German Question Particles

@cite{theiler-2021} @cite{zheng-2025}

Lexical entries for German interrogative/flavoring particles.

Particles

Particle	Gloss	Layer	Bias
denn	highlighting-sensitive flavoring particle	PerspP	+evidential

German denn parallels Mandarin nandao: both require contextual evidence prompting the question. Key difference: denn is compatible with wh-questions, while nandao is restricted to polar questions.

@cite{theiler-2021} analyzes denn as highlighting-sensitive: it signals that the question is prompted by the highlighted/salient proposition in context. In polar questions, this creates an evidential requirement; in wh-questions, it merely signals informational need.

Cross-Module Connections

• Fragments.Mandarin.QuestionParticles.nandao: cross-linguistic parallel
• Kernel.nandaoFelicitous: shared felicity mechanism (evidence + unexpectedness)

structure Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.QParticleEntry : Type

A German interrogative/flavoring particle entry.

• form : String
• gloss : String
• layer : Semantics.Questions.QParticleLayer
• polarOk : Bool
• declOk : Bool
• whOk : Bool
• requiresEvidentialBias : Bool
• requiresEpistemicBias : Bool

instance Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instReprQParticleEntry : Repr QParticleEntry

Equations

• Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instReprQParticleEntry = { reprPrec := Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instReprQParticleEntry.repr }

def Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instReprQParticleEntry.repr : QParticleEntry → Nat → Std.Format

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

instance Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instDecidableEqQParticleEntry : DecidableEq QParticleEntry

Equations

• Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instDecidableEqQParticleEntry = Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instDecidableEqQParticleEntry.decEq

def Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instDecidableEqQParticleEntry.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : QParticleEntry) : Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

instance Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instBEqQParticleEntry : BEq QParticleEntry

Equations

• Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instBEqQParticleEntry = { beq := Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instBEqQParticleEntry.beq }

def Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instBEqQParticleEntry.beq : QParticleEntry → QParticleEntry → Bool

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
• Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.instBEqQParticleEntry.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false

def Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.denn : QParticleEntry

denn — highlighting-sensitive flavoring particle. Signals the question is prompted by salient contextual evidence. Compatible with both polar and wh-questions (unlike nandao).

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.allQuestionParticles : List QParticleEntry

Equations

• Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.allQuestionParticles = [Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.denn]

theorem Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.denn_evidential : denn.requiresEvidentialBias = true

theorem Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.denn_no_epistemic : denn.requiresEpistemicBias = false

theorem Fragments.German.QuestionParticles.denn_wh_ok : denn.whOk = true

Unlike Mandarin nandao, German denn is compatible with wh-questions (@cite{theiler-2021} §3).