Polar questions can be answered with “yes” or “no” (or any synonyms for these that the language may use). This parameter only considers neutral questions[1], which do not suggest a particular answer.[2] A question is considered dependent if it is subordinate to a main clause whose lexical verb indicates a question, and if the question is not a direct quote. This parameter describes the word order of dependent polar questions. Prototypical sentences to be analyzed should contain a transitive verb (V), a subject (S) that is also the agent, and an object that is also the patient (P) of the verb; furthermore, both S and P should be represented by explicit nouns. Auxiliary verbs should be treated as V. Word order refers to the relative positions of these three items, with no consideration of any other words that may appear between them.

Types:

NoOblPq: The category of dependent polar question is not present in the language.[3]

OblPq=Pq: The word order of dependent polar questions is the same as in independent polar questions.

OblPq=Dclr: The word order of dependent polar questions is the same as that of declarative sentences and different from that of independent polar questions.[4]

OblPq=Spec: The word order of dependent polar questions is different from that of both declarative sentences and independent polar questions.[5]

When a language displays more than one word order, multiple values can be listed. If one word order is dominant, a slash (/) can separate the values, with the dominant value appearing first; if none are is dominant, they are listed with a ampersand (&) separating them. Types should be accompanied by detailed explanation in the commentary.

[1] In a neutral declarative statement, the subject (and agent) of the sentence should be the topic, while the verb and any other arguments or adjuncts constitute the comment.

[2] Questions that imply a specific answer, such as the tag questions “Right?” and “Isn’t it?” often show a different structure than neutral questions.

[3] In most languages that display this value, polar questions can only appear within subordinate clauses as direct quotations.

[4] This value describes English, as seen in the following examples: SVO: Peter is having his breakfast; VSO: Is Peter having his breakfast?; SVO: He asks us if Peter is having his breakfast.

[5] This value describes German, as seen in the following examples: SVO: Peter ißt sein Frühstück; VSO: Ißt Peter sein Frühstück?; SOV: Er fragt, ob Peter sein Frühstück ißt.