Question Meaning = Resolution Conditions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/LLP.2017.017Keywords
questions, inquisitive semantics, partition semanticsAbstract
Traditional approaches to the semantics of questions analyze questions indirectly, via the notion of an answer. In recent work on inquisitive semantics, a different perspective is taken: the meaning of a question is equated with its resolution conditions, just like the meaning of a statement is traditionally equated with its truth-conditions. In this paper I argue that this proposal improves on previous approaches, combining the formal elegance and explanatory power of Groenendijk and Stokhof’s partition theory with the greater generality afforded by answer-set theories.
References
Maria Aloni and Robert van Rooij, “The dynamics of questions and focus”, in B. Jackson (ed.), Proceedings of SALT 12, Cornell University, CLC Publications, 2002.
Nuel Belnap, “Questions and answers in Montague grammar”, Chapter 6 in S. Peters and E. Saarinen (eds.), Processes, Beliefs, and Questions, Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 1982. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-015-7668-0_6
Nuel Belnap, “Declaratives are not enough”, Philosophical Studies 59, 1 (1990): 1–30. DOI: 10.1007/BF00368389
Nuel Belnap and Thomas Steel, The Logic of Questions and Answers, Yale University Press, 1976.
Michael Bennett, Questions in Montague Grammar, Indiana University Linguistics Club, Bloomington, 1979.
Rudolf Carnap, Der logische Aufbau der Welt, 2nd edition, Meiner, Hamburg, 1961.
Gennaro Chierchia, Danny Fox, and Benjamin Spector, “Hurford’s constraint and the theory of scalar implicatures: Evidence for embedded implicatures”, pages 47–62 in P. Egré and G. Magri (eds.), Presuppositions and Implicatures, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2009.
Ivano Ciardelli, “A generalized inquisitive semantics”, Term Paper, University of Amsterdam, 2008.
Ivano Ciardelli, “Inquisitive semantics and intermediate logics”, MSc Thesis, University of Amsterdam, 2009.
Ivano Ciardelli, “A first-order inquisitive semantics”, Chapter 24 in M. Aloni, H. Bastiaanse, T. de Jager, and K. Schulz (eds.), Logic, Language, and Meaning: Selected Papers from the Seventeenth Amsterdam Colloquium, Springer, 2010. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-14287-1_24
Ivano Ciardelli, Questions in Logic, PhD thesis, Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of Amsterdam, 2016a.
Ivano Ciardelli, “Questions as information types”, Synthese, 2016b. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-016-1221-y
Ivano Ciardelli and Floris Roelofsen, “Inquisitive logic”, Journal of Philosophical Logic 40, 1 (2011): 55–94. DOI: 10.1007/s10992-010-9142-6
Ivano Ciardelli and Floris Roelofsen, “Hurford’s constraint, the semantics of disjunctions, and the nature of alternatives”, Natural Language Semantics, 2017. DOI: 10.1007/s11050-017-9134-y
Ivano Ciardelli, Jeroen Groenendijk, and Floris Roelofsen, “Inquisitive semantics: A new notion of meaning”, Language and Linguistics Compass 7, 9 (2013): 459–476. DOI: 10.1111/lnc3.12037
Ivano Ciardelli, Jeroen Groenendijk, and Floris Roelofsen, “Inquisitive semantics”, European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information lecture notes, available via www.illc.uva.nl/inquisitivesemantics, 2015a.
Ivano Ciardelli, Jeroen Groenendijk, and Floris Roelofsen, “On the semantics and logic of declaratives and interrogatives”, Synthese 192, 6 (2015b): 1689–1728. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-013-0352-7
Ivano Ciardelli, Floris Roelofsen, and Nadine Theiler, “Composing alternatives”, Linguistics and Philosophy, 2016. DOI: 10.1007/s10988-016-9195-2
Kit Fine, “A theory of truth-conditional content”, manuscript, 2015.
Jane Friedman, “Question-directed attitudes”, Philosophical Perspectives 27, 1 (2013): 145–174. DOI: 10.1111/phpe.12026
Jeroen Groenendijk, “Inquisitive semantics: Two possibilities for disjunction”, Chapter 8 in P. Bosch, D. Gabelaia, and J. Lang (eds.), Language, Logic, and Computation, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer-Verlag, 2009. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-00665-4_8
Jeroen Groenendijk, “Erotetic languages and the inquisitive hierarchy”, in a Festschrift for Martin Stokhof, 2011. http://dare.uva.nl/document/487828
Jeroen Groenendijk and Martin Stokhof, Studies on the Semantics of Questions and the Pragmatics of Answers, PhD thesis, University of Amsterdam, 1984.
