Interrogation in Wolof : two strategies and a puzzle for wh-question words
Résumé
Wolof (Niger-Congo, Senegal) makes a typologically interesting use of noun class markers in its constituent question (or wh-question) words. As in other languages with noun class systems, the nominal lexicon is distributed into classes governing characteristic agreement schemes. In Wolof, the ten class agreement morphemes take the form of a bound consonantal morpheme C- : k-, b-, g-, j-, w-, m-, s-, l- (for singular), and ñ-, y- (for plural). The class agreement morphemes are used to form grammatical noun modifiers (mostly postposed to the noun modified) such as the definite and indefinite articles (as examplified in 1) and, demonstratives, quantifiers and relative pronouns. To the set of noun class morphemes should be added the two adverbial classifiers for space (f-) and manner (n-) which take the same suffixes as the noun class markers.
(1)(a)nitk-i ‘the person close to the speaker’
(b)nitñ-i ‘the people close to the speaker’
(c)xajb-i ‘the dog close to the speaker’
(d)xajy-i‘the dogs close to the speaker’
These noun class morphemes are also used to form interrogative proforms, e.g. k-an ‘who?’, f-an ‘where?’, b-an xaj ‘which dog?’. The wh-question words formed with noun class markers are actually organized into two parallel sets according to a general pattern whereby a common interrogative morpheme is affixed to different noun class markers. Across the two sets, the same class consonants are used as a base to which a common interrogative stem, either −an or −u, is suffixed. These two parallel sets of interrogative pronouns and pronominal adverbs trigger different verb inflections: the Null Tense conjugation for the –u set and one of the three focusing conjugations for the –an set, as illustrated in (2) and (3):
(2)F-anladëkk?
where1COMPFOC3SGlive
Where does he live?
(3)F-umudëkk?
where2NULL3SGlive
Where does he live?
The existence of this dual system is quite puzzling at first since the two patterns for content questions are apparently in free variation and seem to have the same meaning and uses. Why then does Wolof have these two parallel sets of constituent question words with apparently identical referential value? How might they differ?
In this talk, we will first present the neat sytem of Wolof for content question words, paralleling the one for noun modifiers, and then show that the two stems used to form these interrogative pronouns correspond to two different communicational strategies for constituent questions,
(1) one based on indefiniteness, using a spatial suffix −u used for suspensive pronouns (Van den Eynde & Mertens 2003), and indicating that the designated entity is not spatially localized,
(2) the another one (with the –an set) using strong interrogative pronouns in focusing constructions (Heine & Nurse 2008)
By contrast with –u, -an appears to be the only dedicated interrogative marker for content questions in Wolof. Eventually, his origin as a former locative question word (*where?) is revealed by the study of an irregular interrogative (locative) predicate (ana).
References
Robert, Stéphane (in press). Content question words and noun class markers in Wolof: reconstructing a puzzle. In B. Koehler (ed.), Form and function of interrogative sentences in African languages. Frankfurt : Frankfurter Afrikanistische Blätter.
Heine, Bernd & Derek Nurse (eds). 2008. A Linguistic Geography of Africa. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [Cambridge approaches to language contact].
van den Eynde, Karel & Mertens, Piet (2003). La valence: l'approche pronominale et son application au lexique verbal. Journal of French Language Studies 13, 63-104.
Domaines
Linguistique
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