Professor Lisa L.-S. Cheng
Leiden University

dim2 analyse mat1 ?

The use of question words such as dim2 ‘how’ and mat1 to express reason questions can be found in many different languages, ranging from Dutch, Italian, Hebrew, Zulu, and Cantonese. In this paper, I argue that the reason question readings (i.e., why readings) of these two questions words come from different sources. I show that the why reading of how is dependent on modality, while the why reading of what is not. Using comparative data including Cantonese and Mandarin as well as other languages, I show that mat1 in the sentence initial position (see Tang 2008) differs from mat1 in the post-verbal position, and these generate different interpretations and therefore suggests different analyses.