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In linguistics, is it correct that statement i.e. declarative clause (sentence) has a truth value (true or false or maybe other value?) i.e. logic as its semantics?

What does a question (yes-no, or content one) have? Does its semantics correspond to query, like the semantics of a database query language?

What does a request/command have? Does its semantics correspond to computation, like the semantics of a programming language?

Tim
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  • “Erotetics or erotetic logic is a part of logic, devoted to logical analysis of questions. It is sometimes called the logic of questions and answers.”
    • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erotetics
     – Julius Hamilton Jul 18 '23 at 04:31
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    This will really depend what theory you subscribe to. Not all of them consider statements to "mean" truth values. – Draconis Jul 18 '23 at 04:38

1 Answers1

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In an approach quite close to the one you seem to assume for declaratives, questions can be seen as denoting lambda-abstractions. The set of true answers is the set of arguments with which such an abstraction rewrites to “true”. Krifka (2001) describes this approach, and also sets it off against an earlier approach in which questions were taken to denote the set of its true answers (see there for references).

A different modern approach is inquisitive semantics.

Krifka, Manfred. “For a Structured Meaning Account of Questions and Answers.” In Audiatur Vox Sapientia. A Festschrift for Arnim von Stechow, edited by Caroline Féry and Wolfgang Sternefeld, 287–319. Studia Grammatica 52. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2001.

Keelan
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