Revisiting Negative Particle Questions in Sixian Hakka

This study investigates the syntactic structure of negative particle questions (NPQs), also known as VP-NEG questions, in Sixian Hakka (a variety of Chinese spoken in Taiwan). We revisit the existing literature on Hakka NPQs, pointing out unresolved issues in previous analyses. Drawing on previous analysis of VP-NEG questions in Middle Chinese, we argue that the negator mo in Hakka NPQs has grammaticalized into a disjunctive head, as mo and the predicate do not show agreement. This proposal not only accounts for the syntactic properties of NPQs in Sixian Hakka but also addresses potential problems found in previous studies.