Competing constructions in Kaqchikel focus contexts

Abstract This study provides new data on the use of agent focus (AF) versus transitive constructions in Kaqchikel. This work follows up on a study done by Heaton et al. (Heaton, Raina, Kamil Deen & William O’Grady. 2016. An investigation of relativization in Kaqchikel Maya. Lingua 170. 35–46) which found that while questioning the subject of a transitive verb regularly requires the use of AF or an antipassive, relativizing the subject of a transitive verb does not. Present findings show that AF is only common in half of the six primary syntactic contexts that allow it, which is unexpected under the assumption that AF is a last resort strategy. I suggest that the differences between these syntactic contexts in Kaqchikel are related to the presence of a preverbal lexical NP element which is available to be interpreted as the agent. Comparative descriptive evidence is also compiled demonstrating that transitive verbs are possible in syntactic contexts that traditionally have been considered to require AF across Eastern Mayan languages.