Abstract

This paper explores the relation between interrogative, a category of grammatical form, and question, a category of meaning. Interrogative contrasts with declarative, imperative, etc., in the system of clause type ; a question defines a set of answers. Two kinds of interrogative are distinguished, closed and open - though in some languages they may be distinct primary classes. Three kinds of question are distinguished according to the way the set of answers is defined: polar, alternative and variable questions; another dimension distinguishes information from direction questions. Mismatches between interrogatives and questions are found in the areas of coordination, parentheticals, echoes and questions signalled only prosodically. Mismatches between interrogative phrases and questioned elements are also investigated.