The nature of ma ne polar questions

In the previous section, I have mentioned that in Standard Chinese, the question particle ma could be further divided into ma1 and ma2, ne could be further divided into ne1 and ne2. These divisions also apply in the six Sinitic languages

3 Question particles and final particles

with mane questions. The formation of mane in these languages is invariably ma1ne1, while *ma1ne2, *ma2ne1, and *ma2ne2 are not attested.

Table 3.5. ma, ne, and mane in six Sinitic languages

ma1 ma2 ne1 ne2 mane

neutral suprise/rethoric ‘on earth’ wh-

Yangjiang Cantonese mo²¹ me⁵⁵ ne²¹ ne⁵⁵ mo²¹ne²¹

Beiliu Cantonese ma ne, lo mane

Shaoyang Xiang ma⁴² ã⁵⁵ nã⁴² ma⁴²nã⁴²

Chengbu Xiang man⁵⁵ man³¹ lai³¹ lai⁵⁵ man⁵⁵lai³¹ Yongxin Gan maŋ⁵⁵ a⁵⁵ lε²¹ lε⁵⁵ naŋ⁵⁵lε²¹

Shangyou Hakka mã⁵⁵ nẽ⁵⁵ mã⁵⁵nẽ⁵⁵

The reason that mane questions take ma1ne1 is that ma1 is neutral, and the force of ne1 is to probe, to ask an addressee to choose between yes or no, hence there is no semantic conflict between them. ma2 is commonly found in surprises, guesses, and rhetorical questions, which is with a low degree of interrogativity, and a speaker even seeks no answer in many cases. ne2 is used in the so-called semantic/reduced wh-questions and is irrelevant for the present purpose.

A combination of the question particle ma1 and the final particle ne1

suggests that questions with ma1ne1 are yes-no questions because interrogativity is carried by ma1. This can be seen in the distribution of mane questions in the six Sinitic languages mentioned above.

Table 3.6. Distribution of mane questions in six Sinitic languages

yes-no X-neg-X Alternative wh-

Yangjiang Cantonese + - - -

Beiliu Cantonese + - - -

Shaoyang Xiang + - - -

Chengbu Xiang + - - -

Yongxin Gan + - - -

Shangyou Hakka + - - -

A general summary of mane question is, that it is composed of ma1 and ne1, and is used in yes-no questions. mane questions express a strong sense of impatience and seek a quick and clear answer of a polarity value. It is rare in Sinitic languages, and (so far) only found in south China.

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3.3. Final particles in wh-questions 3.3.1. Final particles in wh-questions

In wh-questions of Standard Chinese, as they occur in polar questions, final particles express some ‘on earth’ meaning, or to the contrary, politeness, or even rhetorical meaning, depending on the context, although they are not necessary in forming wh-questions (cf. Jayaseelan 2012 for a similar observation in “many languages”, e.g. Malayalam; but see Cable 2010: 30-31 for Tlingit sá, Sinhala da, and Japanese ka, three question particles that must be used in some of their wh-questions and wh-indefinites; for Japanese ka, see also Wachowicz 1980, Jayaseelan 2012).

(16) Standard Chinese

a. shui zhidao? (wh-question)

who know

‘Who knows this?’

b. shui zhidao a/ne? (wh-question, rhetorical/‘on earth’/politeness)

who know FP

‘Who knows? (I don’t know.)’ / ‘Who on earth knows this?’ /

‘(Please tell me) Who knows this?’

c. shui zhidao ma? (polar question)

who know QP

‘Does someone know this?’

Note that a wh-question turns into a polar question if question the particle ma is used (16c). (16c) is a case of indefinite-interrogative affinity (see, e.g. Li 1992, Haspelmath 1997, Bhat 2000, Gärtner 2009). In fact, in Standard Chinese the wh-phrases turn to be indefinite pronouns if question particle ma (and the like) is added at the end of a content question, cf. shui ‘who ~ someone’ (16c), nali

‘where ~ somewhere’, shenme ‘what ~ something’, etc.

Final particles are used very commonly in the wh-questions of Sinitic languages. As far as the dialects (or, varieties) of Sinitic languages are concerned in the present study, only some dialects of Gan seem not to include such final particles. For example, Jishui Gan normally does not take any final particles in

3 Question particles and final particles

wh-questions; and Old Nanchang Gan, which is spoken in the capital city of Jiangxi Province, does not have any final particles in wh-questions, though younger generations may use some, which is a clear case of borrowing (from Standard Chinese).

In the minority languages of China, very frequently, final particles are also found in wh-questions, carrying a similar meaning as they do in Sinitic.

Table 3.7. Final particles in wh-questions in 128 minority languages With particles Without particles Unknown

79 3 46

The three languages that are reported not to have final particles in wh-questions are Dongxiang (Liu 1981: 105), Sulong (Li 2004: 166), and Za (Li and Jiang 2001). Note, however, that the two latter descriptions are by the same author, and conceivably final particles have not been at the centre of his attention.

The final particles in wh-questions in 79 languages are listed in the following table. (For the three Kam languages, i.e. Mo, Mulao, and Caijia, we still lack relevant information; languages with final particles in reduced wh-questions are not included here, see Section 3.3.2.)

Table 3.8. Final particles in wh-questions of 79 minority languages

KAM HMONG-MIEN (MIAO-YAO)

Zhuang ne, ni, da, ha Hmong (Miao) nen³⁵, nend

Dai li¹, tsa⁵, a² Baheng lɦε³³

Lingao ni² Jiongnai ni³⁵

Biao ni¹ Mian (Mien) njε⁴², ləi²⁴, səi³³

Shui ndje⁴⁴, ɣo² She nji⁶

Mulam ja⁵, ni⁵

Maonan lε⁵ AUSTRO-ASIATIC

Mo (unknown) Wa (Va) hliex

Yanghuang ȵi⁰ De’ang ε

Lajia a³ Jing dəi¹, ne¹

Li ne²/ni², ja², h(a)ɯ² Buxing ŋa

Cun ni, he Lai ʔe², ʔe⁴

Buyang hε⁰

Mulao (unknown) CREOLE

Caijia (unknown) Dao ne, ni

3 Question particles and final particles

TIBETO-BURMAN AUSTRONESIAN

Tibetan na, pa Amis ʃaw

3 Question particles and final particles

The table suggests that the most common onset of the syllable structure of final particles in the wh-questions of minority languages are n- and l-, and the most common nucleus is a, both are features of Standard Chinese and many other Sinitic languages. There is no clear clue to trace their common origin (if any), but there are some clear cases of borrowing, e.g. Mian and Zhuang (see Section 7.2.1).