LINGUIST List 11.119

Fri Jan 21 2000

Qs: Verbal Interrogatives, North & South Vietnamese

Editor for this issue: Naomi Ogasawara <naomilinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Lameen Souag, Verbal Interrogatives
2. Karl Reinhardt, North and South Vietnamese

Obviously, interrogatives can occur as nouns (what), adjectives
(which), adverbs (how), and even perhaps numerals (ikutu/nan- in
Japanese). Does anyone out there know of a language with verbal
interrogatives (perhaps in a sentence like 'what are you doing?')? If
there are none, does anyone know of a reason why there shouldn't be?

Thanks in advance,

Lameen Souag
lameenshotmail.com

I have been asked to find out something about the differences between
North and South Vietnamese. There is a suggestion that a US court
interpreter, from one area, mistranslated an accused person from
another, and because of misunderstanding the accused was given a stiff
sentence. I would appreciate any relevant information. I realize
that the whole question is very vague, but that is how I received it.
Due to others involved, if I could have a comparison in Spanish (e.g.,
Mexican and Argentinian Spanish, or Spanish and Catalan) I would be
grateful. Technical discussion, such as individual correspondences,
would probably not help much. Any statements about mutual
intelligibility would help, of course.

Thanks very much.
Karl