Question Bias and Biased Question Words in Mandarin, German and Bangla

摘要

Bias is a linguistic phenomenon that is primarily found in questions. Various kinds of biased questions have been studied extensively in the literature, e.g. Negative Polar Questions, Questions with Minimizers, Questions with Verum focus (Ladd 1981, Buring & Gunlogson 2000, Guerzoni 2003, Romero & Han 2004, a.o.). Aside from those biased questions, there are questions with dedicated words that can express bias (i.e. biased question words). Those words are "nandao" in Mandarin, "etwa" in German, and "naki" in Bangla. The current dissertation takes a modal approach to bias, distinct from earlier accounts of bias.;In order to find out the nature of bias, e.g. how it is introduced, at which level it is interpreted, and why it is primarily found in questions, I study the three biased question words at the interface of syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Based on the analyses of the three words, I claim that bias is a not-at-issue content that is revealed via the speaker's public belief domain (i.e. Discourse commitment). Considering the phenomenon in general, I isolate three conditions for introducing bias: a preference ranking of alternatives, selection of a particular alternative as privileged, and the requirement to update the Question Under Discussion with the alternatives. Biased question words lexically satisfy all three conditions and give rise to the obligatorily biased reading of questions containing them. With these three conditions, I provide a definition for bias and explain the opening statement that "bias is a linguistic phenomenon that is primarily found in questions".