Toward a redefinition of yes/no questions
Julia Hirschberg · 1984
While both theoretical and empirical studies of question-answering have revealed the inadequacy of traditional definitions of yes-no questions (YNQs), little progress has been made toward a more satisfactory redefinition. This paper reviews the limitations of several proposed revisions. It proposes a new definition of YNQs based upon research on a type of conversational implicature, termed here scalar implicature, that helps define appropriate responses to YNQs. By representing YNQs as scalar queries it is possible to support a wider variety of system and user responses in a principled way.