Abstract
The aim of this study is to analyze the use of hani constructions with wh-intonation patterns. We demonstrate that there is a strong semantic parallelism between negative polar questions (cf. Ladd 1981; Buring and Gunlogson 2000) and hani constructions with wh-intonation, and we argue that semantically both constructions involve a negation and a question operator. We further show that although the two constructions are semantically similar, their difference shows itself in the domain of pragmatics. Unlike negative polar questions which can simply be answered by a regular response token, the use of hani constructions is interactional in nature and requires an account from the hearer for the perceived change in behaviour or expectation.