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| - | An '''interrogative word''' or '''question word''' is a [[function word]] used to ask a [[question]], such as ''what'', ''when'', ''where'', ''[[who (pronoun)|who]]'', ''why'' and ''how''. They are sometimes called '''wh-words''', because in [[English language|English]] most of them start with ''[[wh (digraph)|wh-]]'' (compare [[Five Ws]]). They may be used in both direct questions (''Where is he going?'') and in [[indirect question]]s (''I wonder where he is going''). In English and various other languages the same forms are also used as [[relative pronoun]]s in certain [[relative clause]]s (''The country where he was born'') and certain [[adverb clause]]s (''I go where he goes'').
| + | #REDIRECT [[Interrogative word]] |
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| - | A particular type of interrogative word is the '''interrogative particle''', which serves to convert a statement into a [[yes–no question]], without having any other meaning. Examples include ''est-ce que'' in [[French language|French]], ли ''li'' in [[Russian language|Russian]], ''czy'' in [[Polish language|Polish]], কি ''ki'' in [[Bengali language|Bengali]], 吗 ''ma'' in [[Standard Mandarin|Chinese]] and か ''ka'' in [[Japanese language|Japanese]]. (The English word ''whether'' has a similar function, but only in indirect questions; and [[Multicultural London English]] may use "innit", even in the absence of the pronoun "it".) Such particles contrast with other interrogative words, which form what are called [[wh-question|''wh''-question]]s rather than yes–no questions.
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| - | For more information about the grammatical rules for forming questions in various languages, see [[Interrogative]].
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| - | ==In English==
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| - | Interrogative words in English include:
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| - | * interrogative [[determiner (linguistics)|determiner]]
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| - | ** ''which'', ''what''
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| - | ** ''whose'' (interrogative possessive determiner)
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| - | * interrogative [[pro-form]]
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| - | ** interrogative [[pronoun]]
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| - | *** ''who'', ''whom'' (personal)
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| - | *** ''what'', ''which'' (impersonal)
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| - | ** interrogative [[Pro-form|pro-adverb]]
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| - | *** ''where'' (location)
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| - | *** ''whence'' (source)
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| - | *** ''[[wiktionary:whither|whither]]'' (goal)
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| - | *** ''when'' (time)
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| - | *** ''how'' (manner)
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| - | *** ''why'', ''wherefore'' (reason)
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| - | *** ''whether'' (choice between alternatives)
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| - | ===Etymology===
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| - | Ultimately, the English interrogative pronouns (those beginning with ''[[wh (digraph)|wh]]'' in addition to the word ''how''), derive from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] root ''k<sup>w</sup>o-'' or ''k<sup>w</sup>i'', the former of which was reflected in [[Proto-Germanic]] as ''χ<sup>w</sup>a-'' or ''kh<sup>w</sup>a-'', due to [[Grimm's law]].
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| - | These underwent further sound changes and spelling changes, notably [[wh-cluster reductions|''wh''-cluster reductions]], resulting in the initial sound being either /w/ (in most dialects) or /h/ (''how, who'') and the initial spelling being either ''wh'' or ''h'' (''how''). This was the result of two sound changes – /hw/ > /h/ before /uː/ (''how, who'') and /hw/ > /w/ otherwise – and the spelling change from ''hw'' to ''wh'' in Middle English. The unusual pronunciation versus spelling of ''who'' is because the vowel was formerly /aː/, and thus it did not undergo the sound change in Old English, but in Middle English (following spelling change) the vowel changed to /uː/ and it followed the same sound change as ''how'' before it, but with the Middle English spelling unchanged.
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| - | In ''how'' (Old English ''hū'', from Proto-Germanic ''χ<sup>w</sup>ō''), the ''w'' merged into the lave of the word, as it did in Old Frisian ''hū, hō'' (Dutch ''hoe'' "how"), but it can still be seen in Old Saxon ''hwō'', Old High German ''hwuo'' (German ''wie'' "how"). In English, the gradual change of voiceless stops into voiceless fricatives (phase 1 of [[Grimm's law]]) during the development of [[Germanic languages]] is responsible for "wh-" of interrogatives. Although some varieties of [[American English]] and various [[Scottish English|Scottish]] dialects still preserve the original sound (i.e. [ʍ] rather than [w]), the majority only preserve the [w].
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| - | The words ''who'', ''whom'', ''whose'', ''what'' and ''why'', can all be considered to come from a single [[Old English]] word ''hwā'', reflecting its masculine and feminine nominative (''hwā''), dative (''hwām''), genitive (''hwæs''), neuter nominative and accusative (''hwæt''), and instrumental (masculine and neuter singular) (''hwȳ'', later ''hwī'') respectively. Other interrogative words, such as ''which'', ''how'', ''where'', ''whence'' as well as the now archaic ''whither'' derive either from compounds (''which'' coming from a compound of ''hwā'' [what, who] and ''līc'' [like]), or other words from the same root (''how'' deriving from ''hū'').
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| - | The Proto-Indo-European root also directly originated the [[Latin]] and [[Romance languages|Romance]] form ''qu-'' in words such as Latin ''quī'' ("which") and ''quando'' ("when"); this has also undergone sound and spelling changes, as in French ''[[wikt:qui#French|qui]]'' "which", with initial /k/, and Spanish ''[[wikt:cuando#Spanish|cuando]],'' with initial /kw/.
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| - | ===Forms with ''-ever''===
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| - | Most English interrogative words can take the [[suffix]] ''-ever'', to form words such as ''whatever'' and ''wherever''. (An older form of the suffix is ''-soever'', as in ''whomsoever''.) These words have the following main meanings:
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| - | *As more emphatic interrogative words, often expressing disbelief or puzzlement in mainly [[rhetorical question]]s: ''Whoever could have done such a thing? Wherever has he gone?''
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| - | *To form [[free relative clause]]s, as in ''I'll do whatever you do'', ''Whoever challenges us will be punished'', ''Go wherever they go''. In this use, the nominal ''-ever'' words (''who(m)ever'', ''whatever'', ''whichever'') can be regarded as [[indefinite pronoun]]s or as [[English relative clauses|relative pronouns]].
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| - | *To form [[adverbial clause]]s with the meaning "no matter where/who/etc.": ''Wherever they hide, I shall find them''.
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| - | Some of these words have also developed independent meanings, such as ''however'' as an [[adverb]] meaning "nonetheless"; ''whatever'' and ''whatsoever'' as emphatic adverbs used with ''no'', ''none'', ''any'', ''nothing'', etc.; and ''[[whatever (slang)|whatever]]'' in its slang usage.
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| - | ==Other languages==
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| - | A frequent class of interrogative words in several other languages is the interrogative verb:
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| - | *[[Korean language|Korean]]: Nalssi-ga '''eotteoh'''-seumni-kka? ([[Hangul]]: 날씨가 '''어떻'''습니까?) Weather-''nominative'' be_how-''politeness fifth level''-''interrogative suffix'' "How's the weather?"
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| - | *[[Mongolian language|Mongolian]]: Chi '''yaa'''-vch jaahan huuhed bish gej bi bod-jii-ne You do_what-''concessive'' small child not that I think-''progressive''-''nonpast'' "Whatever you do, I think you’re not a small child." (Example taken from an Internet forum)
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| - | ==See also==
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| - | *[[Five Ws]]
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| - | *[[Sentence function]]
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| - | {{DEFAULTSORT:Interrogative Word}}
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| - | [[Category:Interrogative words and phrases]]
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| - | == External Link ==
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| - | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrogative Wikipedia Article on Interrogative Word]
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