G61.3340-002 Seminar in Semantics:
Inquisitive Semantics and Pragmatics
Prof. Jeroen Groenendijk
Spring 2009
In inquisitive semantics, the meaning of a sentence is not just its informative content. Sentences are interpreted in such a way that they can both provide information and raise issues. And even if a sentence is of a purely informative nature, the semantics will relate it to an issue.
Thus, the notion of meaning embodied in inquisitive semantics directly reflects that language is primarily used for communication in dialogue, the exchange of information in a cooperative dynamic process of raising and resolving issues.
The way in which inquisitive semantics enriches the notion of meaning will widen our view of logic. In the logic that comes with the semantics, the central notion is compliance. Compliance is concerned with what the utterance of a sentence contributes to a conversation, how it is related to what was said before. Like the standard logical notion of entailment rules the validity of argumentation, the logical notion of compliance rules the coherence of conversation.
A main objective of Gricean pragmatics, is to explain aspects of the meaning of an utterance of a sentence which are not directly covered by its logical semantical content, in terms of general features of rational human behaviour. Since inquisitive semantics changes the notion of logical semantical content, pragmatics will change with it.
At the heart of Gricean pragmatics is the Principle of Cooperativity, divided in the Maxims of Quality, Quantity, Relation, and Manner. Conversational implicatures are conclusions one can draw from the utterance of a sentence in a conversation, on the basis of the assumption that the principle and its subsidiary maxims are adhered to.
In inquisitive pragmatics, licensing is the logical twin of the Maxim of Relation. Quality and Quantity will not just involve informativeness, but inquisitiveness as well. This applies also to the derivation of conversational implicatures.
Last Modified: December 8, 2008