WH QUESTIONS IN SINHALA M G LALITH ANANDA

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 § Verb morphology of Sinhala provides evidence for morphology-pragmatics Interface.

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

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

ILLUSTRATION § Soodanava ‘wash’, seeduva ‘washed, seeduw. E ‘washed-E (E-form) § Ram mokak da seeeduw. E 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?

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

MATRIX WH • . Ram monava da gatte? • • Ram what Q bought-E? What did Ram buy? • • • • • • Force. P 3 F’ 3 Int. P F gathth. E (bought) 3 IP INT 3 Ram I’ 3 VP I [+Pst] 3 V’ 3 QP V gath (buy) 3 WH Q Monava da What Q

EMBEDDED WH- wide scope • • • Oya [ Ram kauru hamuuna kiyala da] kiuwe You [Ram who met Comp Q ] said-E Who did you say that Ram met? Force. P • 3 • F’ • 3 • IP F kiuw. E (said) • 3 • Oya(you) I’ • 3 • VP I [+Pst] • 3 V’ • 3 • Int. P V kiyanava(say) • 3 • Fin. P Int DA • 3 • IP Fin KIYALA • 3 • Ram I’ • 3 • VP I[Pst] hamuuna (met) • 3 • V’ • 3 • QP V hamuvenava(meet) • 3 • WH Q • Kauru da

NARROW SCOPE • • • • • • • • Ram [kauda gedara yanne kiyala] ahanava Ram [who home go-E Comp] ask Ram is asking who is going home. c) Forcce. P 3 Int. P Force[+WH] ahanava 3 (ask) IP INT 3 Ram I’ 3 VP I [+Press] 3 V’ 3 Fin. P V ahanava (ask) 3 Focus. P Fin kiyala 3 Kauda(who) F’ 3 IP FOC[N][V] yann. E (go. E) 3 Kauda(who) I’ 3 VP I[+Pres] 3 NP V Gedara yanava (home) (go)

FOCUSED DP • • • • • • • • Lalith [Ram da gedara yanne kiyala] aehuva Lalith [Ram Q home go-E Comp] asked Lalith asked whether it is Ram/is it Ram who is going home. d ) Forcce. P 3 Int. P Force[+WH] aehuva 3 (asked) IP INT 3 Lalith I’ 3 VP I [+Pst] 3 V’ 3 Fin. P V ahanava (ask) 3 Focus. P Fin kiyala 3 Ram da F’ 3 IP FOC[N][V] yann. E (go. E) 3 Ram da I’ 3 VP I[+Pres] 3 NP V Gedara yanava (home) (go)

YES/NO QUESTIONS Ram potha kiyavanava da? Ram book read(Pres) Q Does Ram read the book? • • • Force. P • 3 • Int. P F • 3 • IP Int -da • 3 • Ram I’ • 3 • VP I [+pres] • 3 • V’ • 3 • NP V • Potha kiyavanava (book) (read)

YES/NO WITH AN EMBEDDED FOCUSED CONSTITUENT • • • • • • • • Oya [Lalith tamai eeka kar. E kiyala] hitanava da? You [Lalith FOC it did-E COMP] think Q Do you think that it was Lalith who did it? Force. P 3 Intp Force 3 IP Int - da 3 Oya (you) I’ 3 VP I [+pres] 3 V’ 3 Fin. P V hitanava (think) 3 Foc. P Fin kiyala 3 Lalith tamai Foc’ 3 IP Foc [N][V] kar. E (did-E) 3 lalith tamai I’ 3 VP I [+pst] 3 NP V eeka kara (did) (it)

EVIDENCE FOR MORPHOLOGY-PRAGMATICS INTERFACE • Ram [Janadhipati boruwak tamai kiuwe kiyala ]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 [Janadhipati boruwak tamai kiuwe kiyala] hituw. E 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

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

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