Interrogative Identifying Clauses In Tagalog

 Martin (2013: 50):

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To be clear, these are interrogative forms of the thematic equative:

The information that the first clause demands is a decoding of the Token sino ('who') by reference to the Value ang naglaro ('who plays'), and the information that the second clause demands is a decoding of the Token ano ('what') by reference to the Value ang ginawa mo ('what you did') — Martin's second gloss notwithstanding. Analogous clauses in English are who is it who plays and what is it you did.

The fact that these clauses are thematic equatives casts further doubt on Martin's thematic analysis of Tagalog. As Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 93, 95) explain for English:

This kind of clause is known as a thematic equative (cf. Halliday, 1967/8), because it sets up the Theme + Rheme structure in the form of an equation, where Theme = Rheme. The particular clause type that is being exploited to form a thematic equative is the identifying clause… . In a thematic equative, all the elements of the clause are organised into two constituents; these two are then linked by a relationship of identity, a kind of ‘equals sign’, expressed by some form of the verb be. …

A thematic equative (which is usually called a ‘pseudo-cleft sentence’ in formal grammar) is an identifying clause which has a thematic nominalisation in it. Its function is to express the Theme-Rheme structure in such a way as to allow for the Theme to consist of any subset of the elements of the clause. This is the explanation for the evolution of clauses of this type: they have evolved, in English, as a thematic resource, enabling the message to be structured in whatever way the speaker or writer wants.

If the same is true of Tagalog, then thematic equatives may be a resource for highlighting a different element as Theme. In English, for example, it is used to avoid selecting an unwanted marked Theme (Halliday & Matthiessen 2014: 97).