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Are the question words, such as when, where, who, why and how, adverbs? If they are, can anyone explain why they are defined as adverbs?

KillingTime
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Alan
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    I’m voting to close this question because the OP asked an identical question on ELL. – BillJ Mar 09 '21 at 09:11
  • Does this answer your question? What part of speech is "why" in the following example? Or 'Where is the cat?' – what part of speech is the word 'where'?? – Edwin Ashworth Mar 09 '21 at 15:21
  • I don't think this question should be closed, for two reasons: 1. This question is a better match for EL&U than for ELL. It is a tricky question about which there is some controversy. 2. The questions of which the present one is supposed to be a duplicate have answers that are not supported by providing reputable sources. – linguisticturn Mar 09 '21 at 18:47
  • @linguisticturn This would take us into the lumping/splitting debate, and I'm sure this has already been covered as regards the wh-words. Some POS-tagging schemes regard them as so far distant in distribution and purpose from trad adverbs that they aren't even medium-close relatives. Others lump by choosing different definitions. // 'What lexical category are the wh-question-words?' is obviously the same question; one answer quotes Swan. Answer there rather than re-open. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 09 '21 at 19:39
  • @EdwinAshworth The question you just mentioned is closed as a duplicate, so I can't answer there. The question of which it is supposed to be a duplicate, Is “when” an adverb in this usage?, is about when only. The only answer that includes a reputable source there is the one by Greg Lee, in which he hints at, but does not provide, an answer for the other question words. – linguisticturn Mar 09 '21 at 20:16
  • @EdwinAshworth As far as the answer that cites Swan, that is indeed good, but we should have e.g. CGEL's answer, too. One could, in principle, provide a more detailed answer (which addresses the other question words) to the 'Is “when” an adverb in this usage?' question, but I don't think that is a good idea: someone searching for answers would think that the answers will be limited to just what was asked. – linguisticturn Mar 09 '21 at 20:16
  • It would make more sense to ask individually for each word, although it would take more effort. It's far from certain that all are the same part of speech, or even that each word functions as only one part of speech, as shown by questions about why, where, when, etc. – Stuart F Mar 10 '21 at 09:13
  • @linguisticturn I'm not usually in favour of (the admittedly more user-friendly) 'Does this answer your question?' stock comment on CV-ing as being a likely duplicate. The question has obviously been asked before; contributors considering the answers at duplicates inadequate should add their own answers at the original. – Edwin Ashworth Mar 10 '21 at 11:35

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