Kam languages

Zhuang

Zhuang shares many similarities with Standard Chinese in its polar question system. In particular, Zhuang uses terminal rising intonation, final question particles, X-neg(-X), and alternative structures.

Some common question particles include lwi/ma, la, luma, and ba; the latter X in X-neg-X question can be dropped, followed (very commonly ne) or not followed by a question particle; alternative questions are of X disj Y (prt) structure (see Wei and Qin 1980: 69-73; Wei 1985: 217-29; Zhang and Qin 1993:

209-12).

Two matters deserve to be mentioned here. One is that there is a question formed by taking a tag-like ne, resulting a [S ne?] question, which seeks a polar value but not in a X-neg-X question as it normally does.

(100) Zhuang (Wei 1985: 224)

sou cungj bae lo, daegngeih ne?

2PL all go PRT Daegngeih PRT

‘You all want to go. Does Daegngeih also like to go or not?’

Literally, ‘and Daegngeih?’

It is equally grammatical to ask daegngeih bae mbouj bae ne? (mbouj ‘not’), although it is not used very frequently.

Another matter is that, in Standard Chinese, the disjunctions huo(zhe) and haishi both mean ‘or’, tough the previous one is mainly used in declaratives, and the latter is used in interrogatives. In Zhuang, however, roxnaeuz ‘or’ is used in both cases, which resembles many Indo-European languages, e.g. Catalan o, English or, and German oder (see Chapter 4 for a typology of or and or/or?).

Bouyei

In Bouyei, polar questions are formed by intonation change, final question particles, X-neg(-X), and alternative structures. The most common question particles include ma and ni; the latter X in X-neg-X question can be dropped; an alternative question always takes a X mɯ⁵ Y (mɯ⁵ ‘or’) structure, followed (very commonly ni) or not followed by a question particle (Yu 1980: 60-1).

The answer of a X-neg-X question could be a bare form X, be it a (modal)

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verb or an adjective, which is the same in Standard Chinese.

(101) Bouyei (Yu 1980: 23-4)

a. mɯŋ² kaːm³ mi² kaːm³? kaːm³.

you dare not dare dare

‘Do you dare (to do that) or not?’ ‘Dare.’ (Yes, I do.) b. diŋ¹ mi² diŋ¹? diŋ¹.

red not red red

‘Is it red or not?’ ‘Red.’ (Yes, it is red.)

S ne? questions in Zhuang are also reported in Bouyei, by which a speaker seeks a polarity value like a X-neg-X question (see Yu 1980: 55).

Dai

In Dai polar interrogatives, intonation change, final question particles, X-neg-X, as well as alternative structures are used. There are some differences among the dialects of Dai. For example, in Xishuangbanna Dai, polar question particles include a⁵, lε³, and tsam², whereas in Dehong Dai, hɯ¹, hau⁵, and pɔ² are used respectively (Yu and Luo 1980: 75). (In Standard Chinese, they are ma, nema, and ba, respectively).

Alternative questions always adopt X prt Y (prt) structure, without any disjunction in between (Yu and Luo 1980: 60, 99).

(102) Dai (Yu and Luo 1980: 99)

noi⁵ niʔ ⁸ di¹ a⁶, noi⁵ nan⁴ di¹ a⁶?

CL this good PRT CL that good PRT

‘Is this one better, or that one is better?’

Lingao

In Lingao polar questions, terminal intonation change, final question particles, X-neg(-X), and alternative structures are often used. The most frequently used question particles are ma, ba, and ni, the structure of alternative question is X ən⁴ti⁴/ha³ti⁴ Y (ən⁴ti⁴/ha³ti⁴ ‘or’) (Zhang et al. 1985: 186, 190-2;

Liang and Zhang 1997: 81-92).

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Biao

The Biao language is spoken in some places in the Huaiji County and in the Fengkai County of the Guangdong Province, south China, with a small number of native speakers (the number is approximately 200,000 according to Chen 1990, but is around 80,000 according to Liang and Zhang 2002: 1).

