WWM Grammar

WWM, which is still being finished but is also extremely long... :V

-order of stuff in NP -how determiners and adjectives and numbers inflect for class -how questions work -ergative verbs -copula and possession -noun class affix pattern and morphopho -periphrastic possession -existential clauses -tighten up verb morpho -causative constructions -auxiliaries and TAM -usage of directionals -pronouns and their usage -negative verb morphology -imperatives, hortatives and prohibitives

-negative special clauses -comparatives etc -complement clauses -relative clauses -reflexives and reciprocals (na as sentence final reciprocal) -predicative adjectives -left-dislocation of NPs with pronoun insertion

[edit] [top]Nouns

Class inflection

Class 1a (singular): not marked explicitly morphologically; can be distinguished from classes 8 and 9 by referring to humans
Class 1b (singular): contains personal names only; marked by -ea (from Wa Ñi personal name marker i + marked definite marker à)
Class 2 (plural): marked by final -p(a) [the vowel is only used on -C stems]
Class 3 (singular): marked by final -ni
Class 5 (singular): synchronically unpredictable form on nouns; breaking of final vowel on vowel-final modifiers from a > wa, i > ea, u > oa (which is analogized from Wa Ñi); -ay on consonant-final modifiers
Class 6 (plural): -rra
Class 7 (singular): synchronically unpredictable form on nouns, but is becoming the new default noun class with many new nouns not explicitly marked for class; change of final vowel to a on vowel-final modifiers; -ka on consonant-final modifiers; dialectally, all forms additionally take -(a)n (from the G7 absolutive pronoun an)
Class 8 (plural): synchronically unmarked
Class 9 (singular): synchronically unmarked; becoming a closed class; dialectally, all forms additionally take -tu (from the G9 absolutive pronoun)
Class 10 (plural): synchronically marked through a--(a) with stress preserved (i.e. the a- doesn't count) [the vowel is only used on -C stems; some dialects drop it, and it is never realized on some recent nouns created through bound derivational morphemes (see the derivational morphology article)]
Class 11 (singular or plural): marked by final -tha

Common pairings are 1/2, 3/6, 5/6, 5/8, 7/8, 9/10.

Definiteness

The definite article wa is used only rarely and does not decline for class, but follows the noun phrase. It has more of a sense of 'the aforementioned', 'the same'.

The indefinite article may is used often and does not decline for class, but follows the noun phrase. It may be used with both singular and plural nouns.

This is not to be confused with the word may meaning 'one', which does decline for noun class and only occurs with singular nouns.

Possession

Inalienable possession is marked with pronominal suffixes, which follow the fused noun class markers, unlike in Wa Ñi. The possessor is unmarked.

The set of inalienable-class nouns is closed: no new members can be added. Additionally, many nouns that were inalienable in Wa Ñi have since become alienable. The inalienably-possessed nouns tend to be body parts or kinship terms.

All inalienable nouns must be obligatorily possessed. What this means is that the basic form is the 3S possessed form even if there is no overt possessor.

The first set of allomorphs follows nouns ending in vowels; the second set follows nouns ending in consonants.

-nga/-tha 1S
-wa/-wa 1I
-aw/-aw 1E
-urr/-urr 2S
-irr/-irr 2P
-\a/-a 3S
-p/-ap 3P

(Note: the suffix -\a means that it replaces the word-final vowel with a.)

See the morphophonology article for more information about what sorts of changes suffixed forms undergo. Also note that most basic kinship terms have irregular forms which are described in the kinship article.

With inalienable nouns, an obligatory possessor typically follows the noun, just as with alienable nouns. However, some dialects have the possessor in the dative case, while others have have it in the absolutive case.

Alienable possession is indicated by having the possessor in the genitive case, with the possessee unmarked. The possessor follows the possessee. This also holds for pronominal possessors, which are in the genitive case.

Noun phrase constituent order

The order of constituents in the noun phrase is fairly free as most are marked for class and thus agree, but there is an almost-universal tendency for the noun to come first in the noun phrase.

