Questions and Answers in Creole Languages

• Antragsteller: Dr. Tonjes Veenstra
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Einzelsprachwissenschaften, Historische Linguistik
• Förderung: Förderung von 2006 bis 2010
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 26702143

This research project proposes to study the general process of question formation in creole languages. From a theoretical perspective, it aims to evaluate the Clausal Typing Hypothesis of Cheng (1997), and to explore the relationship between focus and questions as well as the question whether the filler-gap dependency in questions is the result of actual movement. The other perspective is comparative. One of the leading questions here is whether there is a clustering effect: (i) which properties of question formation are uniform across creole languages?; (ii) what variation do we find between creole languages, and to what extent is this variation determined by the influence of superstrate and/or substrate languages on the ensuing creole? For this purpose, we undertake a cross-creole comparison of question formation and focus constructions on the basis of the existing literature. Up till now, there is no systematic and complete survey of the properties of wh- and focus constructions. The gaps we fill through fieldwork on Papiamentu and Jamaican Creole, as well as through colloboration with linguists working on a well-defined set of these languages. The QonQ-questionaire, as being developed in the ZAS-project (P11), as well as the testsuite developed by the D2-project of the SFB 632 "Informationsstruktur" will serve as the basis of this survey.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen