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Splitting off the question word
quickinfo

The question word can be separated from the rest of the partitive Noun Phrase (NP).

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The construction can be split, as in the following example:

1
Wat hasto foar boek kocht?
what have.2SG for book bought
What book did you buy?

The split can only occur following the question word and preceding the preposition. Instead of the sequence wat foar what for, the sequence hokfoar what for, usually spelled as one word, may also be used. This form cannot be split:

2
a. *Hok hasto foar boek kocht?
what have.2SG for book bought
What book did you buy?
b. Hokfoar boek hasto kocht?
what.for book have.2SG bought
What book did you buy?

Splitting off the question word is acceptable with transitive subjects:

3
Wat ha der yn 'e fakânsje foar idioaten yn ús hûs wenne?
what have there in the holidays for idiots in our home lived
What idiots lived in our home during our holidays?

The following example involves a split on the indirect object, which is ungrammatical:

4
?*Wat hasto foar frjemde sekten allegear jild jûn?
what have.2SG for strange sects all money given
What strange sects did you all give money to?

The following example involves a split on a prepositional complement, which is ungrammatical:

5
*Wat hasto mei foar minsken praat?
what have.2SG with for people talked
What people did you talk with?

The non-split counterpart is grammatical:

6
Mei wat foar minsken hasto praat?
with what for people have.2SG talked
What people did you talk with?
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