Other than that, the main rules are for the definite/indefinite particles to occur last, and for long constituents such as a long possessor or relative clause to occur last. If the noun phrase is a topic but one of the attributes is now focused, if the attribute agrees with the noun phrase and not any other in the clause, it may occur clause-finally, separated from the noun phrase.

Unmarked order is case-noun adjective number demonstrative possessor definite/indefinite (relative clause).

Cases

Wanyima-Wanyoa cases are prefixing. It has
pak- ablative (from Wa Ñi pak)
i- locative (from Wa Ñi xu-y)
rta(rl)- allative/dative (from Wa Ñi dax/deľ)
rnyay- instrumental/ergative/vialis (from Wa Ñi dyo-y)
ya- genitive (from Wa Ñi yà)
na- comitative/additive (from Wa Ñi na)
ni- focus [only on pronouns] (from Wa Ñi ni)
Ø absolutive

Case: uy- locative, nay- comitative, bak- ablative, rtarl- allative, thu- elative, tha- illative, rya- instrumental/vialis, a- (from o) orientative case (perhaps not very stable), -na privative case (from nax), rta- dative case (from dax) (ooh boy I sense some allative/dative syncretism happening)
additionally, ergative/nominative particles as case marking, with certain noun class affixes reinterpreted as agentive/patientive fluid-S case? plus -rla verbal suffix, use of rya- for ergative marking too???

[edit] [top]Pronouns

WWM has pronouns which decline for all cases. While most are formed regularly from the absolutive (with stress shift to the first syllable except for the genitive), some of the case forms are irregular in the locative and ergative.

	ABSAbsolutive (case) TRANS object, INTR argument	ERGErgative (case) TRANS subject; agent	LOCLocative (case) 'in, on, at' etc	GENGenitive (case) possessive	DATDative (case) indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location	ABLAblative (case) away from	COMComitative (case) 'together with'	FOCFocus (syntactic) shows new or contrastive information
1SFirst person singular (person) speaker, signer, etc.; I	=n, nga	rnyan	ngan	yan	rtan	pangka(n)	nan	nin
1IFirst person inanimate (person)	ma	rnyama	uma	yamá	rtan	pangka	nama	nima
1EFirst person exclusive (person) I/we but not you	nyu	rnyangwa	ungwa	yanyú	rtanyu	pangku	nanyu	ninyu
2SSecond person singular (person) addressee (you)	rrea	rnyarri	urri	yarréa	rtarrea	pattea	narrea	nirrea
2PSecond person plural (person) addressee (plural)	ea	rnyayi	ii	yaéa	rtarlea	pakea	naea	naáy
G1Gender 1 (gender/class) for nonsemantic, very language-specific, or not-yet-added word classes/G8Gender 8 (gender/class)	a	rnyaya	ia	yaá	rtarla	paka	naa	nea
G2Gender 2 (gender/class)	pa	rnyaypa	ipa	yapá	rtapa	pappa	napa	nipa
G3Gender 3 (gender/class)	ni	rnyayni	ini	yaní	rtani	pangki	nani	nini
G5Gender 5 (gender/class)/G10Unknown code	a	rnyatya	utya	yaá	rtarla	paka	naa	nia
G6Gender 6 (gender/class)	ri	rnyayri	iri	yarí	rtari	parti	nari	niri
G7Gender 7 (gender/class)	an	rnyayan	ian	yaán	rtarlan	pakan	naan	nean
G9Gender 9 (gender/class)	tu	rnyaytu	itu	yatú	rtatu	pattu	natu	nitu
G11Unknown code	tha	rnyaytha	itha	yathá	rtatha	pattha	natha	nitha

Notes:

Absolutive:

1S =n, nga (=n used postverbally and in derived case forms only; nga is from early WWM *o, related to the Wa Ñi absolutive form *n)
2S rrea (from the accusative)
2P ea (from the accusative)

