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Questions

The syntax and semantics of questions and question responses.

There are three types of questions that need a special answer: polar questions, propositive questions, and pro-form questions. Each one is answered slightly differently.

Polar Questions​

A polar question (in English, these are often called yes-no questions) is one where you are offering a state or action and asking someone to indicate if that state or action is affirmed or not affirmed (i.e., true or false, respectively).

To answer a polar question, you can respond with the verb that was used in the question or the negatitive marker (yôk) or both.

ke mokon ni hoî lono uklo ko. "Will you eat it tomorrow?"

mokon. "Yes."

nîmû côûfon ôfo ko. "Did you cook this?"

yôk. "No."

nîmû monodo sî nîo bi ôhel ko. "Have you met them before?"

monodo yôk. "I haven't"

Or, in the case of a subject complement sentence, you can respond with the nucleus of the complement, the verb for "to exist" (gô) or the negatitive marker (yôk).

ke li gô hoî ôfo hoî lono uklo ko. "Will you be here tomorrow?"

gô. "Yes"

nîmû li cunyû ko. "Are you cold?"

cunyû. "Yes"

umo Somiel li gô hoî ulyô hoî bitûn ôfo ko. "Was Samuel there tonight?"

yôk. "No"

In either case, you can also respond with "true" (hokîkî) or "false" (hûdul).

ôlê zowo mokon êo sî hoî bitûn ôfo ko. "Did the dog get fed tonight?"

hûdul. "False."

Propositive Questions​

A propositive question (in English, these don't have a specific form but involve usage of specific sentence ending phrases like "agreed?" or "sound good?") is one where you are offering a state or action with an irrealis mood and requesting someone to indicate if they agree.

Like the polar questions, you can respond with the verb that was used in the question or the negatitive marker (yôk) or both.

nîmû mokon ofek noyo hoî lono uklo cî. "Does you eating with me tomorrow sound good?"

mokon. "Yes."

nûs côûfon ôfo cî. "Let's cook this!"

yôk. "No."

nîmû monodo nîo cî. "Do you agree to meet them?"

monodo yôk. "I don't."

Or, in the case of a subject complement sentence, you can respond with the nucleus of the complement, the verb "to agree" (wofok) or the negatitive marker (yôk).

ke li gô hoî ôfo hoî lono uklo cî. "You will be here tomorrow, right?"

wofok. "Agreed."

nîmû li cunyû cî. "You will be cold, okay?"

cunyû. "Yes"

umo Somiel kûu li gô hoî ulyô hoî bitûn ôfo cî. "Samuel must be there tonight, right?"

yôk. "No"

Unlike polar questions, you can't respond with "true" or "false" but you can make more formal approval setnences by making use of the verb "to agree".

û nîmû ôlê zowo onô mokon êo hoî bitûn ôfo cî. "You will feed the dog tonight, sound good?"

noyo wofok yôk nênko fos noyo kûu li nô mût dênêmêk yê zomo kîôsô noyo. "I do not agree because I must go to my team's practice."

Pro-Form Questions​

A pro-form question (in English, these are called open questions) is one where the interrogative word (zik) is either a nucleus of a preposition (a noun) or a modifier.

noyo kûu ôntôn zik mût kôndodû onô. "What clothes should I wear to the party?"

û cûdo yê umo zik li dibo zik. "Whose gifts are in which boxes?"

nênko zik û nîmû gûwolo. "Why are you scratching?"