Good evening, Chris,
these are thought-provoking questions you have asked, and here is my opinion backed up by data from authoritative sources.
1. The possibility of tell filling the slot of talk in the example sentence seems questionable at first glance, and rightly so. Out of sixteen meanings of tell half of them are purely transitive (monotransitive or ditransitive); the other half may be used intransitively, but with implications such as to serve as an indication (Her blush told of her embarrassment) or to have or produce an impact, effect, or strain (Every step told on his bruised feet), etc, which, in all honesty, have little to do with the meaning suggested in your example. There is, however, one point which almost exactly matches the sentence in question, viz, the following meaning: to let know or notify (He told about the accident). The difficulty lies in the fact that neither let know nor notify can easily be inserted into the sentence without substantially changing its meaning. Another option is to associate the meaning to give an account or narration (of something) with tell, in which case the only preposition available is of: I am going to tell of Ichiro Suzuki, although one should keep in mind that tell of is chiefly used in literary styles, as in 'The poem tells of the deeds of a young Greek soldier during the Trojan War'. This intransitive use of tell is further supported by the following entry from a combinatory dictionary:
tell v. 1. (A; usu. without to) ('to relate') she told
the news to everyone; or: she told everyone the
news; he told me his name; she told them a story;
— me the truth 2. (D; intr.) ('to be certain') to -
about (you can never — about people like that) 3.
(d; intr., tr.) ('to inform') to — about, of (he didn't
want to — about the incident; — me about the
game; she told everyone of her success) 4. (d; tr.)
('to ascertain') to — from (can you — anything
from a quick examination?) 5. (d; tr.) to — from
('to differentiate') (can you — one twin from
another?) 6. (colloq.) (d; intr., tr.) to - of (BE),
on ('to inform on') (he told on her when the
teacher returned; I'm going to — my father on
you) 7. (D; intr.) to - on ('to affect') (the strain
was beginning to — on her) 8. (H) ('to order') she
told me to leave 9. (L; must have an object) ('to
inform') we told them that we would be late 10.
(Q; must have an object) ('to inform') — me how
to get there 11. (Q) ('to ascertain') can you — from
a quick examination where his injuries are?
In the final analysis, I hold that it is advisable to use either talk or speak + about, as the use of tell triggers off certain controversies.
2. *The lady is a great singer who visited my family last night is a grammatical sentence, no doubts as to that. But, as we know, every sentence is not only a string of words joined by different means, but also an utterance conveying a certain message; moreover, the message itself is divided into theme and rheme. The former is 'given' information, while the latter is 'new'. It is also crucial to remember that 'given' information usually precedes 'new' one, and this is known as end-focus. What do speakers already know about the situation discussed? For one thing, that they are discussing a certain lady (signalled by the), and, in addition, that this lady visited the family at a certain time in the past (at least, this knowledge may be presupposed, since the speakers most probably share the same living situation). What is 'new' information then? Her occupation was hitherto unknown, and this is the rheme. Following the principle of end-focus, this piece of message should be properly placed in the end-position of the sentence. Thus, we have
The woman who visited my family last night is a singer
as the only correct variant.
3. *Mr.Cimino who has lived in three countries is a teacher features a restrictive relative clause as a postmodifier of Mr. Cimino, which is absrurd minding that Mr. Cimino is a proper noun, and these types of nouns are only rarely modified under special circumstances (unless, of course, there are several people sharing this name in the vicinity, which is highly improbable). Changing punctuation would make a huge difference:
Mr Cimino, who has lived in three countries, is a teacher.
The relative clause becomes non-restrictive due to commas. Otherwise, it can be transformed into
Mr Cimino is a teacher who has lived in three countries
where the restrictive relative clause refers to a common noun teacher. In the first sentence, the person's occupation is in focus, in the second - the fact about his living in three different countries.
I hope this will be of help.
Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff