Deeply embedded clauses in Finno-Ugric

Complex sentences often contain clauses embedded in clauses that themselves are embedded. The properties of such deeply embedded clauses (DECs) and their relations to other parts of the sentence are poorly studied. We address this research gap by studying printed text material from two structurally different Finno-Ugric languages: Estonian and Moksha Mordvin. We investigate the relationship between embedding depth and the type of the embedded clause, its position relative to the superordinate clause and its temporal reference. Combining these variables, we observe associations between specific depths (first-, second-, third-order embedding), clause types (complement, relative, adverbial), positions (left-, right-, center-embedding), and temporal reference (absolute, relative). We show that DECs are not entirely identical with first-order embeddings, i.e., that embedding depth is a factor influencing the grammar of subordinate clauses and conclude that assessing DECs is crucial to the description of clausal subordination in a language.