jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
12.3 Interrogatives 659
e. [man-iket '0-sil-an] t-aejjae-n
[how.many? Pl-day-MaPl] LoImpf-do.LoImpiP-3MaPl
[dar "s-s-asü
[in Sg-Caus-drink.VblN
[n f0-w-an [i-naqq fad]]]]
[Poss [Pl-cow-MaPl [3MaSgS-kill.LoImpfP thirst]]]]
'How many days do they spend having [the cattle who are
thirsty] drink'. [Gao]
(779.a-b) show a compound structure (note the phrasal accent and the
Prefix Reduction from T-ka t-l-ded-en), (779.c) is a possessive, and (779.d)
used locative preposition daev in partitive sense. Prefix Reduction is more
transparently present in (779.e). This example also shows ablaut modifications
on the verb t-aejjas-n like those typical of definite relative clauses, compare the
regular form t-ajjae-n 'they-Ma make' (LoImpfP). This suggests that (779.e)
behaves as though 'how many days?' is a definite head noun.
When associated with commodities, man-lket tends to mean specifically
'how much?', referring to the price rather than to the number of objects. The
latter can be expressed by ma 'what?' plus verb -ugdvh- 'equal'.
(780) ma-\d t-ogdaeh t-afasr-aet
what?\Comit 3FeSgS-equal.Reslt Fe-rice-Fe
[t-ά taettae-d [hak ά-sael]]
[Fe-Dem.Sg eat.LoImpfP-2SgS [each Sg-day]]
'How much rice do you-Sg eat every day?' [K-d]
The same formative man- occurs in man-smmsk, another way to ask
'how?'. Perhaps one can identify the same initial element in msndsjü 'when?'.
12.3.10 Embedded WH-interrogatives
My data of the type Ί don't know ...' followed by '... what he ate', '... who
went', and the like, show a mix of basic constructions.
One pattern sticks very closely to the original utterance, including the
regular WH-interrogative word.
(781) a. war assen-aer [man-iket i-la]
Neg know.PerfN-lSgS [how.much? 3MaSgS-have.Reslt]
Ί don't know how much he has.'
b. war assen-aer [ma i-ksa]
Neg know.PerfN-lSgS [what? 3MaSgS-eat.PerfP]
Ί don't know what he ate.'
