Pied-piping with inversion is a special word order phenomenon found in some languages, such as those in the Mesoamerican linguistic area.
}{} COM:grab Juan {} Mary P-dogIf the possessor is questioned, the whole noun phrase must pied-pipe to the beginning of the sentence.
Fronted negative and indefinite phrases may also show pied-piping with inversion in some languages, as in this example from San Dionisio Ocotepec Zapotec: Rú-tè’càANIM:NEG[túúanyonex-pè’cw]p-dogù-díínyCOM-hitMàríí.MariaRú-tè’cà [túú x-pè’cw] ù-dííny Màríí.ANIM:NEG anyone p-dog COM-hit Maria‘Maria didn't hit anyone’s dog.’*Rú-tè’càANIM:NEG[x-pè’cwp-dogtúú]anyoneù-díínyCOM-hitMàríí.Maria*Rú-tè’cà [x-pè’cw túú] ù-dííny Màríí.ANIM:NEG p-dog anyone COM-hit MariaThe noun phrase "anyone's dog" has been fronted to a position before the verb and shows the same pied-piping with inversion that is seen in other syntactic environments.
Pied-piping with inversion is unusual outside Mesoamerica but is documented in Sasak, an Austronesian language of Indonesia(Austin 2001).
Possibly related is the phenomenon known as swiping[2] in which a wh-phrase is inverted with a governing preposition in the context of sluicing: Such inversion requires pied-piping but also ellipsis, unlike Meso-American languages.