Ergative:

1S rnyan (*dyo 'instr.1S' -n 'ABS.1S')
2P rnyayi (*dyoy 'LOC.2P' -i 'ABS.2P' by analogy with other pronouns)

Locative:

1S ngan (*xo 'LOC.1S' -n 'ABS.1S')
2P ii (*xuy 'LOC.2P' -i 'ABS.2P' by analogy with other pronouns)
G6/G10 utya (*xuy 'LOC.3' -he/hà 'ABS.G5/ABS.G10') looks strange synchronically but is regular diachronically

Genitive and comitative:

GEN.G1/G8/G5/G10 yaá is by analogy with what happens in the G10 which makes it an a-invariant prefix
The same applies to COM.G1/G8/G5/G10, but without the stress shift.

Ablative:

ABL.1S pangka is from pak + n = pangk / pak + o = paka blended; to distinguish from ABL.1E some use pangka-n

Focus:

Additionally, the focused form of the 2P pronoun is naáy (from expected naái < *ni-iì), and the focused form of the G7 pronoun is nean (from *ni-en).

[edit] [top]Verbal morphology

Prefixes

Subject prefixes:

ngan- 1S (from xo n)
ma- 1I
nyu- 1E
rri- 2S
i- 2P
a- 1
pa- 2
ni- 3
a- 5
ri- 6
an- 7
a- 8
tu- 9
a- 10
tha- 11
wa- same subject as previous verb (use on the first verb of a sentence is waning, so it's becoming almost a participle in effect)

The subject prefixes also attach to nouns to express the present tense, positive copula.

Note that the 1S prefix becomes just n- on the IRR auxiliary -ay.

Additionally, probably a few infinite SS/DS markers too, from the former conjunctions:

pak(u/ú)- for DS is used regionally
and pakin-/kin- for DS/SS (before this) and ngirtu-/ngirhu- for DS/SS (after this)?

Note: it is likely that these prefixes might come to have an absolutive rather than nominative sense in some of the daughters.

Ergative verbs

Some verbs (<20 verbs, a closed class) take a different set of prefixes (which derive from the Wa Ñi ergative pronouns rather than the absolutive ones). These verbs are known as ergative verbs. They are all transitive except for ara 'to be out of breath' but do not take the -ma transitive suffix, which otherwise is a universal predictor of a verb's syntactic transitivity (except for nyama 'to wear'). They generally fall into a few categories:
-possession: e.g. na 'to have', rtali 'to own (land collectively) / to have (something which no longer exists)'
-perception: e.g. nga 'to see', ngwa 'to hear (physically)', kurl 'to feel (physically)'
-emotional states: e.g. apwa 'to fear', mangu 'to be sad'
-adornment: nyama 'to wear', tyap 'to be tattooed' (but not lhama 'to take off')
-discovery: ryunga 'to find', ngwapal 'to hear (news)', ngakunyi 'to remember'
-ara 'to be out of breath'

Additionally, a few more verbs take the ergative prefixes when they are marked as nonvolitional:
-transitive verbs of bad handling, like urrámma 'to drop', marlma 'to break', myathama 'to lose', etc.
-urrma 'to stop' (but not katya 'to begin')
-pal 'to speak' (with resulting meaning 'to blurt out', 'to tell a secret', generally used only in the first person singular or exclusive)

The objects of these verbs take the absolutive case.

The actual forms of the prefixes themselves, which you're probably wondering about by now, are:

nga- 1S
ma- 1I
ngwa- 1E
rri- 2S
i- 2P
a- 1
wa- 2
nya- 3
a- 5
i- 6
nga- 7
a- 8
kwa- 9
a- 10
thaa- 11
na- same-subject (from Wa Ñi 'and')

Suffixes

-ma: transitive

-ma is a mostly-lexicalized transitive suffix. It occurs on all morphosyntactically transitive verbs, and its absence implies that the verb is not strictly transitive.

