Title Pending 17171

Abstract

This paper examines clausal embedding and long-distance wh-dependencies in Ch’ol, a Mayan language of southern Mexico. We demonstrate that when it comes to finite embedded clauses, two options are available: (i) long-distance wh-extraction and (ii) clausal pied-piping with inversion of the wh-word. In clausal pied-piping, the embedded wh-word fronts to the edge of the embedded clause, and the entire embedded clause fronts to the left edge of the matrix clause. We show further that clausal pied-piping is possible only with realis embedded clauses, even when there is no obvious difference in syntactic clause size between these and the irrealis clauses which disallow it. While some work has discussed long-distance extraction in other Mayan languages (e.g. Craig 1977; Erlewine 2016; Mendes and Ranero 2021), we are unaware of descriptions of clausal pied-piping in elsewhere in the Mayan literature. Through the examination of complex clauses, we argue that the Ch’ol patterns provide evidence in favour of a QP approach to pied-piping (Cable, 2007), and against an analysis involving feature percolation. This work thus contributes both to our understanding of embedding and extraction within the Mayan family, as well as to typological and theoretical discussions of clausal pied-piping and the syntactic mechanisms underlying it.