Interrogative Projections in Yoruboid Languages
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Date
2017
Authors
Ilọri, J.F.
Journal Title
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Publisher
Publication of the West African Linguistic Society (WALS). University of Vienna, Austria
Abstract
Studies on split-CP hypothesis and the role of information structure in the syntax of the left
periphery have broadened understanding of the CP layer and the various structural projections
available there (Rizzi 1997, 2001; Benincà 2001, 2002; Bošković 2002; Aboh 2004, 2007; etc).
However, the question of the fine details of how these structures project in particular languages and
language groups/families still remains debatable particularly in the context of question formation
strategies and the scope and meaning interaction of focus and interrogative marking elements
employed to encode such information. This paper examines the projections of interrogative
constructions in Yoruboid* languages, a subgroup of Defoid-Kwa languages spoken in Central and
Southern Nigeria comprising Yorùbá, Ígálà ki i (Akinkugbe 1976, 1978; Omamor 1976;
Ilori 2010; Omachonu 2007, 2011; among others). It provides syntactic and semantic evidence to
show that focus and interrogative (Inter) heads though somehow knitted in these languages are
separately projected and differentiable. It shows that the somewhat knitted interaction of focus and
Inter in content question is better understood in the light of the more structurally explicit polar and
non-operator based content questions found in the languages. The paper concludes that content
question operators are not interrogative heads but some kind of nominal words that interpret the
focus of the interrogative force.
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Scholarly article
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Citation
Ilori, J. F. 2017. ‘Interrogative Projections in Yoruboid Languages’. Journal of West African Languages 44 Issue 1, pages 1-21. Official Publication of the West African Linguistic Society (WALS). University of Vienna, Austria