jeff_l
(Jeff_L)
#1
12.3 Interrogatives 661
c. ... [aniket l-ss-snsa]
... [amount 3MaSgS-Caus-be.sold.PedP]
'...the amount he paid.'
d. ... [e t-akka]
... [where 3FeSgS-go.to.PerfP]
'... where she went.'
e. attar-maet [ammak jae-maet]
look.for.Imprt.-2FePlS [manner do.PerfP-2FePlS]
ya ras
Emph only
'Just you-FePl look for a method (for you) to use.' [K]
(783.d) can also appear as ... [e-\s t-akka] with cliticized Instr s.
There are also textual examples where the unchanged WH-interrogative
word is used (784).
(784) war assen-asr [ma he aels-aer]
Neg know.PerfN-lSgS [what? Fut wear.Shlmpf-lSgS]
Ί don't know what (clothing) I will wear.'
Embedded 'whether (or not)is expressed by a simple indicative clause
followed by waeld 'or' (§14.1.2), as in (785.a). When a complex 'whether ...'
complement contains a disjunction other than simple positive/negative
alternatives, some constituent (often a verb) is focalized in each clause of the
complement, and waeld 'or' occurs before the noninitial clause (785.b).
(785) a. war assen-aer
Neg know.PerfN-lSgS
[0-osae-\dd waeld]
[3MaSgS-come.PerfP-\Centrip or]
Ί don't know whether (or not) he came.'
b. war assen-aer
Neg know.PerfN-1 SgS
[[t-a-n£ekra [a war i-ja]],
[Fe-Sg-get.up.VblN [Foe Neg 3MaSgS-do.PerfN]
waeld [t-orhanna [a i-ja]]]
or [Fe-sickness [Foe 3MaSgS-do.PerfP]]
Ί don't know whether he (simply) hasn't gotten up [focus]
yet, or (whether) he is sick [focus].' [K-d]
(785.b) is literally: Ί don't know (if) [[[getting up] is what he didn't do] or
[[being sick] is what he did]]'. The focal contrast is, in logical terms, that
