Questions in Vorlin

[Back] [En español]

28 October 2000

• Vocabulary introduced
• Introduction
• yes/no
• Asking for one of the unknown elements
  • subject
  • object
  • complements
• comments

Vocabulary introduced.

nok=night
lego(vt) =to read
goni (vi)=to go ,to come, to move

kalu (prep)=because of (before noun phrase)
kale (adv,cj)=because (links two sentences)

Introducción

Let's say the sentence has these elements

SVOC

Besides the known S-V-O I have introduced C (complement), that means other parameters or modifiers of the verb: beneficiary, adverbs, prepositional phrases etc. (C in stantard vorlin may be the first or the last element of the sentence). From this point of view I am going to discuss these type of interrogatives:

1. Yes/No we ask if the action described by the verb is true or not
2. We ask for any of the elements of the sentence we ignore
   • Who is the subject
   • What is the object
   • What is any of its complements

1. Yes/No

We ask if the action of the verb is true or false, is being accomplished or not. It is the easiest question, we add ma at the end of sentence, as described in standard Vorlin.

P:¿Do you see that book?
R:Yes I do/No I don't

P:ti vido tan buk ma?
R:vido/ non vido

2. Asking for one of the unknown elements

In these case we remove the element we are asking for, and the question particle becomes ma x ma where x depends upon the kind of question. The serie ma x ma looks a little redundant, but I think it highlights the question, and allows re-use particles with no more vocabulary effort.

2.1. Subject

En this case we replace the subject by man, and ku (pronoun he) as internal particle We could create a new one but I think there is no possible confussion in ma ku ma.

P:Who sees the book?
R: I see the book

P:man vido buk ma ku ma?
R:ya vido

Perhaps instead of man we could use ku, just because I don't like the sound man...ma:

P:ku vido buk ma ku ma?
R:ya vido

or just removing the subject

P:vido buk ma ku ma?
R:ya vido

2.1. Object

En this case we will remove the object and the particle will be ke (relative)

P:¿What do you see?
R:a book

P:ti vido ma ke ma?
R:buk

2.1. complements

In these cases the particle will be the one wich we use for the complement in the the declarative sentence.

Let's see this sentence (nok=night, lego(vt)= to read)

ti lego buk tu hus tu nok
You read a book at home at night

clearer:
ti lego buk tulok hus tutem nok

P:Where do you read the book ?
R:At home

P:ti lego buk ma tulok ma?
R:tu/tulok hus

P.When do you read the book?
R:At night

P:ti lego buk ma tutem ma?
R:tu/tutem nok

so you can do it with other complents of the verb

I am coming from the house
ya goni des hus

P:Where are you coming from?
R: from the house

P:ti goni ma des ma?
R:des hus

P:¿Where are you going to?
R: To the house

P:ti goni ma tos ma?
R:tos hus

Other questions:

P:¿Why are you running?
P:ti lupi ma kal ma?

P:¿Inside of what is the book?
P buk ma nin ma?

P: ¿Whose that book?
P:tin buk ma ez ma?

P: ¿since when are you reading that book?
P:ti lego tin buk ma destem ma?

Comments

Every words when? where? who? etc, have been reduced to expressions like ma x ma, and I think it is a neat solution. However, in the languages I know, interrogative words (who? where? etc) are at the begining of the sentence, and of course, it looks more comfortable for me. So, another alternative is to use a new particle to create question. v.g. wa

From a structure

<sentence> ma x ma?

we change to:

wa x <sentence> ma ?

P: ¿since when are you reading that book?
Old:ti lego tin buk ma destem ma?
New: wa destem ti lego tin buk ma?

There are another kind of questions

Yes/no about if one of the elements of the sentence is true or false, till now we only asked about the action of the verb.

The case shown in 1. we ask if the verb is true
P: ¿Are you reading a book?
R: No, I'm Watching TV

We ask if a complement is true
P: ¿Is in the house where you are reading the book?
R: No, I'm reading it at the school

We ask if the subject is the true.
P: ¿Is you who is reading the book?
R: No, It is James

We ask if the the object is true
P: ¿Is a book what you are reading?
R: No, I'm reading the manual of the car..

Complements are not always marked by a preposition (for example adverbs)

P:How do you run?
A: fast, gracefully etc

We could create a new particle .vgr kom

P:How do you run?
P:ti lopi kom ma?

How to ask for quanties or measures, that is, the answer of the questions must be a number, a measure or a degree

P¿How much iron is there?
P¿How many books are there?
P:¿How long is the house?
P:¿How big is the room?

and more.....

E-mail:Santiago Amposta
[Back] [En español]