tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Feb 05 01:40:54 1997
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Questions (Re: Phrases)
- From: Ivan A Derzhanski <[email protected]>
- Subject: Questions (Re: Phrases)
- Date: Wed, 05 Feb 1997 11:41:09 -0800
- Organization: Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science
... No, I'm not asking any questions, merely thinking about them.
Here are four sentences which involve a sentence-as-object (SaO):
(1) a. {mej ghaH 'e' vISov.} `I know that he left / will leave.'
b. {mej ghaH 'e' vIQub.} `I think that he left / will leave.'
c. {mej ghaH 'e' vIHon.} `I doubt that he leave / have left.'
(2) {pa' jIjaH vIneH.} `I want to go there.'
We're told that (1a) is actually a shortcut for {mej ghaH. 'e' vISov.}
`He left. I know that.', which seems to make sense. (1b) might then
be paraphrased as `He left. (At least) I think so.', and (1c) as
`He left (?!}. I doubt that.', assuming that the `first sentence'
can be taken as not really making a statement (ie as a counterfactual).
As for (2), it's just a special case of a SaO.
Now let's experiment with putting in a question word:
(3) a. ?{mej 'Iv 'e' DaSov.}
b. ?{mej 'Iv 'e' DaQub?}
These look alike, but are meant to be analysed in radically different
ways. (3a) involves a question-as-object (QaO): {mej 'Iv? 'e' DaSov.}
`Who left? You know (the answer to) that.', ie `You know who left.'.
The subtle part is that the question, as it were, has to stand for
its answer.
On the other hand, what we have in (3b) (if it is well-formed at all,
of course) is not a QaO (one can't embed a question under `think':
*`You think who left' is obviously out). Here the question is asked
at the top level: `Who is he such that you think that he left', ie
`Who do you think left?'. That is, in (3a) {mej 'Iv} is made into
an object for {DaSov}; in (3b) {'Iv} is substituted for {ghaH} (or
whatever) in the SaO sentence (1b).
Similarly, (4) is not a QaO either; it is derived directly from (2)
(a sort of SaO) by plugging a question word into the right place
(fitting it in the position that would be occupied by the answer):
(4) {nuqDaq bIjaH DaneH?} `Where do you want to go?'
To be sure, there can be constraints in the language that prevent
any of this from working.
--'Iwvan
--
"mIw'e' lo'lu'ta'bogh batlh tlhIHvaD vIlIH [...]
poH vIghajchugh neH jIH, yab boghajchugh neH tlhIH"
(Lewis Carroll, "_Snark_ wamlu'")
Ivan A Derzhanski <[email protected], [email protected]>
Dept for Math Lx, Inst for Maths & CompSci, Bulg Acad of Sciences
Home: cplx Iztok bl 91, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria