Feature GB285: Can polar interrogation be marked by a question particle and verbal morphology?

Patrons: Jeremy Collins and Jay Latarche

Description ⇫

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

  1. 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).
  2. Nothing else may be different between the polar question and the declarative statement, apart from intonation.
  3. Code 0 If the grammar mentions other polar interrogative constructions, but does not contain a discussion of interrogative verbal morphology and interrogative particles.
  4. 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.


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0 absent 1689
1 present 34
? Not known 475
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Values ⇫

Name Glottocode Family Macroarea Contributor Value Source Comment