In Shidong Biao, polar interrogatives use question particles, X-neg-X, and alternative questions. Final question particles in polar questions are very frequently found to be mε⁶, lau⁶wa⁶, and ni¹; an alternative question is of X disj Y (prt) structure; the answer to a X-neg-X question in Shidong Biao could be the bare form X (Liang and Zhang 2002: 108-26).

(103) Shidong Biao (Liang and Zhang 2002: 108, 111) a. poi¹ m̩⁶ poi¹? poi¹!

go not go go!

‘Are you going (there) or not?’ ‘I go!’

b. ɵam³ m̩⁶ ɵam³? ɵam³.

sour not sour sour

‘Is it sour or not?’ ‘It is sour.’

In Dagang Biao, however, there is no X-neg-X question. An equivalent meaning is conveyed by interrogative verb morphology, i.e. a⁴², which can be used before a verb (phrase) or an adjective to form a polar question (Chen 1990).

(104) Dagang Biao (Chen 1990) a. a⁴² ʔɔ⁴² tsiːə⁴⁴ pui³¹?

Q buy meat fat

‘Do you want to buy some fat?’

b. mɐn⁵¹ ke⁴² mɐ⁴⁴ a⁴² pui³¹? 3SG.M GEN pig Q fat

‘Is his pig fat or not?’

c. noi⁴⁴ tsu⁵¹ mia1³² a⁴² jɔt⁴⁴ lɐi⁵⁵ fai⁴⁴?

DEF CL horse Q run RES fast

‘Does that horse run fast?’

d. noi⁴⁴ tsu⁵¹ mia1³² jɔt⁴⁴ lɐi⁵⁵ a⁴² fai⁴⁴?

DEF CL horse run RES Q fast

‘Does that horse run fast or not?’

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There is a hypothesis that Wu and Kam languages share genetic relationship (Jing 1988; see also Chen 1990). As it has been discussed in Section 2.1.1.3, Wu is rich in a V(P) questions, e.g. Suzhou Wu, Ningbo Wu, and Old Shanghai Wu, and prefixing a⁴² in Dagang Biao seems to be further evidence that supports the hypothesis.

Kam (Dong)

In Kam (also known as Dong), polar interrogatives use final rising intonation, final question particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures. Some frequently used question particles include a¹, i¹, a⁴, ni¹, le⁶, and pa⁴; X-neg-X questions are found to take a X-neg(-X) (prt) structure, and the structure of an alternative question is X disj Y. (Liang 1980a: 74-6; Yang and Zhang 1993:

130-1).

Shui

Shui consists of three dialects, Sandong, Yang’an, and Pandong (Zhang 1980: 75). There are some differences in polar questions between Sandong Shui and Pandong Shui, though Yang’an Shui is not well documented so far and its polar question system is not clear.

Sandong Shui polar interrogatives use final question particles, e.g., a⁶, ɣo³, ni⁶, va², and X disj Y (prt) alternative questions. Full form X-neg-X questions are rare, more commonly, questions with the latter X dropped are used (Zhang 1980:

43, 57-8).

In Pandong Shui, however, the full form X-neg-X and the abbreviated form, X-neg, are used interchangeably (Xia 1989).

(105) Pandong Shui (Xia 1989)

a. ȵia⁴² mjat⁵⁵ mje⁴² mjat⁵⁵ man³⁵? 2SG love NEG love 3SG.F

‘Do you love her or not?’

b. ȵia⁴² tɕiə¹² tjaŋ³⁵ ljeu⁴² mei⁴⁴? 2SG eat full PST NEG

‘Are you full or not?’

Note that there is a tonal change on the final word in the examples above, that is, man¹² > man³⁵, mei⁵³ > mei⁴⁴. As Xia (1989) has already pointed out correctly,

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tonal change has been proved to be a good compensation of questions formed by question particles, as there are not many particles in Pandong Shui. Nevertheless, if a question ends with a question particle, e.g. j⁵³, a⁴⁴, ma⁴⁴, ndje⁴⁴, ni⁴⁴ (e.g.

