Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Privateer]

What's the correct grammatical term for the 'question words' used in embedded clauses?

I'm talking about constructions like this:-

"I know who she is."
"We don't know what kind of pet he has."
"Do you know where to go?"

It doesn't seem right to call them relative pronouns*, and 'question word' isn't exactly a technical term, so what are they?

*This kind of embedded clause seems to work something like this:

I know her. She is Sarah. --> I know who she is.

With relative clauses, it can be subjective or objective and neither fits the pattern above:

I know a girl. She has blonde hair. --> I know a girl who has blonde hair.
I know a girl. You like her. --> I know a girl whom you like.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

If it forms the subject of a relative clause it's a relative pronoun.

[Privateer]

^ So they're all examples of relative pronouns, but in the embedded clauses I'm talking about omitting the relative clause would leave behind a sentence fragment, i.e. an incomplete clause?

1. I know a girl who has blonde hair. (identifies the object of the sentence)
2. I know who has blonde hair. (identifies which question we know the answer to).

Still, it seems odd to call it a relative pronoun when it's not relating two clauses.