Aren

1
Arent Positive and Negative Polar Questions the
Same?

• Daniel Büring Cristine Gunlogson

Dimarts, 12 dabril de 2011 Grup de lectura -
Com parlem de les preguntes i l'entonació?
Consideracions teòriques.
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Typology of polar questions

• polar questions (PQs)
• positive (PPQs) negative (NPQs)
• outer negation (ONPQs) inner negation (INPQs)
• BG following Ladd (1981)

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Inner and Outer Negation (Ladd 1981)
He had previously assumed the truth of the
proposition there is a vegetarian restaurant
around here, but he has now inferred from what
Kathleen says that this proposition is actually
false, and is using the NQ to check this new
inference

• Example of inner negation polar question (INPQ)
• Situation Bob is visiting Kathleen and Jeff in
  Chicago while attending the CLS.
• Bob Id like to take you guys out to dinner
  while Im here wed have time to go somewhere
  around here before the evening session tonight,
  dont you think?
• Kathleen I guess, but theres not really any
  place to go to in Hyde Park.
• Bob Oh, really, isnt there a vegetarian
  restaurant around here?
• Kathleen No, about all we can get is hamburgers
  and souvlaki.

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Inner and Outer Negation (Ladd 1981)
She uses the negative question to ask for
confirmation of something she believes to be
true. ... The speaker believes... P and wants
confirmation... what is being questioned is the
speakers belief P.

• Example of outer negation polar question (ONPQ)
• Situation Kathleen and Jeff have just come from
  Chicago on the Greyhound bus to visit Bob in
  Ithaca).
• Bob You guys must be starving. You want to get
  something to eat?
• Kathleen Yeah, isnt there a vegetarian
  restaurant around here Moosewood, or something
  like that?
• Bob Gee, youve heard about Moosewood all the
  way out in Chicago, huh? OK, lets go there.

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Summary
background speaker wants (conditions on contextual evidence BG)
INPQ p is expected (Ladd speaker used to believe that p) confirmation for the inference that not-p
ONPQ speaker believes that p confirmation for p
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Morphosyntactic Probes (Inner/Outer Negation
Distinction)

• German
• Gibt es nicht ein vegetarisches Restaurant in
  Dieser Ecke? (outNEG) PQs only (No hi ha un
  restaurant vegetarià en aquesta cantonada?)
• Gibt es kein vegetarisches Restaurant in dieser
  Eche? (inNEG) declaratives as well as PQs (No
  hi ha cap restaurant vegetarià en aquesta
  cantonada?)
• Declarative sentences with nicht ein are
  unacceptable even if used with rising intonation
  as questions. Possibility of an outer negation
  construal is confined to the syntactic category
  of interrogative rather than the pragmatic
  category of question.

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Morphosyntactic Probes (Inner/Outer Negation
Distinction)

• English
• Isnt there some vegetarian restaurant around
  here? (outNEG) PQs only
• Is there no vegetarian restaurant around here?
  (inNEG) declaratives as well as PQs
• More...
• Negative polarity item ?inner negation Isnt
  Jane coming either?
• Positive polarity item ?outer negation Isnt
  Jane coming too?
• ...THE PREPOSITION QUESTIONED IN THE ONPQs IS A
  POSITIVE ONE, AND THE NEGATION IS SOMEHOW
  OUTSIDE THAT PROPOSITION, HENCE UNABLE TO
  LICENSE NPIs.

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Positive Polar Questions

• S and A are talking long-distance on the phone
  (neutral context)
• a. S Whats the weather like out there? Is it
  raining?
• b. S Whats the weather like out there? Is it
  sunny?
• A enters Ss windowless computer room wearing a
  dripping wet raincoat (contextual evidence for
  pit is raining)
• a. S Whats the weather like out there? Is it
  raining?
• b. S Whats the weather like out there? Is it
  sunny?
• Contextual evidence Evidence that has just
  become mutually available to the participants in
  the current discourse situation.
• This definition excludes private beliefs of the
  participants as well as common knowledge which
  has been introduced into the common ground
  earlier on in the conversation, or which is there
  as a matter of convention.

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Positive Polar Questions

• A and S have conducted a psycholinguistic
  experiment in which the subjects have all
  certified that they are right-handed. They
  encounter Carl, who they recognize as one of
  their subjects, cutting bread with his left hand.
• a. S Is Carl left-handed?
• b. S Is Carl right-handed?
• Carls cutting bread with this left hand is
  compelling evidence in isolation (doesnt need to
  be in the actual conversation).
• No private beliefs or common knowledge but
  contextual evidence.

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Evidence in Negative Polar Questions (INPQs)

• A and S want to go out for dinner.
• A Where do you want to go for dinner? (neutral
  context)
• a. S Is there no vegetarian restaurant around
  here?
• A and S want to go out for dinner.
• A I bet we can find any type of restaurant you
  can think of in this city. Make your choice!
  (compelling contextual evidence for p)
• a. S Is there no vegetarian restaurant around
  here?
• A and S want to go out for dinner.
• A Since you guys are vegetarians, we cant go
  out in this town, where its all meat and
  potatoes (compelling contextual evidence against
  p)
• a. S Is there no vegetarian restaurant around
  here?
• EVIDENCE CONDITION ON INPQ p? THERE IS
  COMPELLING CONTEXTUAL EVIDENCE AGAINST p.

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Evidence in Negative Polar Questions (ONPQs)

• A and S want to go out for dinner. S has been to
  Mosewood a couple of years back.
• A Where do you want to go for dinner? (neutral
  context)
• a. S Isnt there some vegetarian restaurant
  around here?
• A and S want to go out for dinner.
• A I bet we can find any type of restaurant you
  can think of in this city. Make your choice!
  (compelling contextual evidence for p)
• a. S Is there no vegetarian restaurant around
  here?
• A and S want to go out for dinner. S has been to
  Mosewood a couple of years back.
• A Since you guys are vegetarians, we cant go
  out in this town, where its all meat and
  potatoes (compelling contextual evidence against
  p)
• a. S Is there no vegetarian restaurant around
  here?
• EVIDENCE CONDITION ON ONPQ p? THERE IS NO
  COMPELLING CONTEXTUAL EVIDENCE AGAINST p.

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Evidence conditions

• Evidence Conditions
• PPQ there is no compelling evidence against p
• ONPQ there is no compelling evidence for p
• INPQ there is compelling evidence against p

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Summary

• Positive polar questions p are not completely
  neutral, but show an incompatibility with
  contexts that provide compelling evidence against
  p.
• Morphosyntactic data from English and German
  confirm Ladds original distinction between outer
  and inner negation polar questions.
• Notion of Compelling Contextual Evidence.

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Català (Mallorca)
evidence - evidence
HL L -No hi ha cap restaurant vegetarià? (INPQ) Evidence against p. He had previously assumed the truth of the proposition there is a vegetarian restaurant around here, but he has now inferred from what Kathleen says that this proposition is actually false, and is using the NQ to check this new inference. -Hi ha un restaurant vegetarià? Evidence for p. -Hi ha cap restaurant vegetarià? (neutra) Neutral with respect to p.
HL L -No hi ha un restaurant vegetarià? (ONPQ) No evidence for p. She uses the negative question to ask for confirmation of something she believes to be true. ... The speaker believes... P and wants confirmation... what is being questioned is the speakers belief P. -Hi ha un/cap? restaurant vegetarià? ?
LH L -O/que hi ha un restaurant vegetarià? Evidence for p. -O/que no hi ha cap restaurant vegetarià? Evidence against p.