‘Does not he really know the way’: On grammaticalization of rhetoric questions in North Samoyed languages

This paper deals with several types of forms and constructions in North Samoyed languages (Nenets, Enets and Nganasan) that are identical with, or go back to negative questions. It demonstrates that such constructions, originally rhetoric, have evolved into a special kind of structures that express information taken for granted by both the speaker and the addressee and are used to justify other statements or actions. Negation can also occur in the same function in other non-affirmative moods such as dubitative or irrealis.

In Nganasan, these structures are formally rather similar to negative constructions so that in the absence of an explicit interrogative marker (e.g., with nominal forms), they may be ambiguous admitting both affirmative and negative reading where a phrase like “he not Nenets” may mean either ‘he isn’t Nenets’ or ‘he is Nenets, you know’. In Nenets and Enets, these structures often additionally require a special particle which is fused with person-number suffixes to form a dedicated series of agreement markers. In addition, in affirmative uses the negative verb may occur after the main verb, which is impossible for its negation uses; similar cases are frequent in Nenets and Enets and rare in Nganasan.

A special use of the negative-interrogative construction in Nenets and Enets is attested with the verb of saying introducing direct speech. This use reflects the cross-linguistic tendency to reduce the assertiveness of quotative markers.