105c), or ends with a short and checked tone (cùshēng, e.g. 105d), then the rule of tonal change usually does not apply.

c. ȵiə⁴² paːi¹² h̃o³⁵ man¹² lieu⁴² a⁴⁴? 2SG go see 3SG.M PST PRT

‘Did you see him or not?’

d. ȵiə⁴² mjat⁵⁵ man¹² mje⁴² mjat⁵⁵? 2SG love 3SG.M not love

‘Do you love him or not?’

Mulam

In Mulam, intonation change, question particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures are all reported in its polar question system. In particular, polar questions are formed by taking a terminal rising intonation; particle questions use final particles ma⁵, nε⁵, and pə; X-neg-X questions can have the latter X dropped, or have a disjunction (sɿ ‘or’) between the disjuncts, i.e. X-(disj)-neg-X;

alternative questions are of X (prt) disj Y structure (Wang and Zheng 1980: 92-6).

Note that question particles ma⁵ and nε⁵ are used together with a final rising intonation, whereas pə always goes hand in hand with a falling intonation (Wang and Zheng 1980: 96), which is similar to most Sinitic languages.

Maonan

Maonan polar interrogatives strategies include final particles, X-neg(-X), and alternative structures. Some common question particles include ma⁰, lε⁵, ni⁰, and pa⁶, and the structure of alternative questions is X wo³ Y (wo³ ‘or’) (Liang 1980b: 51-65).

Mo

Mo polar interrogatives strategies include intonation change, final particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures. Specifically, a declarative sentence turns into a polar question by using a terminal rising intonation, or final particles like ma⁴ and mə⁵. X-neg-X questions in Mo are very flexible, cf. V(P)-neg(-V) and A-neg(-A), and the alternative question structure is X disj Y (Yang 2000: 97-118,

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143-9).

(106) Mo (Yang 2000: a-b, 100; c, 103) a. ŋ² ȡai¹ kau⁵ man¹ me² kau⁵?

2SG like see 3SG.M NEG see

‘Do you like to meet him or not?’

b. an⁵ ŋ² kau⁵ man¹ me²? like 2SG see 3SG.M NEG

‘Do you like to meet him or not?’

c. lə²it⁷ au¹ si⁵ zok⁸ məi² (zok⁸)?

grape above DEF ripe not ripe

‘Are the grapes there ripe or not?’

(a) and (b) can be used interchangeably, with no difference in meaning. In (c), the latter adjective zok⁸ ‘ripe’ could be omitted freely.

Yanghuang

Yanghuang is reported to have rising intonation, question particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures in its polar question system. The most frequently used final particles are ma⁰, pa⁰, and ȵi⁰, and alternative questions take X disj Y structure, with also a short stop after the first disjunct (Bo 1997: 95-6, 130-3).

A feature of Yanghuang polar question deserving to be mentioned is that it has no X-neg structure. That is, the latter X in X-neg-X can not be dropped, be it a verb (phrase) or an adjective (Bo 1997: 131).

Lajia (Lakkia)

In Lajia (also known as Lakkia), polar question strategies include final question particles, X-neg-X structures, and alternative structures.

A common final question particle is ŋa⁴ (Liu 2007: 1318, 1322), X-neg-X questions can be either V neg (V) or A neg (A), and alternative questions are of X disj Y structure.

(107) Lajia (Liu 2007: 1322)

a. in³ na:ŋ⁴ ni² o:n⁵ huãi¹ o:n⁵?

CL clothes DEF beautiful NEG beautiful

‘Are the clothes beautiful?’

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b. tε:n¹jεŋ¹ lai¹lo:m¹ huãi¹?

film interesting NEG

‘Is the film interesting?’

Chadong

Chadong is spoken in the Chadong Township and the neighboring Liangjiang Township in the Lingui County, as well as some villages in the Longjiang Township in the Yongfu County, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, located in southwest China, with roughly 20,000 native speakers (Li 2001; 2007: 1325).

The polar question system of Chadong is still not very clear owing to very limited documentation, although Li (2001; 2007: 1335) reported two examples of final question particles and VP neg questions.

(108) Chadong (Li 2001; 2007: 1335) a. ȵi² pə¹ ta⁶ pak⁷kiŋ¹ ma⁶?

