Abstract:

Coptic disposes of two procedures to express the substantival relative clause (‘he who…’, ‘that which…’ etc.), namely, either by substituting a substantivator morpheme (of the ⲡ-/ⲧ-/ⲛ- paradigm) for the antecedent, yet in close juncture with the relative-converted form: ⲡⲉⲧ-, ⲡⲉⲛⲧⲁϥ-, ⲡⲉϣⲁϥ-, etc.; or by having an indefinite pronoun or pronominal (ⲟⲩⲁ, ⲣⲱⲙⲉ, ϩⲟⲉⲓⲛⲉ: ‘one’, ‘any’, ‘some’) as antecedent to a circumstantially converted form, as the relative:circumstantial opposition is neutralized, in favour of the latter, when adnominal to a non-ⲡ-determined substantival kernel.[…]