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{{AfC submission|t||ts=20220331205249|u=Biktor627|ns=118|demo=}}<!-- Important, do not remove this line before article has been created. --> 

'''Question semantics''' is the [[linguistics|linguistic]] study of the [[Semantics (linguistics)|meaning]] of [[questions|questions and answers]].  Questions are a major area of research in the [[syntax-semantics interface]].{{sfn|Dayal|2017|p=1}}

* Play as important of a role in semantics as they do in syntax.
* what else should go in this paragraph?

==Overview==

Questions are a major topic of research in [[formal semantics (natural language)|formal semantics]] because they do not fit with the classic view of denotations as [[truth conditions]].{{sfn|Dayal|2016}}  An influential approach developed by [[Charles_Leonard_Hamblin|Charles Hamblin]]{{sfn|Hamblin|1973}} and [[Lauri Karttunen]]{{sfn|Karttunen|1977}} defines the meaning of a question as the set of possible answers to that question.

<!-- Some work uses the word "interrogative" for the clause type and reserves "question" as a term for the utterance type or speech act. If we decide to follow that convention, it could be introduced  here. (It's a useful distinction and grounded in the literature, but it's not universal and annoying to have to follow it consistently).-->

=== What is a question?===

[[Veneeta Dayal|Dayal]] .... [[speech act]]:{{snf|Dayal|2017|p=4}}

: {{smallcaps|Speech Act of Questioning―}}Speaker '''S''' questions Hearer '''H''' about proposition <math>p</math> if and only if:
{{ordered list|type=lower-roman
| '''S''' does not know whether <math>p</math> is true or false
| '''S''' wants to know whether <math>p</math> is true or false
| '''S''' believes '''H''' knows the answer of <math>p</math>.
}}

==Types of questions and answers==

===Polar questions===
{{See also|Polar question}}

A ''polar question'' (or ''yes-or-no question'') is a question that asks whether a given proposition is true. For instance, the following English example can be answered with "yes" or "no", indicating whether or not Igor wrote a poem{{sfn|Ciardelli|Groenendijk|Roelofsen|2019}}

# Did Igor write a POEM?
#: a. Yes (Igor wrote a poem)
#: b. No (Igor did not write a poem)
#:: i. No, Igor wrote a book.
# Did Igor WRITE a poem?
#: a. Yes (Igor wrote a poem)
#: b. No (Igor did not write a poem)
#:: i. No, Igor read a poem.
# Did IGOR write a poem?
#: a. Yes (Igor wrote a poem)
#: b. No (Igor did not write a poem)
#:: i. No, John wrote a poem.

===Alternative questions===

An ''alternative question'' is a question that asks which of several possibilities is true. For instance, the following English example can be answered with "a poem", "a book", but not with "yes" or "no". In this data sentence, the symbols "↑" and "↓" mark a rising and falling intonation contours respectively.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Alternative question |encyclopedia=LinguaLinks Library Glossary of Linguistic Terms|year=2003 |publisher=SIL|url=https://glossary.sil.org/term/alternative-question}}</ref>{{sfnm|1a1=Ciardelli|1a2=Groenendijk|1a3=Roelofsen|1y=2019|2a1=Biezma|2a2=Rawlins|2y=2015}}

# Did Igor write a POEM↑ or a BOOK↓? (alternative question)

Alternative questions are generally constructed using [[disjunction]]. However, additional ingredients such as [[focus (linguistics)|focus]], [[intonation (linguistics)|intonation]], and [[Grammatical particle|particles]] are often necessary to distinguish them from other kinds of questions.<!-- I gotta go now, but this can be cited to/expanded from work by Romero, Roelofen, Biezma, Meertens, Hoeks, a.o. -->

# Did Igor write [a POEM or a BOOK]↑? (polar question)

===Wh-questions===
Questions which include [[wh words]]- such as "who", "what", "where", "whether" and "if"- at the beginning of the [[clause]] are called wh-questions. "Whether" and "if" only appear in indirect questions, and do not appear alongside other interrogative words such as "who" or "where". Questions may include multiple wh-words as shown in the English example below<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kuno |first=Susumu |last2=Robinson |first2=Jane J. |date=1972 |title=Multiple Wh Questions |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4177732?searchText=&searchUri=&ab_segments=&searchKey=&refreqid=fastly-default:550d72744d04473fd81c2ea5232f2a4a&seq=2 |journal=Linguistic Inquiry |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=463–487 |issn=0024-3892}}</ref>

# Who is going where?

=== Conditional questions ===
''Conditional questions'' are questions embedded in the consequent of a [[conditional sentence|conditional]]. Conditional questions can be [[indicative conditional|indicative]] or [[counterfactual]] as shown by the English examples below.{{sfnm|1a1=Ciardelli|1a2=Groenendijk|1a3=Roelofsen|1y=2019|2a1=Isaacs|2a2=Rawlins|2y=2008|3a1=Vilassaratou|3y=2000}}

#If Rebecca paints her car, what colour will she paint it?
#If Rebecca had painted her car, what colour would she have painted it?

