Skip to content
Universal 1673: VSO ⇒ no question particle in Wh word questions
Original
In most VSO languages, the question particle (corresponding to the English if/whether) does not appear in Wh word questions.
Standardized
IF basic word order is VSO, THEN the question particle (corresponding to the English if/whether) does not appear in WH word questions.
Keywords
order, VOS, question particle, Wh-question
Domain
syntax
Type
implication
Status
achronic
Quality
statistical
Basis
languages mentioned in Kuno, including Japanese, Korean, Turkish, German, French, Tagalog, Persian
Source
Kuno 1974 : 135
Counterexamples
Tagalog (W. Malayo-Polynesian, Austronesian) moves Wh words obligatorily to the clause initial position and still retains the question particle (Kuno 1974: 135, ftn. 19).
