This dissertation investigates three interrogative sentence types that are each associated with a particular speaker bias. In asking one of these questions, the speaker invariably conveys a prior expectation, or belief, that a specific answer to the question is the true one. These sentence types include reversed-polarity tag questions, negative polar questions, and questions containing a strong negative polarity item or a constituent that is emphatically focused. For each of these three question types, I address the two questions: (1) What kind of meaning is bias; and (2) what grammatical feature, if any, is the bias linked to? In answer to the first question, I argue that bias is an assertion (rather than, for example, a conversational implicature). As a result, biased questions can be thought of as a type of indirect speech act (Searle 1975). Following Asher and Lascarides (2001), I model biased questions as instances of a complex speech act type Assertion · Question. On this analysis, biased questions are simultaneously assertions and questions. I provide evidence, for this claim, showing these question types share distributional properties of both assertions and questions. With regard to the second question, I argue that intonation, in addition to syntax and compositional and lexical semantics, plays a key role in linking the use of the kind of interrogative sentence described above to an assertion. Indeed, one of the benefits to studying biased questions is that they provide a case study of the interaction of intonation and discourse function. I begin to develop an analysis of intonation within the theory of discourse provided by Asher and Lascarides (2003) which builds on the work of Pierrehumbert and Hirschberg (1990) and Steedman (2000, 2003), amongst others. Specifically, I argue that intonation provides information about the speakers cognitive state, i.e. about his or her beliefs and intentions. Thus intonation contributes information that can be used to compute the rhetorical contribution of an utterance to a discourse or dialogue. On this model, intonation indirectly contributes to the determination of the discourse function of an utterance. / text

by Chen Jianping. / Thesis (M.Ph.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1986 / Bibliography: leaves 130-140.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Philosophy

Traditional Japanese learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) are taught to respond to negative questions (e.g. Do you not like English?) with yes for positive answers (e.g. Yes, I do) and no for negative answers (e.g. No, I don't). However, this is subject to variation in native speaker usage. This study aimed to determine the conditions under which native English speakers actually respond to negative questions with yes vs. no, and to compare the usage with that of Japanese EFL learners. To this end, 22 native English speakers and 22 Japanese students were individually shown 21 TV and movie video clips containing negative questions of varied form and discourse function. After each clip, the subjects were asked to imagine whether the addressee in the video would respond with yes or no, and to fill in the blank accordingly on an answer sheet. Contrary to the traditional EFL rule, variation was found when negative questions conveyed a negative assumption, and when the pragmatic functions were 1) testing a new negative assumption or 2) seeking agreement on a negative assumption. The results also indicate that no to disagree with a negative assumption was much more common than yes to agree with a negative assumption. The Japanese group's answers followed the EFL rule significantly more often than the American group's on the same video task. This indicates that knowing the EEL rule influenced the Japanese group's performance and contributed to the gap between the two groups. Except for one instance of possible negative influence from the cross-cultural differences in politeness norms, the Japanese group showed variation from the EFL rule only where the American group did. Finally, high-advanced subjects and/or those residing in the U.S. over four years, sometimes departed from the traditional EFL rule in favor of more natural English usage. I conclude that this cannot be attributed to native language influence. / Department of English

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts

by Ling Ling Peng. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 107-112). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Abstract --- p.ii / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Contents --- p.v / Tables and charts --- p.vii / Abbreviation --- p.viii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction and theoretical considerations --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- One unitary language system、or two separate language systems? --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- The autonomous development hypothesis vs. the interdependent development hypothesis --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3 --- Language dominance --- p.12 / Chapter 1.4 --- The research goal and outline of the thesis --- p.15 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- The development of wh-questions in monolingual English and Cantonese Children --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1 --- The syntax of English wh-questions --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- The landing site of wh-expressions --- p.19 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Types of wh-questions --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2 --- The acquisition of wh-questions by monolingual English-speaking children --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- The acquisition order of wh-questions --- p.24 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Development of wh-questions in monolingual English-speaking children --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.2.1 --- Developmental stages --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.2.2 --- Overall course of development --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.2.2.1 --- UG and language acquisition --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.2.2.2 --- General patterns of development of wh-questionsin monolingual English-speaking children --- p.32 / Chapter 2.3 --- The syntax of interrogative wh-questions in Cantonese --- p.39 / Chapter 2.4 --- The acquisition of wh-questions by monolingual Cantonese children --- p.43 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary --- p.45 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Methodology / Chapter 3.1 --- Subject --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Family background --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Input for both languages --- p.47 / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Bilingual development in the bilingual child --- p.49 / Chapter 3.2 --- Taping --- p.55 / Chapter 3.3 --- Transcription --- p.56 / Chapter 3.4 --- Sampling and data analysis --- p.56 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- The acquisition of wh-questions by one Cantonese-English bilingual child --- p.58 / Chapter 4.1 --- UG and bilingual acquisition --- p.58 / Chapter 4.2 --- The acquisition of wh-questions in Cantonese by the bilingual child --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- The acquisition of wh-questions in English by the bilingual child --- p.66 / Chapter 4.3.1 --- The acquisition order --- p.66 / Chapter 4.3.2 --- Position of wh-expressions --- p.68 / Chapter 4.3.3 --- Subject-auxiliary inversion in wh-questions --- p.77 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.81 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Discussion and conclusion --- p.82 / Chapter 5.1 --- The acquisition order of wh-questions in the bilingual child's English --- p.82 / Chapter 5.2 --- Placement of wh-expressions in the bilingual child's English --- p.86 / Chapter 5.3 --- Subject 一 auxiliary inversion in wh-questions in the bilingual child's English --- p.93 / Chapter 5.4 --- Overall course of development of what-questions in the bilingual child --- p.94 / Chapter 5.5 --- Conclusion --- p.100 / Chapter 5.5.1 --- Summary of findings --- p.100 / Chapter 5.5.2 --- Suggestions for further studies --- p.102 / References --- p.107 / Appendix --- p.113

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 251-256). / Microfiche. / xvii, 256 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm