The study of questions and answers is challenging for various fields of theoretical linguistics, logic, analytical philosophy, and more recently computer science. Research into questions and answers addresses old and raises new and important questions about the semantics / pragmatics interface and about the dynamics of interpretation. This book brings together current work on the topic as it has been developed in Amsterdam, and congenial academic sites, over the past 15 years. Amsterdam is one of the breeding grounds for the formal study of logic and language, for dynamic semantics, and for the study of questions and answers.

- Covers the major issues of pragmatic/semantic investigation, including logical relations, context dependence, information structure, and more - Illustrates how semantic/pragmatic stance can be used for problems in other areas of linguistic theorising

Table of Contents 1 The Semantics and Pragmatics of Questions

I Update Semantics 2 The Logic of Interrogation 3 Axiomatizing Groenendijk’s Logic of Interrogation 4 Optimal Inquisitive Discourse

II Topic and Focus 5 Only Updates. On the Dynamics of the Focus Particle Only 6 The Dynamics of Topic and Focus 7 Nobody (Anything) Else

III Implicatures and Exhaustiveness 8 Exhaustivity, Questions and Plurals in Update Semantics 9 Only: Meaning and Implicatures 10 Scalar Implicatures: Exhaustivity and Gricean Reasoning

IV Intonation and Syntax 11 Nuclear Accent, Focus, and Bidirectional OT 12 Counting (on) Usage Information 13 Nuclear Rises in Update Semantics