Wh-questions

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Wh-question (Adger and Ramchand 2005:(12))

a bha sgith?
who C.REL be.PST tired
'Who was tired?'

Equative wh-question when the subject is a wh-element ((Adger and Ramchand 2005:(15))

an tidsear?
who the teacher
'Who is the teacher?'

Pied-piped wh-question (Adger and Ramchand 2005:(21))

an seòrsa tidsear a tha annad?
what the sort teacher C.REL is in + you
'What sort of teacher are you?'

Fronted wh-phrases are always nominative marked (Adger and Ramchand 2005:(31)).

a' chraobh a bha thu a'geàrradh?
which the tree.NOM C.REL be.PST you cutting
'Which tree were you cutting?'

The sentence becomes ungrammatical with genietive marking on the noun inside the wh-phrase (Adger and Ramchand 2005:(31)),

a' chraobhe a bha thu a'geàrradh?
which the tree.GEN C.REL be.PST you cutting
'Which tree were you cutting?'

although the object noun is marked with genitive in declaratives (Adger and Ramchand 2005:(30))

Bha thu a'geàrradh na craoibhe.
be.PST you cutting the tree.GEN
'You were cutting the tree.'