DIP Colloquium

Speaker: Natasha Korotkova (Utrecht)
Title: Conversational dynamics of Russian questions with "razve" and the typology of question bias.
Date:
Time: 16:00 - 17:30
Location: SP107 F1.15 (ILLC Seminar Room)

In this talk, I focus on conversational dynamics of the Russian question particle "razve" and how it fits into the overall typology of question bias.


"Razve" appears to convey negative bias in conflicting-evidence scenarios, thus bearing superficial resemblance to English questions with "really". I argue that "razve"-questions convey a novel type of bias and signal that the speaker is in a situation with belief revision potential, facing a conflict between a prior belief and a current abductive inference. Depending on context, such questions receive (i) an information-seeking interpretation or (ii) what I will call a ‘point-making’ interpretation. I propose a unified semantics for "razve", while also showcasing the limitations of current approaches to question bias and making a case for sensitivity to abduction in a novel empirical domain. I conclude by discussing how the system of question-asking devices in a given language may influence the interpretation of each individual expression.