Minimal documentation for the Matrix Constituent Questions library

The constituent questions library provides support for a range of syntactic patterns associated with constructions like:

(1) Who did what where?

(2) What did you think Kim did?

(3) Do you know who arrived?

(4) I don't know who arrived.

…and similar.

Typological scope

The library covers some of the fronting patterns including no fronting (in situ) (1)–(3), question particles (3), morphological marking (4), and special question verbs (5).

(1) Who did what where? [eng]

(2) Kto kogda kogo videl?
    who when  whom saw
    "Who saw whom and when?" [rus]

(3) Mary John nanio yonda to   itta no
    Mary John what  read  that said Q
    "What did Mary say John read?" [jpn]

(4) qodo lʔe-t-о̄
    what be-FUT-ITRG-1PL
    "What shall we do? (lit.: "What will we become?") [yux]

(5) req-ərkənəm  igirkej gənin ekək?
    do.what-PROG now     your  son
    "What is your son doing now?" [ckt]

Relevant Questionnaire portions

The best way to figure out how to fill out the questionnaire is probably by uploading the choices files from the wh- regression tests on the Matrix website. All of the typological combinations which were tested will be (by definition) covered there. All wh- regression test names start with wh, e.g. wh-bxl, wh-dev-rus, or wh-sov-sg-opt.

To summarize:

  1. Specify question words on the Lexicon page. Some POS will have a checkbox “interrogative”; check that if you are specifying a question word.
  2. Specify question particles and morphological marking on the Yes/No Questions page.
  3. Specify all other wh-questions-related things on the Constituent (wh-) Questions page.

Notes on choices for question particles

With question particles, one thing to keep in mind is that the particles used in polar (Yes/No) questions are always optional in the Matrix. This led to wh-questions particles specification being a bit confusing at the moment (if you have an idea on how to improve this, please file an issue!). As it is, there are three separate areas in the Yes/No questionnaire which mention particle optionality. You can either say that all particles are optional; otherwise, you must specify for each function whether it is obligatory or impossible in wh-questions (the default still being “optional” for each particle).

Notes on morphological marking choices

The checkbox for morphological marking on the Wh-questions webpage is actually not serving any purpose except for the user to “register” a typological feature for themselves. In reality, the only checkbox that matters is “Verbal inflection” on Yes/No Questions page. Check that, and then on the Morphology page, specify lexical rules and choose the appropriate value for the question feature.

Corresponding dissertation (canonical citation) and code snapshot

The most complete information about the library can be found in Olga Zamaraeva’s 2021 dissertation:

@phdthesis{zamaraeva-diss,
author={Olga Zamaraeva},
title={Assembling Syntax: A cross-linguistic analysis of constituent questions in a grammar engineering framework},
school={University of Washington},
year={2021}
}

The code snapshot corresponding to the dissertation when it was submitted is committed to Github under tag “Zamaraeva-dissertation”.

Last update: 2021-06-07 by Olga Zamaraeva [edit]