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

On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:22:23 -0400, Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> wrote:

>    Moi:
> This feature is very much like Indonesian "apa", which (1) indicates a
> yes-no question--
Tagalog also has a question particle, "ba". In Hiligaynon/Ilonggo,
there is also a question particle, "bala". It's generally used when
someone is asking a yes/no question.

Manugbulong  bala  siya ?  - Is he/she a doctor?
profession-medicine (doctor) QUESTION he/she


Pilipina  ka  bala ? - Are you a Filipina/Filipino?
Filipino  you  QUESTION

Indi  bala  ini  papel ? -  Is this not paper?
Not QUESTION this paper


In Tagalog it works similarly:

Doktor ba si Pedro sa PGH? - Is Pedro a doctor at PGH?
Doctor QUESTION trig. Pedro at PGH

 Pupunta ba si Tess sa Cebu bukas? - Is Tess going to Cebu tomorrow?
Going QUESTION trig Tess to Cebu tomorrow

Mabait ba si Maria? - Is Maria kind?
Kind QUESTION trig. Maria

Ba is also used in a tag question to indicate "is it not?" (or less
formally, "right?" ): "hindi ba", or often it gets truncated to "'di
ba"

Maganda ang pelikula, hindi ba? - The movie was good, wasn't it?
Beautiful  trig. movie    not QUESTION

May tanong ka, 'di ba? - You have a question, don't you?
there.is  question you,  not QUESTION.

I suspect it also works the same way in Hiligaynon/Ilonggo





--
Listen Johnny;
You're like a mother to the girl you've fallen for,
And you're still falling,
And if they come tonight
You'll roll up tight and take whatever's coming to you next.

Slow Graffitti - Belle and Sebastian