A Morpho-Syntactic Study of Forms and Functions of Interrogative Markers in the Adamawa Fulfulde

This study is on the forms and functions of interrogative markers in Fulfulde. It aims at providing a clear view of interrogative markers and their functions in Fulfulde sentences. Specifically, to determine: the forms, functions and the syntactic constraints of interrogative markers in Fulfulde sentences. Observation and oral interview is used in data collection. The data are presented and analysed based on the researcher’s native intuition and the responses obtained in the field. The validated data are analysed using Government and Binding Theory. The outcome of this research indicates that there are two forms of question morphemes in Fulfulde, these are free (i.e. na, du, bo, ko, hay, koni, kori and malla) and bound (i.e. -ye) question morpheme. The bound question morpheme undergoes distinct morphological realisation depending on the nature of the form it attaches to. Syntactically, Wh-words in Fulfulde are realised as a result of movement even though in some cases they are found in-situ. However, the syntactic function of interrogative markers in the language is determined based on the function of the substituted pronoun, while the semantic function of irregular Wh-phrases is either independent, dependent or contextual in nature. It is observed that there are syntactic, morphosyntactic as well as syntactico-semantic constraints in the construction of interrogative sentences in the language.