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.