Relative clauses in Western Muskogean languages

Chickasaw and Choctaw, the two Western Muskogean languages, have several different relative clause constructions, each of which is internally headed: (1) relative clauses with final demonstratives; (2) relative clauses in which the verb is marked with the suffix -kaash ; and (3) relative clauses in which the verb is marked with a form of the complement switch-reference marker ‑ ka . Western Muskgean relative clauses sometimes take the marking predicted by the case system, sometimes the marking predicted by the switch-reference system, and sometimes can take either marker, with different conditions for the three different relative clauses types and for extraposed modifying clauses. This complexity, we argue, arose from syntactic change in progress. This article is part of the special collection: Internally-Headed Relative Clauses