Resumption and Long-Distance Wh-movement in Likpakpaanl

This paper examines subject and object wh-movement asymmetries in Likpakpaanl, a Mabia language spoken in the Eastern corridors of Ghana's Northern and Oti regions and some parts of Togo. It outlines the basic patterns of wh-question formation in Likpakpaanl and then extends the analysis to long-distance wh-movement. The paper demonstrates that long-distance subject extraction utilizes resumptive pronouns, whereas long-distance object extraction involves gap strategies. Despite this contrast, evidence is provided that both types of long-distance dependency involve syntactic movement since they display sensitivity to island constraints. Thus, The paper contributes to our understanding of the differences between subject and object extraction in Likpakpaanl while showing that both processes involve similar movement operations. This has broader implications for theories of long-distance wh-movement and island effects cross-linguistically.