whfrågeord

Whfrågeord is a term used in linguistics, particularly in Swedish scholarship, to describe the set of interrogative words used to form open or information-seeking questions. In English discussions this class is often called wh-words or interrogatives. The name reflects that many of these words begin with the letters wh, such as who, what, when, where, why and which; in Swedish, equivalent words include vem, vad, när, var, varför, hur, vilket, vilka, etc. Some analyses also include forms like how in English as part of the same question-family, even though it does not start with wh.

Whfrågeord are used to elicit specific kinds of information (person, thing, place, time, reason, manner, quantity, etc.) and can function as pronouns, determiners, or adverbs. They appear in the initial position of a clause in many languages, and their use often triggers syntactic adjustments, such as verb movement or inversion in English questions (for example, What did you see? / Where are you going?). In Swedish, whfrågeord typically occupy the initial position in main clauses, with the verb-second (V2) rule affecting word order (e.g., Vad såg du?).

Different languages vary in how strictly whfrågeord interact with other sentence elements, such as tense, aspect, and negation. Some languages allow embedded questions with wh-fragments, while others require full clauses. Whfrågeord are also used in combination with modifiers to form more complex questions, such as which kind, how much, or how many.

In sum, whfrågeord encompass the set of interrogative words used to ask for specific information, serving as the primary tools for forming open questions across languages, most notably in English and Swedish.