The dynamics of yes and no in and as context

Abstract

The English words yes and no are used typically as answers to positive or negative polar questions; they are also used as (part of) responses to statements, commands and even physical actions. Functionally speaking, they are similar to an affirmative clause or a negative clause respectively. Intuitively, the semantics of a yes/no answer is the same as that of a clause, which can be either full or elliptical structurally. Various syntactic, semantic and pragmatic accounts of the two words have been proposed to characterise their corresponding relations to the preceding sentence on the one hand and to a following clause/sentence on the other hand. However, existing analyses have been found to be empirically insufficient and theoretically problematic. To solve the puzzle posed by yes and no, a comprehensive account of polar questions is proposed within the framework of Dynamic Syntax, which provides a proper linguistic philosophy and useful theoretical tools to characterise the interaction between syntax, semantics and pragmatics. It is assumed that the two words yes and no contribute metavariables and lexical actions, using propositional formulas in context to construct local propositional formulas. This analysis explains the use of yes and no in various syntactic and discourse contexts.