Non-restrictive Relative That

What is it about?

This article is concerned with Shakespeare’s use of relative that, especially its non-restrictive function. From the perspective of the historical development of the English language, that started to endow wh-pronouns with its non-restrictive function in the Late Middle English period and non-restrictive that became marginalised by Shakespeare’s time. Examining Romeo and Juliet and The Merry Wives of Windsor, we show we show how this archaic syntax remains in the different genres of Shakespeare.

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Why is it important?

The results of this article may mean that the obsolete syntax tends to remain in tragedies, perhaps giving an archaic taste to the language. Further research is needed to expand this investigation into other Shakespearean plays in order to confirm that non-restrictive that is a syntactic archaism preferred in tragic plays in Shakespearean English.