This paper reexamines the conventional classification of questions in the Formosan language Paiwan: polar, disjunctive,
and
wh-questions and seeks to rectify some previous observations and offer a more insightful taxonomy. Specifically, we
support the position in
Egli (1990) and
Huang et al.
(1999) and demonstrate that polar questions are formed by a rising intonation alone and that the putative polar question particles
(
ui)
dri, (
ui)
pai, na, and
ui lja are in fact polar
question tags, while
a and
ayau are non-interrogative interjection particles. There are thus no
morphosyntactically formed polar questions in Paiwan. Crucially, questions formed with the sentence-initial
tuki and its
variants
aki, ki, and
tui are disjunctive questions, not polar questions. We argue that
manu, previously seen as a disjunctive interrogative conjunction, is actually an emphatic adverbial instead, meaning ‘in
the end,’ which can thus appear in all types of questions and declaratives. Disjunctive questions, in either A-
or-B or
A-
not-A form, can also be formed with a silent disjunctive interrogative conjunction. Finally, we demonstrate that
disjunctive and
wh-questions share fundamental properties and should be recognized as two subcategories of constituent
questions, as opposed to polar questions. A two-way distinction is thus obtained for questions in Paiwan.