Wh-questions in dynamic inquisitive semantics

Abstract

Abstract This target article presents a type-theoretic dynamic inquisitive semantics framework, extending the first-order system presented in (Dotlačil, Jakub & Floris Roelofsen. 2019. Dynamic inquisitive semantics: Anaphora and questions. Sinn und Bedeutung 23. 365–382). Within this framework, we develop a compositional treatment of wh-questions whose basic premise is that a wh-phrase introduces a discourse referent u , just like non-interrogative indefinites do, and requires the presence of an operator in the left periphery of the clause which requests a witness for u , i.e., it raises an issue whose resolution requires identifying at least one individual that has all the properties ascribed to u . In previous work, it has been argued that a dynamic semantic analysis of questions is needed to account for anaphora with wh-antecedents and for certain kinds of intervention effects (Haida, Andreas. 2007. The indefiniteness and focusing of wh-words . Berlin: Humboldt University PhD thesis). Here, we further develop the general approach and argue that it has several additional benefits. Namely, it allows for a uniform treatment of single-wh and multiple-wh questions, it derives mention-some and mention-all readings in a principled way, as well as an often neglected partial mention-some reading in multiple-wh questions, it can capture certain constraints on the availability of mention-some readings, and the effects of number marking on which -phrases across single-wh and multiple-wh questions.