The question particle ba' 465
7. The question particle ba'
As described in section 1, yes/no questions are formed either by means of into-
nation or using apa ‘what’ as a general question marker (accompanied by the
appropriate intonation contour). There is another question particle ba', which
also occurs as ba'nengan, which can substitute for apa in yes/no questions but
can also be used with constituent questions.
With yes/no questions, ba' usually occurs in second position following
the subject of the sentences as in (101), where it follows the subject guruna ‘the
teacher’, and (102), where it follows the subject Amir.
(101) Guru-na ba' la nerrang-ngagi kalaban bendher?
teacher-DEF^ Q already AV.clear-AGI with correct
‘Did the teacher explain well?’
(102) Amir ba' bisa'-a maca'-agi sorat ka ba'na?
Amir Q can-IRR AV.read-AGI letter to you
‘Can Amir read the letter for you?’
When it occurs in sentence-initial position immediately preceding the subject,
the particle occurs with nengan, as in (103). Samoedin (1977) lists the defini-
tion of ba'nengan as ‘perhaps’ or ‘possibly’.
(103) Ba'nengan guru-na la nerang-ngagi kalaban bendher?
Q teacher-DEF already AV.clear-AGI with correct
‘Did the teacher explain well?’
As (104) illustrates, when an auxiliary precedes the subject in a yes/no question,
the question particle can occur in initial position, as a clitic to the auxiliary.
(104) Ba' bisa'-a Amir maca'-agi sorat ka ba'na?
Q can-IRR Amir AV.read-AGI letter to you
‘Can Amir read the letter for you?’
Unlike the use of apa as a question particle in yes/no questions (section
1), for some speakers ba' can also be used in constituent questions. In constitu-
ent questions, ba' most frequently occurs cliticized to the interrogative phrase,
whether a single lexical item, such as sapa ‘who’ (105) or baramma ‘how’
(106), or a complex interrogative phrase, such as ngangguy apa ‘using what’
(107). As these structures are not accepted by all speakers, they are annotated
with % here.