The Particle ne in Direct yes-no Questions

This paper examines the particle ne in direct yes-no questions in Assamese. The particle ne occurs in the clause final position. When overt it is optionally followed by a negative element nai ‘is not’ or the k-word ki ‘what’. Constituent wh-questions have an abstract Q morpheme in the C position. Our study shows that the yes-no questions too have an abstract Q morpheme in the C position. The particle ne is not a question particle but a [+wh] disjunctive marker. The negative nai and the k-wordki are not constituents of the Disjunctive Phrase. They occur outside the matrix clause and are constituents of the second clause, which is conjoined to the matrix clause by the disjunctive particle ne.