Verbs can be made transitive in effect without adding -ma, but the patient cannot be in the absolutive case since the agent is absolutive-marked. Instead, the patient is usually allative or ablative.

While -ma is somewhat lexicalized, there is a tendency for verbs with and without this morpheme to have semantically transparent meanings, and -ma is quite productive for creating causative verbs from noncausative ones (see the section on causative constructions for more information). Thus, it is considered part of the inflectional morpheme bank here.

-(a)wa: conditional

-(a)wa is a conditional suffix (basically, 'if'). The form with extra a is used after consonants, and without a is used after vowels. Though this form was restricted to monosyllabic stems in

Wa Ñi, by

WWM times it had been generalized to multisyllabic verbs too. (Note: when the verb is used alone in a standalone clause, this has an apprehensive meaning, meaning 'this event might happen and it would be bad if it happened')

-rla: nonvolitional

-rla is a nonvolitional suffix, deriving from 'to fall'. It implies that the subject had no control over the event in question. The subject is usually placed in the ergative case when the verb has this affix, even if it is syntactically intransitive. Note that for a small group of verbs, this affix also cues ergative subject prefixes.

Directional suffixes

There are a number of suffixes which code for direction and elevation change:
-tway (from hyo ey) = out and down/neutral
-tirray (from tir ey) = out and up
-tnyarlwa (from hyo ľàa) = in and down/neutral
-rlwatirr (from ľàa tir) = in and up
Note that the directions refer primarily to the speaker unless a frame of reference has been established, such as a protagonist in a narrative, in which it uses that as the spatial basis. The 'up' suffixes also can be used metaphorically to express difficulty or slowness, and the 'in' suffixes can be used to imply relevance to the current location or current events even if the motion wasn't literally inwards. Similarly, the 'out' suffixes can be used to imply that something is completely over or is no longer relevant. However, the 'down/neutral' suffixes do not imply that an event happened easily or quickly.

-Cupay: perfective

Grammaticalization of pey as a perfective: applies to imperfective-primary verbs
The form of this suffix is -Cupay (from -Cu + pay)

This suffix is optional; it is generally used only once per sentence, with subsequent verbs being assumed to be similarly perfective. Additionally, punctual verbs (those which occur within an instant, such as 'sneeze') are assumed to be perfective and do not need to take this suffix. Instead, this suffix is mostly used on durative verbs (those which take a while) as well as stative ones, to indicate that the action has completed or will be completed by the time of the narration.

Imperative and hortative verb morphology

The verbal template is restricted to root-transitive-direction-subject-location in the imperative and hortative. Both number and person are contrasted in the subject slot, and the choice of morphemes in the location slot is restricted by the value of person in the subject slot.

The imperative and hortative verb forms are also characterized by a distinctive accentual pattern. Regardless of where the accent lies in the verb's other forms, in these forms there is an accent on the second vowel of the form (where long vowels count as two vowels), and an accent on the final vowel of the form. If this would result in two accents immediately following each other (in adjacent syllables), then the second accent is removed. These patterns derive ultimately from the Wa Ñi irrealis low tone on the first syllable of the verb root combined with a secondary emphasis of the final syllable (otherwise, final syllables had a tendency to be realized with low tone).

Forms:

Subject	PROXProximal (proximity) close to speaker	MEDMedial (proximity) not too far from speaker; close to addressee	DISTDistal (proximity) far from speaker (and addressee)
1IFirst person inanimate (person)	maima	N/A	mathaw
2SSecond person singular (person) addressee (you)	rreama	rriliw	rrithaw
2PSecond person plural (person) addressee (plural)	eama	iliw	ithaw

Besides the regular forms, there is also a separate imperative/hortative continuative construction, which roughly translates to 'keep X-ing!' It is formed from a finite verb form in subject-root-(transitive)-(directional) form with the -Cu subordinator and a special ni- prefix before the subject, with the entire verb optionally followed by the particle nya. This form derives from an auxiliary construction with *ni, the Wa Ñi nominal focus particle on the nominalized main verb, with 'have to' nya as an (uninflected) matrix verb.

The prohibitive is formed just like the regular forms, but with the particle ti 'Don't!' before the verb.

There is no negative equivalent of the continuative construction. Instead, the prohibitive is used with periphrastic TAM.

Negative verb morphology

The negative verb has a strikingly different morphology than positive ones. This is because it stems from a former relative clause formed as object + ti GENGenitive (case)
possessive + verb -Cu NMZNominaliser
makes other word a noun + -POSS.subject , roughly translated as '(object) of (subject)'s (verb)ing [doesn't exist]', where the actual negation has been lost by WWM times, and the particle ti has been lost from the language otherwise too. The fact that a negative particle in

Wa Ñi is tì probably helped the association of this clause type with negation despite the lack of an actual explicit negator by WWM.

This means that WWM verbs agree with their objects only in the negative. In the case of intransitive verbs, the object prefix is omitted. Historically, the intransitive negative was formed differently from the transitive one, but was later created by analogy with the transitive one even though the clause structure would make no logical sense in

Wa Ñi any more.

Object prefixes
>(from *i n ti) => inti- 1S
>mati- 1I
>nyuti- 1E
>rriti- 2S
>iti- 2P
>ati- 1
>pati- 2
>niti- 3
>ati- 5
>riti- 6
>anti- 7
>ati- 8
>tuti- 9
>ati- 10
>thati- 11
>ti- (no object)

subject suffixes
>-Cunga 1S
>-Cwa 1I
>-Caw 1P
>-Coarr 2S
>-Cayrr 2P
>-Ca 1
>-Cup 2
>-Cuny 3
>-Ci 5
>-Coarr 6
>-Ca(n) 7 (dialectal -n)
>-C(u)a 8 (dialectal analogy with G1 rather than G10)
>-Caa 9
>-Cua 10
>-Cutha 11

altyama 'to wake (someone) up'
atealtyamaunga |ati-altyama-Cunga| = 'I didn't wake G1 up'

Affix order in positive and negative verbs

Positive non-imperative verbs generally have the affix order:

subject-ROOT-transitivity-conditional-nonvolitional-directional-perfective

where 'subject' can be the usual set of prefixes or the ergative set, depending on the verb and whether the nonvolitional element -rla is present.

The conditional originally preceded the transitive (the conditional was already an affix in

Wa Ñi), but due to the lexicalization of the transitive suffix, the two have largely switched orders. A small number of daughters have preserved the earlier order of affixes in some contexts.

Additionally, due to the relatively late stage at which the other affixes grammaticalized, there is some degree of variable affix order with the nonvolitional, directional, and perfective, which is responsible for the modern crosslinguistic variation in affix order in the daughters.

Negative non-imperative verbs have the affix order:

object-ti-ROOT-transitivity-conditional-subject-nonvolitional-directional-perfective

However, the last three elements tend to be phonologically separated from the preceding part of the verb, forming their own standalone complex.

[edit] [top]Auxiliary constructions

The basic format of an auxiliary construction is to add the -Cu suffix to the content verb stem, and then simply inflect the auxiliary verb appropriately (besides -ma and -(a)wa which are preserved on the main verb) and add it after the content verb. In some dialects, the content verb is redundantly inflected for subject with appropriate prefixes.

When the clause is negative, the negative form of the main verb (object-root-subject) is used without the additional -Cu suffix or any other inflections besides the -ma transitivity affix and -(a)wa conditional. The auxiliary then additionally conjugates for subject and other inflections besides transitivity and conditional.

TAM:

'future' -Cu ay (from 'go')

'has just' -Cu rlwa (from 'come')

'about to' -Cu kakay

'present progressive' -Cu rrwang(wa) (from 'stay'; dialectally, the wa is omitted for conciseness)

'start to' -Cu atu (from 'become')

'experiential (have Xed before)' -Cu nyuum (from 'know', which has lost its lexical meaning)

Modals:

Note that these express same subject and neutral TAM. For other cases, see the section on complement clauses.

