Šimík (2024): Polar Question Semantics and Bias in Slavic

[Sim24] [ER23]

Šimík's survey of polar-question semantics and bias across Slavic. §4.1 diagnoses each language's default (unbiased) PQ strategy by felicity in a quiz scenario (ex. 24) — a TV moderator's question conveying no clue about the answer — for ten languages (exx. 25–34). §4.2.4 surveys the Russian mirative/dubitative particle razve, a conflict-resolving particle presupposing contextual evidence for the prejacent against a prior epistemic bias for its negation, and lists its kin across Slavic, whose formal properties the chapter leaves open.

Main declarations

• PQProfile, allProfiles — the §4.1 quiz-diagnosed strategy profiles of the ten surveyed languages.
• razveFamily, evidentialRequirement, razveOriginalBias — the §4.2.4 kin list and razve's bias profile.
• razve_root_li_embedded, verbMovement_implies_declPQ, particle_NPQs_unbiased — cross-Slavic generalizations over the fragments and profiles.

The razve family (§4.2.4)

Russian razve marks a conflict-resolving polar question: contextual evidence supports the prejacent while the speaker's prior epistemic state favored its negation ('Do you (really) speak Russian? [I thought that you didn't.]', ex. 39). The chapter reports kin of similar meaning across Slavic — Ukrainian xiba, Polish czyż(by), Bulgarian nima, Macedonian and Serbian zar, Czech co(ž)pak — while leaving their precise semantics open.

def Simik2024.razveFamily : List Particle

The §4.2.4 kin list: the cross-Slavic mirative/dubitative family.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.evidentialRequirement (p : Particle) : Option Semantics.Questions.Bias.ContextualEvidence

Contextual-evidence requirement: razve presupposes evidential bias for the prejacent (§4.2.4), extended here to the kin the chapter reports as similar in meaning.

Equations

• Simik2024.evidentialRequirement p = if p ∈ Simik2024.razveFamily then some Semantics.Questions.Bias.ContextualEvidence.forP else none

def Simik2024.razveOriginalBias : Option Semantics.Questions.Bias.OriginalBias

Razve's prior epistemic bias runs against the prejacent — the 'I thought that ¬p' component of exx. 39 and 42.

Equations

• Simik2024.razveOriginalBias = some Semantics.Questions.Bias.OriginalBias.againstP

theorem Simik2024.razve_root_li_embedded : ¬Russian.QuestionParticles.razve_.LicensedInEmbed Clause.EmbeddingContext.subordinated ∧ Russian.QuestionParticles.li.Licensed Particle.ClauseType.polar Clause.EmbeddingContext.subordinated

Razve is a root phenomenon while li is obligatory in subordinated polar questions (§4.2.4) — read off the fragment cells.

Default PQ strategies (§4.1)

The quiz scenario (ex. 24) diagnoses the default (unbiased) PQ strategy of each language; strategies conveying epistemic or evidential bias are infelicitous in it. particle fields are derived from Fragment entries.

inductive Simik2024.PQStrategy : Type

How a language formally encodes its default (unbiased) polar question.

• verbMovement : PQStrategy

  Verb movement to clause-initial position (subject–verb inversion).

• clauseInitialParticle : PQStrategy

  Clause-initial question particle.

• verbAttachedParticle : PQStrategy

  Particle attached to the verb (or focused constituent).

• particlePlusMovement : PQStrategy

  Combination of particle + verb movement (the Macedonian V+li alternative, ex. 32b).

• intonationOnly : PQStrategy

  Intonation only (no overt morphosyntactic marking).

@[instance_reducible]

instance Simik2024.instDecidableEqPQStrategy : DecidableEq PQStrategy

Equations

• Simik2024.instDecidableEqPQStrategy x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

@[instance_reducible]

instance Simik2024.instReprPQStrategy : Repr PQStrategy

Equations

• Simik2024.instReprPQStrategy = { reprPrec := Simik2024.instReprPQStrategy.repr }

def Simik2024.instReprPQStrategy.repr : PQStrategy → ℕ → Std.Format

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

inductive Simik2024.DeclPQAvailability : Type

Whether the language permits declarative PQs (DeclPQs) as a separate strategy from interrogative PQs.

• available : DeclPQAvailability

  DeclPQs available and convey evidential bias.

• unavailable : DeclPQAvailability

  DeclPQs not available as a distinct strategy.

• marginal : DeclPQAvailability

  DeclPQs marginal or register-restricted.

@[instance_reducible]

instance Simik2024.instDecidableEqDeclPQAvailability : DecidableEq DeclPQAvailability

Equations

• Simik2024.instDecidableEqDeclPQAvailability x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯

def Simik2024.instReprDeclPQAvailability.repr : DeclPQAvailability → ℕ → Std.Format

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

@[instance_reducible]

instance Simik2024.instReprDeclPQAvailability : Repr DeclPQAvailability

Equations

• Simik2024.instReprDeclPQAvailability = { reprPrec := Simik2024.instReprDeclPQAvailability.repr }

structure Simik2024.PQProfile : Type

A Slavic language's default polar-question strategy profile.

