How to Answer a Negative Question

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An argument that it isn’t cultural conventionsThere are languages that use both systems, or have a mixture, in asystematic way.English does.(1) Q: Isn’t John coming?A: Yes. (‘John is coming.’)A: No. (‘John is not coming.’)(2) Q: Is John not coming?A: Yes. (‘John is not coming.’)A: No. (‘John is not coming.’)<strong>Negative</strong> neutralization: yes and no mean the same thing(Kramer & Rawlins 2011)There are contexts where English replicates the truth-based systemexactly.
Which system English uses depends on the choice ofnegation.Simplifying the situation:n’t the polarity-based systemnot the truth-based systemn’t and not are syntactically different.Hypothesis: The choice of answering system , in a language,depends on the syntax of polarity, including the syntax ofnegation (in questions).Assumption: <strong>Answer</strong>s like ‘yes’ and ‘no’ are completesentential expressions, where the IP is elided (not spelledout), under identity with the IP of the question.Given this assumption we can understand the effect of the syntax ofnegation on the choice of answering system.
Page 1 and 2: HOW TO ANSWER A NEGATIVE QUESTIONAn
Page 3 and 4: Two ways to answer a negative quest
Page 5 and 6: Also called the Agree/Disagree-base
Page 7 and 8: Languages reported to have the pola
Page 9 and 10: Languages reported to have the trut
Page 11: What is the source of this division
Page 15 and 16: Forcing the truth-based/agreement-b
Page 17 and 18: (1) Is John not coming?Yes. (Ambigu
Page 19 and 20: IPI’you I NegPvPmust Neg Adv vPno
Page 21 and 22: The structure of questionsQ-forcewh
Page 23 and 24: Chinese A-not-A questions (Huang, L
Page 25 and 26: Answering an A-not-A questionni xi-
Page 27 and 28: Answering an A-not-A questionni xi-
Page 29 and 30: The structure of answers[+Pol]yes F
Page 31 and 32: The structure of answers[-Pol]no Fo
Page 33 and 34: The structure of the answer with lo
Page 35 and 36: The structure of a question with mi
Page 37 and 38: Q: Is John not (actually) coming?A:
Page 39 and 40: YES IP The effect of middle negatio
Page 41 and 42: A language without low negation: Sw
Page 43 and 44: The abstract Polarity headPolPDP+Po
Page 45 and 46: The abstract Polarity headQ-force±
Page 47 and 48: The adverb effect: It blocks Agree
Page 49 and 50: The ‘polarity-reversing affirmati
Page 51 and 52: Negative answersQ: Is John not comi
Page 53 and 54: Low negation: Does not value Pol ob
Page 55 and 56: Cross-linguistic prediction• Lang
Page 57 and 58: Q-force[±Pol]youIP[±Pol]APQ-Focti
Page 59 and 60: Q-force[±Pol]IPNEGQ-Focthis[±Pol]
Page 61 and 62: Evidence: The high-negation questio
Page 63 and 64:
An alternative analysis of negative
Page 65 and 66:
Languages reported to have the trut
Page 67 and 68:
Are there shortcuts to the determin
Page 69 and 70:
Q-force[±Pol]Q-FocIPIPIPolPyour br
Page 71 and 72:
[+Pol] chây Foc IPrightIPIPolPyou
Page 73 and 74:
Mauwake: A truth-based answering sy
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How to Answer a Negative Question

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