'be able to' -Cu attay (from 'know')

'want to' -Cu thak

'have to' -Cu ryarl (from 'do')

[edit] [top]Other TAM constructions

nyurnyurl 'habitually' (from reduplicated ŋyuľ 'day' via 'every day')

tnyaka 'past tense, before now'

[edit] [top]Reflexive and reciprocal

Reflexive pronouns from twàřu 3/6 ‘body’ > kwarú- (possessed inalienably)

This can be distinguished from the regular noun ‘body’ by its lack of noun class markers.

Reciprocal maymay 9/9 'each other'

[edit] [top]Word order

Mainly (S)V(O) ~ V(S)(O) with topic fronting.

[edit] [top]Copular clauses

For noun-noun copular clauses such as:
-name
-profession
-moiety

The noun is simply treated as a verb, taking regular subject prefixes. Order is always (S)V in this case. It is impossible to form imperatives of this clause type. The verbalized noun cannot take any suffixes.

The subject is in the absolutive case.

Predicative adjectives

Conjugate as verbs (in the base form, without any noun class declination), but take the prefix ya- (which does not take stress).

> Arta ayaákaw.
dog.G8Gender 8 (gender/class) G8Gender 8 (gender/class)-ya-black
The dogs are black.

[edit] [top]Predicative possession

The noun is treated as a verb again, but the form of the noun used is the comitative case (na-) for alienable nouns and minngi-/minngi--p(a) + possessed noun for inalienable nouns if the possessor is a person and just possessed noun for inalienable nouns with a non-person possessor. It is impossible to form imperatives of this clause type.

However, this 'verb' cannot take any suffixes unless it is an inalienable noun. In these cases, a periphrastic construction using the verb na 'to have' or rtali 'to own (land communally) / to have (something which no longer exists)' is used. These clauses always have the verb before the object (no topic fronting for the object). The object in these cases is in the absolutive case.

Note that the comitative case construction has connotations of long-term possession. If someone happens to be with something, the instrumental/ergative case is used instead. However, the instrumental/ergative construction cannot be used with inalienable nouns.

The subject is in the absolutive for the nonverbal constructions, but is in the ergative for the verbal ones, since na and rtali are both ergative (though unmarked because they are special ergative verbs (see above)).

[edit] [top]Locational clauses

The noun is treated as a verb, but with the appropriate case (locative generally, possibly dative or ablative for direction). The noun can be either alienable or inalienable, but cannot take suffixes. This form also has connotations of 'just before now' or 'just after now + intention' in terms of TAM.

The subject is in the absolutive case.

[edit] [top]Existential clause

In common with many other Ngerupic languages, existence is expressed through use of generic verbs such as tyan 'to lie', rru 'to sit', and liát 'to stand', depending on the overall position of the object. The verb always comes first, leading to a V(S) structure.

aliát rru may a-liát rru may G1Gender 1 (gender/class)
for nonsemantic, very language-specific, or not-yet-added word classes-stand woman.G1Gender 1 (gender/class)
for nonsemantic, very language-specific, or not-yet-added word classes one.G1Gender 1 (gender/class)
for nonsemantic, very language-specific, or not-yet-added word classes 'There is one woman (standing).'
tutyán tu-tyan G9Gender 9 (gender/class)-lie 'There it (class 9) is.'

To question an existential clause, there is a yes/no format and a wh-format. For yes/no, the particle ki is placed at the beginning of the sentence. For 'What is there?', the special word niríng (from ni- 'FOC' ring 'thing') is used, which has G9 agreement:

tuliát niríng tu-liát niríng G9Gender 9 (gender/class)-stand what.EXISTExistential (case)
'there is'.G9Gender 9 (gender/class) 'What is (upright) there?'