• language : String

  Language name.

• code : String

  ISO 639-1 or 639-3 code.

• defaultStrategy : PQStrategy

  Default (unbiased) PQ strategy.

• particle : Option String

  Particle form (if applicable), derived from Fragment entries where possible.

• declPQ : DeclPQAvailability

  Whether DeclPQs are available.

• negationTriggersBias : Bool

  Whether adding negation to the default strategy triggers epistemic bias.

@[instance_reducible]

instance Simik2024.instReprPQProfile : Repr PQProfile

Equations

• Simik2024.instReprPQProfile = { reprPrec := Simik2024.instReprPQProfile.repr }

def Simik2024.instReprPQProfile.repr : PQProfile → ℕ → Std.Format

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

@[instance_reducible]

instance Simik2024.instBEqPQProfile : BEq PQProfile

Equations

• Simik2024.instBEqPQProfile = { beq := Simik2024.instBEqPQProfile.beq }

def Simik2024.instBEqPQProfile.beq : PQProfile → PQProfile → Bool

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
• Simik2024.instBEqPQProfile.beq x✝¹ x✝ = false

def Simik2024.czech : PQProfile

Czech: obligatory verb movement (ex. 25); negation triggers positive epistemic bias; DeclPQs convey evidential bias.

Equations

• Simik2024.czech = { language := "Czech", code := "cs", defaultStrategy := Simik2024.PQStrategy.verbMovement, declPQ := Simik2024.DeclPQAvailability.available }

def Simik2024.slovak : PQProfile

Slovak: verb movement, parallel to Czech (ex. 26).

Equations

• Simik2024.slovak = { language := "Slovak", code := "sk", defaultStrategy := Simik2024.PQStrategy.verbMovement, declPQ := Simik2024.DeclPQAvailability.available }

def Simik2024.upperSorbian : PQProfile

Upper Sorbian: verb movement, fronting the auxiliary (ex. 27).

Equations

• Simik2024.upperSorbian = { language := "Upper Sorbian", code := "hsb", defaultStrategy := Simik2024.PQStrategy.verbMovement, declPQ := Simik2024.DeclPQAvailability.available }

def Simik2024.slovenian : PQProfile

Slovenian: verb movement with optional clause-initial ali (ex. 28); ali is incompatible with DeclPQs.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.ukrainian : PQProfile

Ukrainian: obligatory clause-initial čy (ex. 29); DeclPQs convey evidential bias.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.polish : PQProfile

Polish: obligatory clause-initial czy (ex. 30); czy-NPQs remain quiz-felicitous (ex. 30b), so negation does not trigger bias; DeclPQs convey evidential bias.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.serbian : PQProfile

Serbian: clause-initial da + clitic li (ex. 31a); negative and declarative PQs convey biases.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.macedonian : PQProfile

Macedonian: clause-initial dali (ex. 32a), which admits negation without triggering bias, unlike Bulgarian li.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.bulgarian : PQProfile

Bulgarian: li encliticized onto the focused constituent (ex. 33); DeclPQs convey evidential bias.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.russian : PQProfile

Russian: quiz PQs use verb-attached li (ex. 34); colloquially IntonPQs dominate and are arguably unbiased, though they can also be used rhetorically ([ER23]); DeclPQs are hard to distinguish from IntonPQs.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.allProfiles : List PQProfile

All ten surveyed Slavic PQ profiles.

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Simik2024.verbMovementLanguages : List PQProfile

Languages using verb movement as default PQ strategy — the languages without an obligatory question particle in default PQs.

Equations

• Simik2024.verbMovementLanguages = List.filter (fun (x : Simik2024.PQProfile) => x.defaultStrategy == Simik2024.PQStrategy.verbMovement) Simik2024.allProfiles

def Simik2024.particleLanguages : List PQProfile

Languages using a clause-initial particle.

Equations

• Simik2024.particleLanguages = List.filter (fun (x : Simik2024.PQProfile) => x.defaultStrategy == Simik2024.PQStrategy.clauseInitialParticle) Simik2024.allProfiles

theorem Simik2024.verbMovement_implies_declPQ : (verbMovementLanguages.all fun (x : PQProfile) => x.declPQ == DeclPQAvailability.available) = true

Verb movement languages all have DeclPQs available.

theorem Simik2024.particle_NPQs_unbiased : polish.negationTriggersBias = false ∧ macedonian.negationTriggersBias = false ∧ bulgarian.negationTriggersBias = true

Under their clause-initial particles, Polish and Macedonian negative PQs stay quiz-felicitous (exx. 30b, 32a), unlike Bulgarian li-NPQs (ex. 33b).