Jeroen Groenendijk and Martin Stokhof, “Type-shifting rules and the semantics of interrogatives”, pages 21–68 in Properties, Types and Meaning, Springer, 1989. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-2723-0_2
Jeroen Groenendijk and Martin Stokhof, “Dynamic predicate logic”, Linguistics and Philosophy 14, 1 (1991): 39–100. DOI: 10.1007/BF00628304
Jeroen Groenendijk and Martin Stokhof, “Questions”, pages 1055–1124 in J. van Benthem and A. ter Meulen (eds.), Handbook of Logic and Language, Elsevier, 1997. DOI: B978-044481714-3/50024-2
Charles L. Hamblin, “Questions in Montague English”, Foundations of Language 10, 1 (1973): 41–53.
Roland Hausser and Dietmar Zaefferer, “Questions and answers in a contextdependent Montague grammar”, pages 339–358 in F. Guenthner and S.J. Schmidt (eds.), Formal Semantics and Pragmatics for Natural Languages, Reidel, Dordrecht, 1978. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-009-9775-2_12
Irene Heim, The Semantics of Definite and Indefinite Noun Phrases, PhD thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, 1982.
James Higginbotham and Robert May, “Questions, quantifiers and crossing”, The Linguistic Review 1, 1 (1981): 41–80. DOI: 10.1515/tlir.1981.1.1.41
Jaakko Hintikka, Knowledge and Belief: An Introduction to the Logic of the Two Notions, Cornell University Press, 1962.
J. Isaacs and K. Rawlins, “Conditional questions”, Journal of Semantics 25, 3 (2008): 269–319. DOI: 10.1093/jos/ffn003
Hans Kamp, “A theory of truth and semantic representation”, pages 277–322 in J. Groenendijk, T. Janssen, and M. Stokhof (eds.), Formal Methods in the Study of Language, Mathematical Centre, Amsterdam, 1981.
Lauri Karttunen, “Syntax and semantics of questions”, Linguistics and Philosophy 1, 1 (1977): 3–44. DOI: 10.1007/BF00351935
Roni Katzir and Raj Singh, “Hurford disjunctions: Embedded exhaustification and structural economy”, pages 201–216 in U. Etxeberria, A. Fălăuş, A. Irurtzun, and B. Leferman (eds.), Sinn und Bedeutung 18, 2013.
Philip Koralus and Salvador Mascarenhas, “The erotetic theory of reasoning: Bridges between formal semantics and the psychology of deductive inference”, Philosophical Perspectives 27, 1 (2014): 312–365. DOI: 10.1111/phpe.12029
Manfred Krifka, “Quantifying into question acts”, Natural Language Semantics 9, 1 (2001): 1–40.
Hannes Leitgeb, “A new analysis of quasianalysis”, Journal of Philosophical Logic 36, 2 (2007): 181–226. DOI: 10.1007/s10992-006-9033-z
David Lewis, “Statements partly about observation”, Philosophical Papers 17, 1 (1988): 1–31. DOI: 10.1080/05568648809506282
Salvador Mascarenhas, “Inquisitive semantics and logic”, Master Thesis, University of Amsterdam, 2009.
Marie-Christine Meyer, “Deriving Hurford’s constraint”, Semantics and Linguistic Theory, 24 (2014): 577–596 (Proceedings of SALT). DOI: 10.3765/salt.v24i0.2518
Floris Roelofsen, “Algebraic foundations for the semantic treatment of inquisitive content”, Synthese 190, 1 (2013): 79–102. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-013-0282-4
Floris Roelofsen and Donka F. Farkas, “Polarity particle responses as a window onto the interpretation of questions and assertions”, Language 91, 2 (2015): 359–414. DOI: 10.1353/lan.2015.0017
Remko Scha, “Logical foundations for question answering”, PhD thesis, University of Groningen, 1983.
Robert Stalnaker, “Assertion”, Syntax and Semantics 9 (1978): 315–332.
Robert Stalnaker, “On the representation of context”, Journal of Logic, Language, and Information 7, 1 (1998): 3–19.
Anna Szabolcsi, “Quantifiers in pair-list readings”, pages 311–347 in A. Szabolcsi (ed.), Ways of Scope Taking, Springer, 1997. DOI: /10.1007/978-94-011-5814-5_9
Anna Szabolcsi, “What do quantifier particles do?”, Linguistics and Philosophy 38, 2 (2015): 159–204. DOI: 10.1007/s10988-015-9166-z
Pavel Tichy, “Questions, answers, and logic”, American Philosophical Quarterly 15 (1978): 275–284.
Ivano Ciardelli Sophia Velissaratou, “Conditional questions and which-interrogatives”, MSc Thesis, University of Amsterdam, 2000.
Andrzej Wiśniewski, Questions, Inferences, and Scenarios, College Publications, 2013.
Stephen Yablo, Aboutness, Princeton University Press, 2014. DOI: 10.1515/9781400845989
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 1011
Number of citations: 2
