Are you asking about linguistics in general or specifically about English? Because the rules are strongly language-dependent. For example, in some languages inflection is the only way to tell apart a statement from a question (romance languages such as Spanish and Italian are like that, so in writing the presence of a question mark or other symbol is essential). In others questions are characterized by (typically) having interrogative particles in it: Latin and Japanese are examples of this.
I'm interested in peoples thoughts in general, although, this question arose in the context of a discussion concerning this sub, so primarily I was focused on English. I agree with what you've said about the Romance languages - they are similar to the second English example I gave concerning "these are dogs". I wasn't aware of the interrogative particles you mentioned (my Latin is very broken at best, and my Japanese non-existent), but I will have a read on these :-)
[–] bilog78 0 points 3 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago
Are you asking about linguistics in general or specifically about English? Because the rules are strongly language-dependent. For example, in some languages inflection is the only way to tell apart a statement from a question (romance languages such as Spanish and Italian are like that, so in writing the presence of a question mark or other symbol is essential). In others questions are characterized by (typically) having interrogative particles in it: Latin and Japanese are examples of this.
[–] Reow [S] 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I'm interested in peoples thoughts in general, although, this question arose in the context of a discussion concerning this sub, so primarily I was focused on English. I agree with what you've said about the Romance languages - they are similar to the second English example I gave concerning "these are dogs". I wasn't aware of the interrogative particles you mentioned (my Latin is very broken at best, and my Japanese non-existent), but I will have a read on these :-)