===Embedded questions===

Questions can be [[embedded clause|embedded]] under [[propositional attitude]]s, speech reports, and other embedding predicates.{{sfnm|1a1=Ciardelli|1a2=Groenendijk|1a3=Roelofsen|1y=2019|2a1=Huddleston|2a2=Pullum|2y=2002|3a1=Theiler|3a2=Roelofsen|3a3=Aloni|3y=2018}}

#Maria knows <u>whether Joel is coming to the party</u>.
#Maria knows <u>whether Joel or Lisa is coming to the party</u>.
#Maria knows <u>who is coming to the party</u>.
#Maria asked Martin <u>where one can buy an Italian newspaper in Amsterdam</u>.
#Maria told Martin <u>where one can buy an Italian newspaper in Amsterdam</u>.

=== <!-- Some further potential topics, either as separate subsections or as part of these: concealed questions, tag questions, rhetorical questions, open vs closed disjunctive questions. Crosslinguistic data would be useful, and some issues I could see this expanded on include the role of focus and prosody, constraints on embedding, and pragmatics. I've tried to combine citations of different kinds (handbook articles, atheoretical grammars/dictionaries, primary literature) but I'm sure that could go further. -Botterweg14 -->  Rhetorical questions ===
{{See also|Rhetorical question}}
A rhetorical question is a [[Persuasion|persuasive device]] where a question is posed that expects no answer<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Frank |first=Jane |date=1990-10-01 |title=You call that a rhetorical question?: Forms and functions of rhetorical questions in conversation |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/037821669090003V |journal=Journal of Pragmatics |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=723–738 |doi=10.1016/0378-2166(90)90003-V |issn=0378-2166}}</ref>. Semantically, they do not differ from ordinary questions, and are instead differentiated based on context. The same question can be rhetorical or ordinary depending on context, however speakers intuit rhetorical questions as having semantic equivalence to a [[Sentence (linguistics)|declarative statement]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Caponigro |first=Ivano |last2=Sprouse |first2=Jon |date=2007 |title=Rhetorical questions as questions |url=https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/sub/index.php/sub/article/view/635/570 |journal=Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung |language=en |volume=11 |pages=121–133 |doi=10.18148/sub/2007.v11i0.635 |issn=2629-6055}}</ref>. 

Rhetorical questions can be marked by the preceding phrase "after all", a following "yet"-clause or by a [[Polarity item|Negative Polarity Item]]. Ordinary questions can be marked by the phrases "I’m really curious" or "I really don't know"<ref name=":0" />.

==Approaches==

===Hamblin semantics===
{{See also|alternative semantics}}

Alternative semantics is a framework in which expressions [[denotation|denote]] ''alternative sets'', understood as sets of objects of the same [[type theory|semantic type]]. In the original version of the proposal, developed by [[Charles Leonard Hamblin]] in 1973, a question denotes the set of its possible answers. Thus, if <math>P</math> and <math>Q</math> are [[proposition]]s, then <math>\{P,Q\}</math> is the denotation of the question whether <math>P</math> or <math>Q</math> is true. In a notable modification proposed by [[Lauri Karttunen]], this idea was revised so that a question denotes the set of its true answers at the world of evaluation.{{sfn|Cross|Roelofsen}}

===Inquisitive semantics===
{{See also|inquisitive semantics}}

Inquisitive semantics is a framework for question semantics which follows Hamblin in treating questions denotations as sets of propositions. However, it departs from Hamblin semantics in two fundamental ways. First, it is more restrictive in that it requires that denotations be [[nonempty]] and [[Upper_set#Downward_closure|downward closed]]. For example, where Hamblin semantics would posit a denotation containing only the two propositions <math>P</math> and <math>Q</math>, inquisitive semantics would posit a denotation containing those propositions and all of their subsets. Second, inquisitive semantics attributes denotations of this sort to all expressions, not just question-denoting ones. For example, where Hamblin semantics would follow traditional semantics in assigning a declarative clause the denotation <math>P</math>, inquisitive semantics would assign it the set containing <math>P</math> and all of its subsets.

===Partition semantics===
{{See also|alternative semantics}}

==History==

[[Charles_Leonard_Hamblin|Charles Hamblin]]{{sfn|Hamblin|1973}}


==See also==
* [[Focus_(linguistics)|Focus]]
* [[wh-movement]]

