A Bidimensional Semantics for Questions

İngilizce (OpenAlex)

This paper provides a formal semantic account of questions in Turkish within the Alternative Semantics framework. It provides a unified analysis for polar, conversation starter, alternative, narrow focus, and constituent questions. Assuming that a question denotes a set of alternative propositions, the paper develops an account where alternatives are generated in situ via focus and indeterminate pronouns and the derivation proceeds via pointwise function application. I argue that the so-called question particle MI in Turkish is a focus particle licensed under certain environments. The attachment site of MI correlates with the type of alternatives generated yielding various types of questions. I also provide an account of why response particles are compatible with polar, narrow focus, and conversation starter questions but not with constituent and alternative questions.