Comparing Mam (Mayan) Clause Structures: Subordinate versus Main Clauses

1 Most of my research on Mayan linguistics has been done at the Proyecto Lingiiistico Francisco Marroquin in Antigua, Guatemala. I especially would like to thank the speakers of Mam and Teco with whom I have chiefly worked for their immeasurable assistance: Juan Maldonado Andres, Juan Ortiz Domingo, Juan Ord6fiez Domingo, Macario Mendez Romero, Herculano Garcia Hernandez, Enrique Martinez Bravo, and Emiliano Godinez Morales. Narcisco Cojti Macario, Director of the PLFM from 1975 to 1987, has supported all of my research and was instrumental in encouraging me to embark on dialect research and in providing me with invaluable assistance. Martin Chacach Cutzal, Director of the PLFM, has also supported my efforts splendidly. Tom Larsen helped with comments on earlier drafts and I, like many others, always rely on the good advice and comments of Terrence Kaufman. The alphabet used here is the practical orthography of the PLFM (first designed by Terrence Kaufman) as adopted and amended by the Academia de las Lenguas Mayas of Guatemala in June 1987 and subsequently (Academia 1988). Symbols that differ from standard linguistic practice are: b'= b, tz = , ch = c, tx = c, ky = kY, '= , xh = s, x = s, j = x, w" = firm voiced w (no final devoicing), C' = glottalized C, VV = long V. The phonemes of Mam, in this alphabet, are: p t tz ch tx ky k q b' t' tz' ch' tx' ky' k' q' s xh x j m n