User:Bukkia/sandboxVIII

Interrogative pronouns

Basic interrogative pronouns display two different forms: one for animate entities (who?) and one for inanimate entities (what?).

• what: šɑ
• who: šā́

Both pronouns can be declined, with the nominal declension endings, according to their animacy class.

šā́ɣɑ om pike ʔakowɑker
whom did you give water to?

However, while the animate class pronoun keeps its original meaning when declined, the inanimate class pronouns usually acquire new meanings, depending on the selected case:

• šɑtsar: where (static location)
• šɑɣɑ: where (motion toward)
• šɑšu: where... from (motion form)
• šɑkhu: why (cause)

All forms can, nevertheless, keep their original meaning of “what”:

šɑšu lolī́piñame om ʔaʔī́ser
what didn’t you see?

The various meanings of the declined forms can be usually inferred by the context of the sentence.

There are also other interrogative adjectives and pronouns (and adverbs):

• šā́ko: which (animate)
• šɑko: which (inanimate)
• šɑjuʔṓ: when
• šā́mine: how much (animate)
• šā́mineko: how much / many (animate)
• šɑmine: how much (inanimate)
• šɑmineko: how much / many (inanimate)
• šɑmɑgi: how

Example:

šā́minekono gū́ʔetino totirer
how many horses do you own?

Inside of an interrogative clause, pronouns usually stay in their syntactical position, according to their role, but in the later period they tend to be moved at the beginning of the sentence. In addition, like other parts of the sentences, can be followed by postpositions:

šā́ɣɑ gū́ om tsɑgewuger
whom are you talking about?