Questions Under Discussion and the Semantics/Pragmatics Divide. (21st January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Grindrod, Jumbly; Borg, Emma
• Is Part Of: Philosophical quarterly. Volume 69:Number 275(2019:Apr.)
• Page Start: 418
• Page End: 426
• Publication Date: 2019-01-21
• Subjects: question under discussion -- context-sensitivity -- semantics -- pragmatics -- epistemic contextualism; Philosophy -- Periodicals; 105
• DOI: 10.1093/pq/pqy058
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0031-8094

Abstract

Abstract: The 'question under discussion' (or 'QUD') framework is a pragmatic framework that draws on work in the semantics of questions to provide an appealing account of a range of pragmatic phenomena, including the use of prosodic focus in English and restrictions on acceptable discourse moves. More recently, however, a number of proposals have attempted to use the framework to help to settle issues at the semantics/pragmatics boundary, fixing the truth-conditions of what is said by a speaker (which many theorists take to be a semantic matter). In this discussion piece, we suggest that this kind of putative extension of the work to be done by the QUD framework is illegitimate, as the framework ultimately seems to depend on a prior grip on semantic content. To see this, we first outline the QUD framework and then raise our concern.