== Notes==


== References ==
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{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite journal |last1=Biezma |first1=María |last2=Rawlins |first2=Kyle |year=2015 |title=Alternative Questions|journal=Language and Linguistics Compass |volume=9 |issue=11 |pages=450–468 |doi=10.1111/lnc3.12161|s2cid=30394192 }}
* {{cite journal| first=Gennaro| last=Chierchia| year=1993| title=Questions with quantifiers| journal=Natural Language Semantics| volume=1| number=2| pages=181–234| doi=10.1007/BF00372562| s2cid=121524098}}
*{{cite book |last1=Ciardelli |first1=Ivano |last2=Groenendijk |first2=Jeroen|last3=Roelofsen|first3=Floris |year=2019 |title=Inquisitive Semantics|url=http://fdslive.oup.com/www.oup.com/academic/pdf/openaccess/9780198814788.pdf |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780198814788|at=Chapter 5.1}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Cross |first1=Charles |last2=Roelofsen |first2=Floris |editor-last1=Zalta |editor-first1=Edward |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |title=Questions |date=11 February 2014 |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2020/entries/questions/ |access-date=2021-01-25 |publisher= Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University}}
* {{cite journal| first1=Veneeta|last1=Dayal| year=2002| title=Single-pair versus multiple-pair answers: Wh-in-situ and scope| journal=Linguistic Inquiry| volume=33| number=3| pages=512–20|doi=10.1162/ling.2002.33.3.512|s2cid=17746106}}
* {{cite book|first1=Veneeta|last1=Dayal|title=Questions|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|location=Oxford}}
* {{cite journal| first1=J. |last1=Groenendijk| first2=M. | last2=Stokhof| year=1982| title=Semantic analysis of wh-complements| journal=Linguistics and Philosophy| volume=5| number=2| pages=175–233|doi=10.1007/BF00351052|s2cid=56774470|url=http://dare.uva.nl/personal/pure/en/publications/semantic-analysis-of-whcomplements(e3075946-8bf0-4cb2-ae7e-4969b4243fe8).html}}
* {{cite thesis| first1=J. |last1=Groenendijk| first2=M. | last2=Stokhof| year=1984| title=Studies on the semantics of questions and the pragmatics of answers| publisher=Univeriteit van Amsterdam}}
* {{cite journal| first=Charles L.| last=Hamblin| year=1973| title=Questions in Montague English| journal=Foundations of Language | volume=10 | pages=41–53}}
* {{cite book |last1=Huddleston |first1=Rodney |last2=Pullum |first2=Geoff |date=2002 |title=The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521431460|pages=972–991}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Isaacs |first1=James |last2=Rawlins |first2=Kyle |year=2008 |title=Conditional questions|journal=Journal of Semantics |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=269–319 |doi=10.1093/jos/ffn003}}
* {{cite journal| first=Lauri| last=Karttunen| year=1977| title=Syntax and semantics of questions| journal=Linguistics and Philosophy| volume=1 | number=1| pages=3–44| doi=10.1007/BF00351935| s2cid=64174420}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Theiler |first1=Nadine |last2=Roelofsen |first2=Floris|last3=Aloni|first3=Maria |year=2018 |title= A uniform semantics for declarative and interrogative complements|journal=Journal of Semantics |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=409–466 |doi=10.1093/jos/ffy003}}
*{{cite thesis |type=MSc |last=Velissaratou |first=Sophia |date=2000 |title=Conditional questions and which-interrogatives |publisher=University of Amsterdam, ILLC}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last1=Dekker |first1=Paul |last2=Aloni |first2=Maria |last3=Groenendijk |first3=Jeroen |editor1-first=Maria |editor1-last=Aloni |editor2-first=Paul |editor2-last=Dekker |title=The Cambridge Handbook of Formal Semantics |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=560–592 |doi=10.1017/CBO9781139236157.020 |chapter=Questions|hdl=11245.1/82ebb221-abd3-4f86-bad3-ed13174c8df1 |isbn=9781139236157 }}
* {{cite book |last1=Ginzburg |first1=Jonathan |editor1-last=Van Benthem |editor1-first=Johan |editor2-last=Ter Meulen  |chapter=Questions: Logic and Interactions (Update of Chapter 25) |editor2-first=Alice |title=Handbook of Logic and Language |date=2011 |publisher=Elsevier |location=Amsterdam |pages=1059–1131 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-444-53726-3.00026-8 |edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book |last1=Groenendijk |first1=Jeroen |last2=Stokhof |first2=Martin |editor1-last=Van Benthem |editor1-first=Johan |editor2-last=Ter Meulen |editor2-first=Alice |chapter=Questions |title=Handbook of Logic and Language |date=2011 |orig-year=1997 |publisher=Elsevier |location=Amsterdam |pages=1059–1131 |doi=10.1016/B978-0-444-53726-3.00025-6 |isbn=9780444537263 |edition=2nd}}
* {{cite book |last1=Krifka |first1=Manfred |editor1-last=Von Heusinger |editor1-first=Klaus |editor2-last=Maienborn |editor2-first=Claudia |editor3-last=Portner |editor3-first=Paul |title=Semantics: An International Handbook of Natural Language |volume=2 |date=2011 |publisher=Mouton de Gruyter |location=Berlin |pages=1742–1785 |doi=10.1515/9783110255072.1742 |chapter=Questions|isbn=978-3-11-018523-2 }}
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Roelofsen |first=Floris |title=Semantic Theories of Questions |entry=Semantic Theories of Questions |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.504 |date=2019 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Linguistics |isbn=978-0-19-938465-5 |editor-last=Aronoff |editor-first=Mark}}