2SG go PFT PN QP

‘Have you been to Beijing?’

b. mən² pə¹ tsi⁴ kə² θaŋ³? 3SG.M go PST NEG PFT

‘Did he go (there) or not?’

Li

Polar question strategies in Li include final particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures.

Li is rich in question particles. In some cases, a sentence can even take two particles, e.g. tsau² tsu¹ pa³? (have PRT PRT) ‘(still) have?’ (Ouyang and Zheng 1980: 45; see also Ouyang 1983: 551). Alternative questions are always found to be of a X disj Y (prt) structure.

In Li a polar question is seldom asked by using sentence-final rising intonation (Ouyang and Zheng 1980: 70; Ouyang 1983: 552; Yuan 1994: 160).

X-neg-X questions in Modern Li are a result of language contact with Chinese. An earlier form is X(-disj)-neg, which is still kept in the language of senior people (see Ouyang 1983: 569; Yuan 1994: 76-7). Variants of V-neg-V

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questions (and verbal alternative questions) in five dialects of Li are summarized in the following table (based on Ouyang 1983: 568-9).

Table 2.20. Variants of V-neg-V question in the dialects of Li

Baoding Tongshi Baisha Xifang Jiamao

V-neg + + + +

V-neg-V + + +

V-disj-neg + +

V-disj-neg-V + +

Similar differences also lie in adjectival predicates.

(109) Li (Yuan 1994: 76-7)

a. ʔaː u¹za¹ haɯ² fei¹ kuːn¹ zɯːn³ ta¹ zɯːn³? old.man DEF walk road fast not fast

‘Does that old man walk fast or not?’

b. ʔaːu¹za¹ haɯ² fei¹ kuː n¹ zɯː n³ tsha³ta¹ ta¹? old.man DEF walk road fast or not

The traditional structure of Li, sentence (b), is used much more often than the Chinese-like sentence (a) (see Yuan 1994: 76-7, 183).

Cun

In Cun, polar question strategies include final particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures.

Some frequently used question particles include vε³, ai, nə, and ni. X-neg-X questions can have the latter X dropped, leaving a X-neg construction, or have a disjunction inserted between the first X and the negation word, resulting in a X-disj-neg construction (cf. German … oder nicht? ‘… or not’?), which is similar to the Li language. Alternative questions are of X disj Y structure (Ouyang 1998: 150-1, 181-2, 189).

(110) Cun (Ouyang 1998: 189) a. na⁵ bən⁴ vεn³ bən⁴?

3SG.M come not come

‘Will he come or not?’

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Polar interrogative strategies in Gelao include final question particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures.

There are many dialects of Gelao (see Zhang 1993: 294-372 for detailed discussion), which share many common features in polar questions, and some differences as well. For example, in almost all dialects of Gelao, the structure of the X-neg-X question is invariably X-X-neg, although there are some differences among individual dialects, which are summarized in the table below.

Table 2.21. Polar questions in the dialects of Gelao

Particle V-neg-V A-neg-A Alter. Reference

Wanzizhai,

VP-neg-V Zhang 1993: 101

Pingba 平坝 mɒ⁵⁵, la⁵⁵, mei³³

V(P)-neg A-A-neg X disj Y Zhang 1993: 140-72

Note that the blanks are situations unknown, which does not necessarily mean that certain dialects lack such interrogatives. This also applies to polar questions having a terminal rising intonation in a declarative sentence, as there are no clear statements in literature whether Gelao has a certain question or not.

The following X-neg-X questions are taken from Puding Gelao, all are of the same meaning.

(111) Puding Gelao (Zhang 1993: 94)

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The structure of (b) is VP V V-neg, in which the first VP behaves somewhat topic-like. A negative answer to these questions is ʑi³³ ka⁵⁵ʔɒ¹³ (1SG eat NEG) ‘I don’t want to eat.’, with a change on the vowel of the negator. Note that ʔa¹³ is used in questions and ʔɒ¹³ is used in declaratives (Zhang 1993: 96).

In Pingba Gelao, X-neg-X takes the structure of V(P) (disj) V-neg or A (disj) A-neg, depending if X is a verb (phrase) or an adjective. To have a disjunction in between is not the original form, which is known from the fact that it is used among younger generations, and not aged people (Zhang 1993: 156).

