Pied-piping by Cyclic Agree. In defense of feature percolation
Maksymilian Dąbkowski
June 2021 

I argue that pied-piping is a consequence of ᴡʜ-feature percolation. To formalize my proposal, I adapt Béjar and Rezac's (2009) model of Cyclic Agree, independently motivated in the domain of φ-agreement. In doing so, I offer a solution to the problem of pied-piping which avoids the pitfalls of previous feature percolation approaches without increasing the complexity of syntactic theory. The present proposal predicts that cross-linguistic variation with respect to pied-piping and ᴡʜ-inversion resides in the featural specification of functional heads. I demonstrate preliminary typological evidence which corroborates this prediction. I present a case study of Basque (ISO 639-3: eus). I show that the present proposal correctly derives the facts of Basque clausal pied-piping. Finally, I discuss competing accounts, which predict that Basque facts should be unattested (Cable, 2007, 2010a,b; Heck, 2004, 2008, 2009).

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Reference:	lingbuzz/005927 (please use that when you cite this article)
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keywords:	dabkowski, cyclic, wh-fronting, wh, wh-question, pied-piping, wh-inversion, roll-up, heck, cable, phi-agreement, phi, agree, move, basque, interaction, interrogative, question, satisfaction, model, content, inversion, spec, movement, cp, secondary, percolation, projection, feature, wh-feature, phi-feature, typology, variation, a-bar, euskara, clausal, epp, syntax
previous versions:	v2 [June 2021] v1 [May 2021]
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