On the semantics of wh-questions

Authors

  • Hadas Kotek

Abstract

This paper develops a new framework for the syntax and semantics of interrogative constructions which unifies the mechanisms of scope-taking employed in wh-movement, wh-insitu, and partial wh-movement constructions. This framework represents the first major account for a wide range of syntactic and semantic facts relating to the structure and meaning of interrogatives at the same time, including pied-piping, superiority, presuppositions of questions, readings of multiple questions (single-pair vs pair-list), and intervention effects in multiple questions. It thus achieves a wider empirical coverage than other theories of interrogative syntax-semantics (e.g. Hamblin, 1973; Karttunen, 1977; Hagstrom, 1998; Cable, 2007, 2010; Cheng and Demirdache, 2010; Fox, 2012; Nicolae, 2013), and is at the same time simpler than these other proposals.

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How to Cite

Kotek, H. (2019). On the semantics of wh-questions. Proceedings of Sinn Und Bedeutung, 20, 430–447. Retrieved from https://ojs.ub.uni-konstanz.de/sub/index.php/sub/article/view/274