jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
12.3 Interrogatives 657
For T-md, K-d, and A-grm, the usual 'which?' interrogative is andek,
which is identical or very similar to the 'when?' (i.e. 'which time?')
interrogative. There is a natural connection between 'where?' and 'which?',
since 'which?' involves selecting among entities, which are in most cases
spatially localized. I have recorded both reduced and unreduced nominal
prefixes on the following noun: andek "ae-sael (A-grm, Gao) and andek ά-sael
(T-md) 'which day?'.
(775) a. andek ά-sael
which? day
[w-a-\ddad 0-malae-d]
[Ma-Dem.Sg-\Centrip 2S-come.LoImpfP-2MaSgS]
'(On) which day are you-MaSg coming?' [T-md]
b. andek [w-α t-aessof-asd]
which? [Ma-Dem.Sg 2S-prefer.Reslt-2SgS]
'Which one do you-Sg prefer?' [A-grm]
c. andek t-ula-t-t [t-ά t-anha§y-aed]
which? Fe-kind-Fe-FeSg [Fe-Dem.Sg 2S-see.Reslt-2SgS]
'What kind did you-Sg see?' [K-d]
d. andek [daev "0-kall-aen i-daer]
which? [in Pl-land-MaPl Prox-Anaph]
[w-a-\s 0-ojaer]
[Ma-Dem.Sg-\Instr 3MaSgS-be.bigger.PerfP]
'Which of (=among) those lands is bigger/biggest?'
In (775.d), andek is perhaps syntactically 'where?', to judge by the form of
the relative clause (with -\s).
Even for T-ka I recorded sndak ammak 'which manner?' (i.e., 'how?'). It
occurs with Instr As.
(776) andek ammak
which? manner
[w-d-\s-\at t-sqqaen-aed]
[Ma-Dem.Sg-\Instr-\3MaSgO 2S-build.PerfP-2SgS]
'How did you-Sg build it?'
At least in the Gao area and perhaps more widely, both annaer and andek
are used as 'which?' interrogatives, but differ semantically in subtle ways. In
this pattern, annaer is more abstract, often without modified noun, as in innaer
isam-snnaek 'which (i.e. what) is your name?'. On the other hand, sndek is
used in the classic 'which?' sense, with an overt or implied modified noun, in
contexts calling for selection from a given set.
