[Lingtyp] undifferentiated interrogative words

[Pier Marco Bertinetto]

Dear All,
sorry for the repeated sending: I replied to the wrong mail...
The initial input for this query was by Peter Arkadiev.

In Ayoreo (Zamucoan, spoken between Bolivia and Paraguay by about 5000
people) the interrogative
*cho rique* (to be read according to the Spanish orthography)
can have a number of interpretations. At least the following:
- what
- how
- how much
- when
Another interrogative element,
*gotique*
has not less than the following meanings:
- why
- which
On the other hand, for 'who' one finds the specialized word *gosi* (M.SG),
*gosode* (M.PL), *goto* (F.SG), *gotodie* (F.PL).
Best regards
Pier Marco

Il giorno dom 16 ago 2020 alle ore 19:06 David Gil <gil at shh.mpg.de> ha
scritto:

> Peter,
>
> In Khumi (Tibeto-Burman) there are three interrogative words whose
> meanings correspond to 'who', 'what' and basically everything else.
> (Data from David Peterson p.c.)
>
> David
>
>
> On 11/08/2020 21:47, Peter Arkadiev wrote:
> > Dear typologists,
> >
> > as is well-known, there are many languages lacking a distinction between
> "animate" and "inanimate" interrogative words (see the doctoral
> dissertation by Dmitry Idiatov), e.g. Lithuanian "kas" means both 'who' and
> 'what'. I am wondering if there are any languages where interrogative words
> don't distinguish between such ontological categories as "place", "time"
> and "manner", e.g. have a single interrogative word which, depending on the
> context, can mean "when", "where", "how" and the like.
> >
> > Many thanks in advance and best regards,
> >
> > Peter
> >
> > Idiatov, Dmitry. 2007. A Typology of Non-Selective Interrogative
> Pronominals. PhD Dissertation, Universiteit Antwerpen.
> >
> > --
> > Peter Arkadiev, PhD Hab.
> > Institute of Slavic Studies
> > Russian Academy of Sciences
> > Leninsky prospekt 32-A 119334 Moscow
> > peterarkadiev at yandex.ru
> > http://inslav.ru/people/arkadev-petr-mihaylovich-peter-arkadiev
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Lingtyp mailing list
> > Lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
> > http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp
>
> --
> David Gil
>
> Senior Scientist (Associate)
> Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
> Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
> Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
>
> Email: gil at shh.mpg.de
> Mobile Phone (Israel): +972-556825895
> Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81344082091
>
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