Free relative

Free relative is relative clause that occurs without an antecedent.

Example

the subject in (i), who finishes first, is a free relative.

	(i) [who finishes first] wins the prize

Usually one assumes that free relatives are NPs with an empty head noun: [_NP 0 [_S who finishes first]].

Link

Utrecht Lexicon of Linguistics

References

• Smits, R.J.C. 1989. The relative and cleft constructions of the Germanic and Romance languages, doct. diss. KUB, Tilburg, Dordrecht: Foris, 1988.