24.956 Super Seminar on Questions

Welcome to the syntax and semantics of questions! 

Despite the assumed theoretical primacy of declarative sentences, questions have frequently played a central role in the literature spanning syntax, semantics, and pragmatics - informing issues ranging from structure-building and combinatorics, to speech acts and their effect on the common ground. In this vein, we'll be asking: what kinds of things are questions, how are they built, and what can they do? Specific topics we'll cover include: question composition and pied-piping, embedded questions and question-embedding predicates, the dynamic pragmatics of questions qua illocutionary acts, and the external syntax of interrogative clauses.

Course requirements: active participation, weekly reading, weekly submission of questions and comments about the reading, final term paper on a relevant topic.

Students can receive credit for the advanced seminar requirement in either syntax or semantics, depending on their chosen topic for the final term paper.

Visitor policy: We welcome external listeners to the seminar. If you are an expert, we ask you to understand that we will give preference in class discussions to the questions and comments of registered students and other participants who are not experts. Of course, we would be happy to learn about your expert questions and comments outside of the official seminar sessions, say by email.

Course calendar: