Title

Saisiyat Interrogative Words and Domains in Question

Author

Marie Meili Yeh

Genre

Article

Pages

595-629

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Saisiyat, interrogative words, morphology, concept, interrogative verbs

Abstract

This paper deals with the concepts questioned by interrogative words in Saisiyat, a Formosan language spoken in the northwestern mountainous area of Taiwan. Through morphological decomposition, it is found that the conceptual domains under question include person, object, space, action, and quantity. Spatial interrogative words are combined with morphemes denoting such concepts as source, goal, or path to express specific questions concerning location. In addition, selection, time, and manner interrogative words are derived from spatial interrogative words via metonymic pragmatic inference and metaphoric extension. Although interrogative verbs are reported to be rare in world languages (Hagège 2008), action and quantity interrogative words in Saisiyat manifest themselves as verbs. From the action domain, question words for purpose and cause are derived. The status of action as an independent category is also evident in question words for quantity, where Saisiyat sets aside a bound morpheme, -pilaz, to form questions concerning actions or events.