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WH QUESTIONS IN SINHALA M G LALITH ANANDA CENTRE FOR LINGUISTICS JNU

WH QUESTIONS IN SINHALA M G LALITH ANANDA CENTRE FOR LINGUISTICS JNU. Proposal. Sinhala WH facts motivate both overt and covert movement. Relevant Heads for WH operations in Sinhala are FORCE, INT, (TOP, FOC), FIN Overt movement is limited to the embedded periphery

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WH QUESTIONS IN SINHALA M G LALITH ANANDA CENTRE FOR LINGUISTICS JNU

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  1. WH QUESTIONS IN SINHALAM G LALITH ANANDACENTRE FOR LINGUISTICSJNU

  2. Proposal • Sinhala WH facts motivate both overt and covert movement. • Relevant Heads for WH operations in Sinhala are FORCE, INT, (TOP, FOC), FIN • Overt movement is limited to the embedded periphery • Verb morphology of Sinhala provides evidence for morphology-pragmatics Interface.

  3. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: RIZZI (1997, 1999) • FORCE, (TOP), INT, (TOP), FOC, (TOP), FIN, IP • C-system is an Interface between two layers of an information system • Topic:Focus field is present only when it is activated

  4. SOME BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SINHALA WH QUESTIONS • Question word remains in-situ • Question word is followed by Q-morpheme –da • -Da + E ending of the verb yields a Question interpretation • -Da alone yields only Yes/No question interpretation • -Da also functions as a disjunctive

  5. ILLUSTRATION • Soodanava ‘wash’, seeduva ‘washed, seeduwE ‘washed-E (E-form) • Ram mokak da seeeduwE Ram(Nom) what Q washed-E What did Ram wash? • Ram mokak da seeduwa Ram(Nom) what Q washed Ram washed something • Ram potha kieuwa da? Ram(Nom) book read(Pst) Q Did Ram read the book? • Oyaa ta bath da paan da oona? You(Dat) rice Q bread Q want Do you want rice or bread?

  6. DISTRIBUTION OF HEADS • E occupies the FORCE position • -Da occupies INT in Yes/No questions • -Da moves to INT in embedded periphery • The SAY Complementizer kiyala occupies the FINITE position

  7. MATRIX WH • . Ram monava da gatte? • Ram what Q bought-E? • What did Ram buy? • ForceP • 3 • F’ • 3 • IntP F gaththE (bought) • 3 • IP INT • 3 • Ram I’ • 3 • VP I [+Pst] • 3 • V’ • 3 • QP V gath (buy) • 3 • WH Q • Monavada • What Q

  8. EMBEDDED WH- wide scope • Oya [ Ram kauruhamuunakiyalada] kiuwe • You [Ram who met Comp Q ] said-E • Who did you say that Ram met? • ForceP • 3 • F’ • 3 • IP F kiuwE (said) • 3 • Oya(you) I’ • 3 • VP I [+Pst] • 3 V’ • 3 • IntP V kiyanava(say) • 3 • FinPIntDA • 3 • IP Fin KIYALA • 3 • Ram I’ • 3 • VP I[Pst] hamuuna (met) • 3 • V’ • 3 • QP V hamuvenava(meet) • 3 • WH Q • Kauruda • (who)

  9. NARROW SCOPE • Ram [kaudagedarayannekiyala] ahanava • Ram [who home go-E Comp] ask • Ram is asking who is going home. • c) ForcceP • 3 • IntP Force[+WH] ahanava • 3 (ask) • IP INT • 3 • Ram I’ • 3 • VP I [+Press] • 3 • V’ • 3 • FinP V ahanava (ask) • 3 • FocusP Fin kiyala • 3 • Kauda(who) F’ • 3 • IP FOC[N][V]yannE (goE) • 3 • Kauda(who) I’ • 3 • VP I[+Pres] • 3 • NP V • Gedarayanava • (home) (go)

  10. FOCUSED DP • Lalith [Ram dagedarayannekiyala] aehuva • Lalith [Ram Q home go-E Comp] asked • Lalith asked whether it is Ram/is it Ram who is going home. •   d) ForcceP • 3 • IntP Force[+WH] aehuva • 3 (asked) • IP INT • 3 • Lalith I’ • 3 • VP I [+Pst] • 3 • V’ • 3 • FinP V ahanava (ask) • 3 • FocusP Fin kiyala • 3 • Ram da F’ • 3 • IP FOC[N][V]yannE (goE) • 3 • Ram da I’ • 3 • VP I[+Pres] • 3 • NP V • Gedarayanava • (home) (go)

  11. YES/NO QUESTIONS Ram pothakiyavanavada? • Ram book read(Pres) Q • Does Ram read the book? • ForceP • 3 • IntP F • 3 • IP Int -da • 3 • Ram I’ • 3 • VP I [+pres] • 3 • V’ • 3 • NP V • Pothakiyavanava (book) (read)

  12. YES/NO WITH AN EMBEDDED FOCUSED CONSTITUENT • Oya [LalithtamaieekakarEkiyala] hitanavada? • You [Lalith FOC it did-E COMP] think Q • Do you think that it was Lalith who did it? • ForceP • 3 • Intp Force • 3 • IP Int -da • 3 • Oya (you) I’ • 3 • VP I [+pres] • 3 • V’ • 3 • FinP V hitanava (think) • 3 • FocP Fin kiyala • 3 • LalithtamaiFoc’ • 3 • IP Foc [N][V]karE (did-E) • 3 • lalithtamai I’ • 3 • VP I [+pst] • 3 • NP V • eekakara (did) • (it)

  13. EVIDENCE FOR MORPHOLOGY-PRAGMATICS INTERFACE • Ram [Janadhipatiboruwaktamaikiuwekiyala ]hituwa Ram(Nom)[ president Nom lie Foc said-E comp] think Past Ram thought that it was a lie that the president told. De-Re Reading Ram [Janadhipatiboruwaktamaikiuwekiyala] hituwE Ram(Nom)[ president Nom lie Foc said-E Comp] think Past-E Ram thought that it was a lie that the president told De-Dicto Reading

  14. CONCLUSION • Relevant Heads for Sinhala WH are FORCE, INT, (TOP, FOC,) FIN • Sinhala has an articulate Left Periphery • Sinhala WH facts motivate both Overt and Covert movement • The articulate C-domain can accommodate Sinhala Focus facts too. • Sinhala verb morphology shows evidence for morphology-pragmatics interface

  15. THANK YOU THANK YOU

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