti know
c. ix1 [ man ix3 ti ]DP like 1pam3 [ ix(B)3 cat stroke ]CP/i
‘I like the man who is stroking the cat.’