|
Showing 1 - 2 of
2 matches in All Departments
Asking Questions examines a central phenomenon of language -- the
use of sentences to ask questions. Although there is a sizable
literature on the syntax and semantics of interrogatives, the logic
of "questions," and the speech act of questioning, no one has tried
to put the syntax and semantics together with the speech acts over
the full range of phenomena we pretheoretically think of as asking
questions. Robert Fiengo not only does this, but also takes up some
more foundational issues in the theory of language.
By positioning the findings of contemporary grammatical theorizing
within the larger domain of language use, Fiengo challenges the use
theorist to acknowledge the importance of grammatical form and the
grammarian to acknowledge the importance of use. In addition to
developing an Austinian distinction between four questioning
speech-acts, and a proposal concerning the philosophy of language,
Asking Questions contains a useful discussion of the type-token
distinction and how use of language compares with use of other
things. Fiengo also considers the nature of multiple questions,
revealing what one must know to ask them, and what speech acts one
may perform when asking them.
Asking Questions advances our understanding of a wide range of
issues in a number of important respects. Scholars and students of
linguistics and philosophy will find plenty to interest them in
this pioneering work.
|
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.