Relative Clauses in Upper Necaxa Totonac: Local, Comparative, and Diachronic Perspectives

• Main Author: David Beck
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dartmouth College Library 2016-01-01
• Series: Linguistic Discovery
• Subjects: totonacan; relative clause; complementizer; relativization
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1349/PS1.1537-0852.A.469

Relativization strategies in the Totonacan family are largely undescribed, but detailed examination of one of the languages in the group, Upper Necaxa Totonac, reveals the presence of both externally- and internally-headed relative constructions. Also of note is the presence of relativizers that mark the animacy (human/non-human) of the head of the relative construction. This paper will show that, while phylogenetic evidence clearly demonstrates the relativizers to be descended diachronically from interrogative pronouns, they are best treated syn-chronically as complementizers, an analysis that follows directly from the presence of internally-headed relative constructions.