Re: Spanish-related question ((q)SVO ?)

Rodlox/David Peterson wrote:

     Rodlox wrote:

    <<"Que wot be thee."
    " ? / what is / state-of-being / you "

    "What are you?">>

    >I still see two question words: "que" and "wot".  I mean, right in
    the translation you translate "wot" as "what is".  That's about as
    much of a question word as you can get.

      >  And
    what you have are two question words: "que" and "wot".  If I
    were to conjecture as to how this system works, it'd be this:

    >(1) Taking a standard GB root, let's say that there's a Q feature
    somewhere that causes WH words to move in front of the verb.

     minor question - what are 'GB' and 'WH' ?

    >So, in "wot be thee", the "wot" comes from the direct object position
    and moves in front of the verb.

    >(2) Unlike GB, the Q feature is actually extent, and that Q feature
    is "que".

     'extent'?...is existing on its own?
     (I derived that from "extant", so I'm likely wrong).

    >(3) Further conjecturing: If you wanted to say "Are you a teacher?",
    you'd have the following: "Que be teacher thee?"

    >Is that what you were thinking of?

     yep.

   Moi:
This feature is very much like Indonesian "apa", which (1) indicates a
yes-no question--

apa kita mau makan~? (rising Q intonation)
Q  we(incl.) want eat "do we want to eat? ~shall we eat?"
It's also common to suffix -kah also a Q marker) on Q-apa = apakah kita mau
makan?

--but (2) also functions as interrogative "what?" in an info. question:

kita mau makan apa?  OR apa yang kita mau makan? (level S inton.)
we  want eat  what?     what{is it} that we want eat?
"What shall we eat?"

(A problem for Engl.speaking learners, who tend simply to front the object--
*apa kita mau makan?.  That works in Indonesian _only_ if you put extra
heavy stress on the apa "APA kita makan" = "WHAT [on earth] are we eating?";
APA kita mau makan? "Whatever shall we eat?")

The only difference is that his languages has two Q words, one "que" that
simply marks a question, a verbal question mark-- plus another "wot" that
asks for info. Or so I interpret it....

ObConlang: Gwr apparently does the same thing-- in the recent relay, I
translated "What did I do then?" as

ko ja-so mo gr tri (ko)
Q what-emph. I do then (Q - optional) -- ordinarily "ja" would go in normal
post-vb position, but here it's fronted because emphatic.

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