ダガラ語におけるwh疑問文について

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Résumé

This dissertation investigates the syntax of wh-questions in Dagara, a Mabia (ex-Gur) language in the Niger-Congo language family spoken in Burkina Faso and Ghana.The goal is to unravel how wh-questions are formed in the language and explore their theoretical consequences within the recent framework of generative syntax.Chapter 1 introduces the study by showing the syntactic profile of the language, the research questions and hypotheses considered and examined in the dissertation.It also shows the organization of the entire dissertation.Chapter 2 focuses on describing how wh-questions are formed in the language.I show two main strategies through which they are formed: A movement strategy and a wh-in-situ strategy.They are shown in (1).(1) a. Ànύ nu ka Ayuo nyέ? who FOC that Ayuo saw 'Who was it that Ayuo saw?' b.Ayuo nyέ-n ànύ?Ayuo saw-AFF who 'Who did Ayuo see?' Also, I consider reduced answers to direct wh-questions, also known as fragment answers in the literature, providing an additional argument that the type of movement involved in wh-questions in Dagara is focus movement.This is shown below.(4) a. Ànύ nu ka Ayuo nyέ? who FOC that Ayuo saw 'Who did Ayuo see?' b.Zã nu ka Ayuo nyέ.John FOC that Ayuo saw 'Ayuo saw JOHN.' c. Zã nu.John FOC 'John' d. * Zã nu ka.John FOC that e. * Zã

Mots-clés

Syntax, Focus (optics), Argument (complex analysis), Generative grammar, Natural language, Movement (music)