| Data: |
2025 |
| Resum: |
This paper investigates the syntax and pragmatics of a peculiar type of wh-questions found in Martinican Creole and characterized by the presence of the clausal determiner la in sentence-final position. Regular and la-marked wh-questions do not differ as far as their internal and external syntax is concerned. Pragmatically, however, la-marked wh-questions stand out in the two following ways: (a) they cannot be uttered out of the blue, and (b) they do not tolerate nothing-type answers. I attribute these properties to the presence of la, which I argue is the spell-out of a [+familiar] feature. Accordingly, a la-marked wh-question will refer to a familiar QUD introduced through the prior addition of an existential proposition to the common ground. On the basis of the interpretational properties of la-marked wh-questions, as well as the distribution of la, I propose that la is merged in the Grounding layer proposed by Wiltschko (2021). This is consistent with the fact that it plays a role in the management of the common ground. Beyond Martinican Creole, this analysis lends support to the assumption that certain pragmatic functions are encoded in the grammar. |
| Drets: |
Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.  |
| Llengua: |
Anglès |
| Document: |
Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada |
| Matèria: |
Martinican creole ;
Wh-questions ;
Syntax-pragmatics interface ;
Common ground ;
Multifunctionality |
| Publicat a: |
Isogloss, Vol. 11 Núm. 3 (2025) , p. 1-25 (Articles) , ISSN 2385-4138 |
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(University at Buffalo)
