Resolving Questions

In the rst part of this paper I discussed two central notions concerning questions, aboutness and resolvedness, and proposed an analysis of these notions which I used to provide a situation semantics account for both query and embedded uses of interrogatives (seèResolving Questions, I' for discussion and for the notation assumed below; all sections numbered 5.x and less are in part I.). In this part of the paper, I discuss two main issues: rst, the modiication of interrogatives by adverbs of extent. Second, the ontological nature of embedded interrogative and declarative sentences: an ontology that distinguishes propositions, questions, and facts is motivated, while at the same time a speciication is provided for a semantics that captures an important commonality between questions and propositions: facts prove propositions and resolve questions. 6 The QVE 6.1 Introduction I turn now to a phenomenon that brings out the connection between aboutness and resolvedness, namely partial resolvedness. Intuitively, information partially resolves a question q ii is factual and subsumes at least some of the information that is required to resolve q. Consequently, as we shall see, any factual information about the question will typically constitute partially resolving information. One class of phenomena that bring out the need for such a notion, I argue, are the readings triggered by adverbial modiication of interrogative clauses, related to which is the quantiicational variability eeect (QVE) discussed extensively in the argues that sentences such as those in (1a-b) exemplify a fundamental bi-furcation among interrogative clauses (thèquantiicational variability eeect' (QVE)). His claim is that whereas in (1a) the adverb can only be interpreted as quantifying over cases/events/situations (henceforth the cases reading), (1b) displays an additional reading, (the qv reading), paraphrasable as (1c): 1