Interrogatives

Closed (yes/no) questions

Simple yes-no interrogatives in Qohenje are formed by prefixing the interrogative (INT) particle to the lexeme that is being questioned, and marking the whole phrase with the question particle both at the beginning and the end. Note the irregular spelling of (ljo'u).

To give a positive reply to this kind of question, the word that carried the INT particle in the question is simply repeated, with its case mark if it was a nominal. To give a negative reply, the appropriately negated form of the questioned word is given instead:

In the spoken language, a negative reply often just takes the form of the bare NEG morpheme ( ). This is a little like saying "nope" in colloquial English.

As the negative morpheme and the interrogative morpheme occupy the same syntactic slot in Qohenje, it is not possible to form "negative questions"

The QU particle can be used alone (or, more commonly, reduplicated) to form a questioning response to a declarative statement (a rejoinder question, abbreviated in the gloss as REJQU):

To respond with surprise or incredulity to a specific element of a declaration, the INT particle may be employed prefixed to the lexme in question as a full reply (in spoken language):

Open (information-seeking) questions

Qohenje has two different types of open question, depending on whether the element in question is a core argument or not.

Core interrogatives

Core interrogatives seek information on one of the core arguments of the clause: the TR,the LM or the relation itself. An interrogative proform takes the place of the lexeme in question. There are three such forms, dependent upon animacy:

ANIMATE	INANIMATE	ABSTRACT

These question words are full lexemes and do not co-occur with the interrogative marker. For example,

Note in the third example that the question word is in the COM aspect. The abstract question word varies its aspect in accordance with the intended aspectual state of the queried relation. But the concrete questions words also vary for aspect . In the AOR aspect their sense is much like their English equivalents, but in the other aspects they carry particular connotations about the questioned entity, to whit:

CONCRETE INTERROGATIVE WORDS
				Gives immediacy, and can give a feeling of threat, urgency or even anger, depending on the nature of the question
				Indicates disdain or criticism of the entity in question.
				Indicates exasperation or disapproval of the entity in question.
				Indicates impatience or anticipation of the entity in question (can be negaive or positive, depending on the on the context)
				Indicates concern or fear for the entity in question.
				Indicates confusion or suspicion regarding the entity in question
				Neutral question

 

 

Peripheral interrogatives

Qohenje can also form open questions on non-core arguments, adverbs etc, using a range of question words, like the "wh" words of English. These invariable phrase-initial elements are as follows,

The INT particle employed in closed questions can also be used with peripheral arguments with a similar sense to "which" in English: