The role of -i-na in Bangla ki-exclamatives

Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of -i-na in Bangla ki ‘what’-exclamative structures. The distribution and behaviour of the negative marker na in the -i-na particle suggests that it is expletive in nature and is attached to the emphatic particle -i. We argue that -i-na attaches at the phrasal, but not at the sentential level. We also claim that -i-na carries an uninterpreted exclamative clause type feature and serves the purpose of domain widening which, as per Zanuttini and Portner (2003), is a crucial component of exclamatives. In this paper, we put on an argument in favour of Bangla ki having two lives: an argument life and a modifier life which is exclamatory by itself. We propose a unified semantics of -i-na, which can be compatible with both the lives of ki. Throughout the paper, we embrace the Hamblin denotation while analyzing the wh, ki and base our analysis of exclamatives on Balusu’s (2019) rendition of widening.