<OT> New Posting: ROA-732

[roa at ruccs.rutgers.edu]

ROA 732-0505

Pied-piping and optimal order in Kiche (K'iche')

George Aaron Broadwell <g.broadwell at albany.edu>

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=732


Abstract:
Kiche (K'iche') is a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala.
This paper analyses the phenomenon of pied-piping with inversion,
a word order alternation seen in interrogatives.  Kiche
normally has prepositional phrases, but these optionally
invert in interrogatives.  The analysis argues that this
is due to competition between two alignment constraints
-- Wh-L favors candidates where the interrogative word is
clause-initial, and P-Left favors candidates where the prepositio
n aligns with the left edge of the PP.

Comments: Handout from a workshop on Kiche Maya held at UCLA, March 2005
Keywords: Mayan, syntax, interrogatives, pied-piping, prepositional phrases
Areas: Syntax
Type: Conference Handout

Direct link: http://roa.rutgers.edu/view.php3?roa=732