Re: What is an IE language (was: Re: Workshops Review from Yitzik the

En réponse à Joseph Fatula <fatula3@...>:

>
> It can be used in English, but the more standard way of making a
> statement
> into a question is to invert (using an auxiliary verb).
>
> - He runs every day.
> - Does he run every day?
>
Indeed. It's the same in Spanish and French (although Spoken French has
developped the expression "Qu'est-ce que... ?", which contains already the
inversion required for the question - the "est-ce" part is the inverted form
of "c'est" - so that the actual question, which becomes a subclause of that
expression, doesn't take the inversion. But the inversion is still there),
where the standard way to make a statement into a question is to invert.

>
> With an interrogative pronoun (que, quien, quanto, qual, etc.) it's like
> you
> say, but if I have a statement, changing it into a question (in my
> experience) has been simply a matter of intonation.
>
> - Tienes el libro.
> - ¿Tienes el libro?
>
But your example is not valid since it *doesn't* contain an overt subject! ("el
libro" is the *object* here) Since the inversion takes place between the
subject and the verb, if the subject is dropped (as is possible in Spanish),
then you cannot have inversion at all! If the subject was there, it would be:

- Tú tienes el libro.
- ¿Tienes tú el libro?

"¿Tú tienes el libro?" sounds extremely awkward to me (of course, Spanish is
only a L3 for me, but I've heard enough Spanish to know that it is awkward and
rare among Spanish people themselves).

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr

Take your life as a movie: do not let anybody else play the leading role.