Yes/no questions 441
(10) a. Apa Marlena bisa maca buku juwa?
Q Marlena can AV.read book that
‘Can Marlena read that book?’
b. Apa bisa Marlena maca buku juwa?
Q can Marlena AV.read book that
‘Can Marlena read that book?’
(11) a. Apa Siti kodu ngerra' rote-na, sateya?
Q Siti should AV.slice bread-DEF now
‘Should Siti cut the bread now?’
b. Apa kodu Siti ngerra' rote-na, sateya?
Q should Siti AV.slice bread-DEF now
‘Should Siti cut the bread now?’
Even with the subject-auxiliary inversion, a standard yes/no question intonation
is required for well-formedness. Yes/no questions without subject-auxiliary
inversion are more common.
Recapitualating, there are five basic manners of forming yes/no questions,
all of which occur with a characteristic question intonation^1 :
i. intonationally (12a)
ii. with the question particle apa in sentence-initial position (12b),
iii. with the question particle apa immediately following the subject (12c),
iv. with the question particle apa following both the subject and a qualifying
sentential adverb (e.g. biyasana ‘usually’) (12d),
v. with subject-auxiliary inversion (12e),
vi. with the question particle apa in sentence-initial position combined with
subject-auxiliary inversion combined (12f)
(12) a. Bambang biyasana ngenom kopi mon laggu?
‘Does Bambang usually drink coffee in the morning?’
b. Apa Bambang biyasana ngenom kopi mon laggu?
‘Does Bambang usually drink coffee in the morning?’
c. Bambang apa biyasana ngenom kopi mon laggu?
‘Does Bambang usually drink coffee in the morning?’
(^1) As described in section 7, there is a second question particle ba' that is used by some
speakers in yes/no questions and constituent questions.