The Question-Under-Discussion Theory:From Philosophical Analysis to Linguistic Analysis
The question-under-discussion(QUD)theory is one of the core frameworks of formal pragmatics.The QUD theory considers discourse as a communal inquiry carried out in the form of a game of questions and answers:at any point of a discourse,there is a series of questions under discussion(i.e.,questions that need to be answered)and by applying relevant strategies of inquiry,discourse participants attempt to solve these questions so as to promote the progression of the discourse.Based on the assumptions above,the QUD theory provides a framework for the formalization of discourse and lays down the theoretical foundations for the investigation of a wide range of pragmatic phenomena(such as information structure,presupposition projection,and relevance modeling).This article traces the philosophical and linguistic origins of the QUD theory of discourse,and then presents a brief introduction to the standard QUD theory proposed by Roberts(2012a[1996]),followed by a critical review of its applications in the Chinese language.After that,this article offers a reflection on the theoretical assumptions and applications of the standard QUD theory and points out its drawbacks as well as the directions for future research:1)more types of speech acts and discourse genres should be taken into account in the QUD-oriented analysis;2)an adequate account is required for the inference of implicit QUDs in discourse;3)consideration of possible correspondence between the QUD modeling of discourse and other types of formal analyses.The QUD theory of discourse is one of the most important theoretical developments in formal pragmatics during recent years,but it is comparatively less known to Chinese linguists.This article is intended to remedy this gap,thus providing a novel theoretical perspective and a new research method for Chinese linguists.
万方数据
维普
