/ki/ means 'what' as well as 'who' but occurs in the latter role at least as often as /ki senla/ (< French qui + celle-la) and /ki dimun/ (< French qui + du monde) combined. Of the 'where' words, it is our impression that /kot/ is rather more frequent than /ki kote/ today. /kot/ is an abbreviation of /akot/ (still current but less frequent) from Fr. à cote de. /kote/ occurs only utterance finally, e.g. 'Where is his house' can be rendered as /ki kote so lakaz/, /kot so lakaz/ or /so lakaz kote/. /ki kote/ is often used to request more precise information, e.g.
kot li reste? 'where does she live?
- Por Lwi 'Port Louis'
ki kote? 'whereabouts?'
lari Madam 'rue Madame'.
Of the 'when' words, only kan (< French quand) can be used in all circumstances, /ki ler/ being limited to times of day (but being more frequent than French à quelle heure or English what time). For 'how' /ki manyer/ and /kuma/ (< French comment) occur with roughtly equal frequency.