Why is John Major the Prime Minister of Britain? (A good question, perhaps, in any language.) I had a stab at this in a recent message, but I don't think I got it right. More generally, I'm asking how you prepose a wh- adverb to a copular construction whose complement is definite. I.e. 'the X is the Y' = 'yr Y yw'r X' Now, how do you say 'how/why/when/where is the X the Y'? 2. Some biblical names which in English begin with J have I in Welsh (e.g. Iago, Iesu, Ioan), but others have J (Jeremia, Job, Josua). What principle is at work here (is it 'I' in the New Testament, 'J' in the Old)? Have the J-forms always had J, and how is it pronounced? The Bible says 'Jerwsalem', the dictionary 'Caersalem'. Is this the same kind of distinction that we have in English between 'Israelite' (member of an ancient tribe) and 'Israeli' (citizen of a modern state)? ************************ Nigel Love Linguistics Cape Town NLOVE@BEATTIE.UCT.AC.ZA ************************