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Can polar interrogation be marked by a question particle and verbal morphology?
Summary
For this feature, we are looking for polar interrogation marked by a question particle and verbal morphology. These should be the only two markers in the construction. However, this does not have to be the only construction in the language which can mark polar interrogation. Nominalizers also count as verbal morphology for the purpose of this question. Tone does not count as a particle here. The intonation of the clause is not relevant to this question. It may be the same as or different from declarative clauses.
Procedure
- Code 1 if questions can be formed by a construction that has a phonologically independent marker and an additional morpheme on the verb (which does not have to be entirely dedicated to question marking).
- Nothing else may be different between the polar question and the declarative statement, apart from intonation.
- Code 0 If the grammar mentions other polar interrogative constructions, but does not contain a discussion of interrogative verbal morphology and interrogative particles.
- Code ? if the grammar does not treat polar interrogation at all.
Examples
Coahuilteco (ISO 639-3: xcw, Glottolog: coah1252)
Coded 1. Past tense truth value (yes/no) questions are usually marked by a verbal enclitic -(y)am plus the interrogative particle e.
mame·yna·koyam e·?
mamay-na·ko-yam e·
2SG-think-PST Q
‘Have you thought?’ (Troike 1996: 655)
Gata (ISO 639-3: gaq, Glottolog: gata1239)
Coded 1. Gata can use an interrogative verbal suffix and the interrogative pronoun mae ‘what’ to form polar interrogatives. (Ashirvadam 1992: 260–262)
mae bole cagd-e’ mae ?
he rice eat-Q what
‘Did he eat rice?’ (Ashirvadam 1992: 260)
Further reading
Dryer, Matthew S. 2013b. Polar questions. In Matthew S. Dryer & Martin Haspelmath (eds), The world atlas of language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
References
Ashirvadam, K. 1992. The structure of Didayi, an Austro-Asiatic language. Hyderabad: Osmania University. (Doctoral dissertation.)
Troike, Rudolph C. 1996. Sketch of Coahuilteco, a language isolate of Texas. In Ives Goddard (ed.), Handbook of North American Indians, 17: Languages, 644-665. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.
Related Features
- GB257 Can polar interrogation be marked by intonation only?
- GB260 Can polar interrogation be indicated by a special word order?
- GB262 Is there a clause-initial polar interrogative particle?
- GB263 Is there a clause-final polar interrogative particle?
- GB264 Is there a polar interrogative particle that most commonly occurs neither clause-initially nor clause-finally?
- GB286 Can polar interrogation be indicated by overt verbal morphology only?
- GB291 Can polar interrogation be marked by tone?
- GB297 Can polar interrogation be indicated by a V-not-V construction?
Patron
Jay Latarche and Jeremy Collins