Erotetics: Grice on ? and ¿

----- By J. L. S.


----------------- KRAMER'S POST, "A brain-teaser", this blog, motivates me to remind the clubbers about erotetics -- seats yet available!

Have you ever, serious and honest, studied EROTETICS?

i.e. the logic of question and answers? Or ? and ¿ if you must! Take it as a straight application of Grice's Kantian quartette for Strings (Qual, Quan, R, and M).

It's fascinating!

First, we may consider assertoric and imperative here, But let's just narrow on 'assertoric' questions.

Not every statement (or assertoric conversational move) can be an answer to a question.

Consider:

(1) The cat miaows.

What can THAT be the answer for? Well, a few things:


(2) A: What miaows?
B: the cat miaows (shortened to 'the cat').

But also:

(3) A: What does the cat do?
B: The cat miaows (shortened to: she miaows).

And also, e.g.

(4) A: What's that noise in the garden?

Etc.

Now, another (perhaps more interesting) alternative is to consider the question and imagine the answers.

There are two types of question,

Type 1.

yes/no questions

Type 2.

x-questions

---

It is often wrongly assumed that "yes/no"

questions have to be replied with a yes or

a no (or a hey nonny no).

But surely you can ALWAYS deny the

presupposition of the question, and

do neither (hey nonny no).

E.g.:

(5) A: Are you gay?
B: I don't believe in "labelling"
people, you see.

(6) A (to gene): Are you selfish?
B: mmpf.

(7) A: Have you stopped beating your husband?
B: I'm single.

As for x-questions, _their_ problem is that the level of informativeness can be
so contextual... it hurts:


(8) A: Where were you born?
B: In England.
In the West Midlands.
In Staffordshire
In Harborne

This allows for some monotonic reasoning:

B: Stafforshire?
A: Yes, in Staffordshire, but not in Hanley.

etc.

Incidentally, an x-question can _also_ be 'answered', or challenged, rather, by questioning the presupposition.

(9) A: Where were you born?
B: I haven't been born yet.
I only believe in the afterlife.

Later,