For 'Who is there?', the word ngarrú 'person' is used:

aliát ngarrú a-liát ngarrú G1Gender 1 (gender/class)
for nonsemantic, very language-specific, or not-yet-added word classes-stand person.G1Gender 1 (gender/class)
for nonsemantic, very language-specific, or not-yet-added word classes 'Who is (upright) there?'

[edit] [top]Imperative clauses

Primarily follow V(O) format, unless the object has been discussed many times already, in which case it may be OV (this carries a kind of nagging sense).

[edit] [top]Causative constructions

In many cases, there are lexical forms for a causative of another verb, such as thapama 'kill' from yak 'die'. In this case, there isn't a special causative construction.

Causatives can be formed in one of three ways. One is synthetic, and is formed by adding the transitivity marker -ma to an intransitive verb. This is of somewhat limited productivity and is only allowed when the derived -ma form of the verb is not lexicalized.

The second way, which is more productive, is to nominalize the main verb with nya- and add the dative case rta- to the resulting noun, then use the causative auxiliary ryarl with inflection.

The syntax for this usually has the causative auxiliary verb immediately following the nominalized package. However, in cases where the main verb is unexpected, it can occur in focus position as with a typical noun phrase.

In common with Dapen and other northern Magalese languages, 'make oneself', i.e. a reflexive causative, is used for 'pretend'. See the section on reflexives - they behave syntactically like normal nouns.

The third method is used with stative verbs primarily as well as adjectives and consists of prefixing ryarl to the verb directly, then putting the caused noun in the absolutive case and the causer in the ergative case (the verb will agree with the causer).

[edit] [top]Applicative constructions

-Cu rtama for benefactive

[edit] [top]Questions

Wh-questions mainly follow: (S)(O)V ni Q ; the O is shifting to immediately after the verb with a more emphatic questioning meaning. For clarifications, the format V(S) ni Q is occasionally used but has connotations of rudeness when asked of an elder.

Wh-question adjectives (which agree with noun phrases) detach from the noun phrase they modify and go into question word position unless there is significant ambiguity, in which case the whole noun phrase moves into question word position with the adjective as the final word.

Question words include:

ngean/ngeampa (1/2) 'who' + case-inflected forms such as yangéan/yangéampa 'whose'
nea (9/9) 'what' + case-inflected forms
ryan 'when'
iryán 'how long (time)'
pattán 'since when'
twan 'where'
ngurlan 'what day'
tyaayan 'what year'
tyathíthwan 'which season'
irlíngan 'when which generation was young'
an (adjective) 'which'
rakan (adjective) 'how many / how much'
rarta 'how often'
ngwan 'how'
pangkwan 'why'

Yes-no questions are formed just like their non-question equivalents but have the particle ki immediately before the verb. For more emphasis, it is placed before the subject, which is obligatorily realized, whether with a full noun phrase or just a pronoun.

For questioning specific constituents, the ni-PRONOUN construction is used with ki just before the verb (read ahead to see what the ni-PRONOUN construction is). (Note that all the information in this section and the following applies to nominal clauses etc. too.)

[edit] [top]Answers

Answers to wh-questions tend to be just normal declarative sentences with the answer phrase in focus position. There is an extra component however; there is an extra bit at the beginning which is ni-PRONOUN (ni- is the pronominal focus case) where the pronoun agrees with the focused element in class. If there is ambiguity, the ni-PRONOUN is repeated before the noun phrase in question. This focused pronoun acts as an equivalent to 'yes' or 'no' for wh-answers. If the focused element in the answer is just a pronoun, it is omitted except for the ni- component.

Positive answers to yes/no questions are just the same as the questions but with the particle ki immediately preceding the verb. If the question contained a focused element with the ni-PRONOUN construction, it is used again in the answer.

Negative answers have the ni-PRONOUN construction found before the element to be negated (this acts as constituent negation). If the whole sentence is to be negated, the particle ki just precedes the verb as in the question, with no ni-PRONOUN construction. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article

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