Buyang

In Buyang, strategies like intonation change, final question particles, and X-neg-X are all reported in the polar questions.

Some common question particles include hε⁰, ȵo⁰, and nε⁰. X-neg-X questions are always of X(-disj)-X-neg structure, although X could be a verb and sometimes also an adjective (Li 1999: 54-6, 64, 77).

There are also some structural differences in X-neg-X questions among individual dialects. For example, to ask Is it cold today or not?, the structure of Baha Buyang^巴哈 is A-neg-A, E’cun Buyang^峨村 is A(-disj)-A-neg, and Yalang

雅郎 Buyang is AA-neg.

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Pubiao

In Pubiao, polar interrogative strategies include terminal rising intonation, final particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures.

Some common polar question particles include han²¹³, na²¹³, na⁴⁵, na⁰, and ʔa⁰, etc. X-neg-X questions take V(P-)neg-V structure if X is a verb. Alternative questions normally take a X disj Y structure (Liang 2007: 76-8).

(113) Pubiao (Liang 2007: 77)

a. mi³³ ŋaːi²¹³ kɯ⁵³ nam⁴⁵ ŋaːi²¹³? 2SG love 3SG.M NEG love

‘Do you love him or not?’

b. kɯ⁵³ mie⁵³ nam⁴⁵ mie⁵³? 3SG.M come NEG come

‘Will he come or not?’

Laji (Lachi)

Polar interrogative strategies in Laji (also known as Lachi) include terminal rising intonation, question particles, X-neg-X, and alternative structures.

Some common question particles include la⁴⁴, ua³⁵, pa³¹, and nε⁴⁴. X-neg-X questions takes V V(P) neg and A A neg structures, which are similar to the Li language. Alternative questions are of X disj Y structure (Li 2000: 134, 146, 183-5).

(114) Laji (Li 2000: 112, 201)

a. m̩⁵⁵ mua¹³ kje³¹ a⁴⁴ɕo⁴⁴ mua¹³ ljo³¹? 2SG love 3SG.M or love NEG

‘Do you love him or not?’

b. m̩⁵⁵ mua¹³ mua¹³ kje³¹ ljo³¹?

c. m̩⁵⁵ ɕi³³ tja⁴⁴ qa⁵⁵ kjaŋ⁵⁵ (a⁴⁴ɕo⁴⁴) kjaŋ⁵⁵ ljo³¹? 2SG try weigh look heavy or heavy not

‘Try it. Is it heavy or not?’

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Bugan

Owing to the fact that adequate descriptive works are not available, the polar question system of Bugan is still not very clear. In a brief sketch, Li (1996/2007) reports that final question particles (e.g. ni⁵⁵) and alternative structures are used.

(115) Bugan (Li 1996; see also Li 2007a: 1446) mtse³³tso³³ kai³³ ma³³ mtse^55/31?

banana have or not.have

‘Are there any bananas or not?’

Mulao

Mulao’s polar question strategies include terminal rising intonation, question particles (e.g. ai³³), and X-neg-X structures. A X-neg-X question takes V(P)-neg-V structure in a verb complex, or A-neg-A in an adjective complex. In both cases, the latter X can not be dropped, in other words, Mulao lacks a X-neg question (Mu 2003: 96-7, 124-5), which is similar to Caijia (see below).

Caijia

Caijia uses final rising intonation, question particles, and a X-neg-X structure to form polar questions. A X-neg-X question takes V(P)-neg-V structure in a verb complex, or A-neg-A in an adjective complex. In both cases, the latter X can not be dropped, that is, Caijia lacks a X-neg question (Bo 2004).

(116) Caijia (Bo 2004)

a. ɣan³¹ (wu³³tshu³³) pu³³ ɣan³¹?

have people NEG have

‘Are there some people or not?’

b. o³³ sɿ⁵⁵ tsɿ³³ san³³ pu³³ san³³?

DEF water CL deep NEG deep

‘Is the river deep or not?’

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Im Dokument Interrogative Strategies : An Areal Typology of the Languages of China (Seite 123-135)