On the nature of AA question
in Yi and related problems
This paper aims to study a kind of interrogative in Yi which surfaces as an AA form commonly viewed as
AA/Reduplicative Question. It explores the interrogative motivation, question type, generative mechanism and syntactic derivation
of AA Question. We first assume that (i) AA question in Yi is a kind of alternative question, which is reduced successively from
A-or-not-A and A-not-A question and (ii) the [+Q] feature of AA question does not result from reduplication but from other
reasons. To justify these two assumptions, we use tests including adverb tests, modal tests, tag question tests, SFP tests, Q
& A tests, and cross-language investigation and sociolinguistic survey. The findings include (i) the [+Q] feature of AA
question results from the existence of an abstract interrogative morpheme, (ii) the phenomenon of reduplication is just a kind of
byproduct with the syntactic derivation of AA question and (iii) AA question, diachronically speaking, is essentially a kind of
alternative question, which is reduced successively from A-or-not-A and A-not-A question to meet the economic principle of
language.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Review of previous studies
- 2.1An overview of previous studies
- 2.2Further discussions on previous studies
- 2.3A brief summary of previous studies
- 3.Our proposals: Hypotheses and evidence
- 3.1Hypotheses
- 3.2Direct and indirect evidence
- 3.2.1Evidence from syntactic tests and Q & A tests
- 3.2.2Evidence from cross-language investigation
- 3.2.3Evidence from a sociolinguistic survey
- The aim of this survey and a working hypothesis
- Methods, participants and preliminary findings
- A further test of rqs’ frequency among different age groups: Methods, analyses and Results
- Implications of this sociolinguistic survey
- 3.2.4A brief summary
- 3.3The interrogative motivation and syntactic derivation of AA Question in Yi
- 3.3.1An abstract interrogative morpheme: its role and our further claims
- 3.3.2The syntax of the [+Q] feature of AA Question in Yi
- 3.3.3A brief summary
- 4.Concluding remarks
- Notes
- Abbreviations
-
References