Romero & Han (2004): Negative Yes/No Questions and Epistemic Bias

@cite{romero-han-2004}

Core Contribution

Preposed negation in yes/no questions forces an epistemic implicature via the VERUM operator (FOR-SURE-CG). The Ladd PI/NI ambiguity is scope ambiguity:

• PI: [Q [not [VERUM [p]]]] → speaker believes p, double-checking
• NI: [Q [VERUM [not [p]]]] → speaker believes ¬p, double-checking

Data

Negative question data, Ladd's ambiguity examples, and cross-linguistic bias-marking strategies. Originally in NegativeQuestions.lean; moved here for provenance tracking.

Connection to Existing Infrastructure

• Theories/Semantics/Questions/VerumFocus.lean: formal VERUM semantics
• Phenomena/Questions/Studies/Holmberg2016.lean: complementary analysis — R&H explains structural source of bias, @cite{holmberg-2016} explains cross-linguistic answer variation

structure Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.NegativeQuestionDatum : Type

A negative question datum records epistemic bias.

• sentence : String

  The sentence

• negationPosition : String

  Negation position

• epistemicBias : Option String

  Epistemic bias (positive, negative, or none)

• notes : String

  Notes

def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprNegativeQuestionDatum.repr : NegativeQuestionDatum → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprNegativeQuestionDatum : Repr NegativeQuestionDatum

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• Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprNegativeQuestionDatum = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprNegativeQuestionDatum.repr }

def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.preposedNegation : NegativeQuestionDatum

Preposed negation forces positive bias.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.nonPreposedNegation : NegativeQuestionDatum

Non-preposed negation allows neutral reading.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.reallyBias : NegativeQuestionDatum

Adverb "really" triggers positive bias.

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theorem Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.preposed_triggers_verum : Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.necessarilyTriggersVerum Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.VerumSource.preposedNegation = true

Preposed negation necessarily triggers VERUM (bridge to VerumFocus theory).

theorem Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.really_triggers_verum : Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.necessarilyTriggersVerum Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.VerumSource.reallyAdverb = true

"Really" also triggers VERUM.

@cite{ladd-1981}: the same negative question form is ambiguous between positive-implicature (PI) and negative-implicature (NI) readings, disambiguated by polarity items.

structure Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.LaddAmbiguityDatum : Type

A Ladd ambiguity datum: same form, opposite implicatures.

• question : String

  The question template

• piVariant : String

  Positive-implicature variant (with PPIs like "too")

• niVariant : String

  Negative-implicature variant (with NPIs like "either")

• piReading : String

  PI interpretation

• niReading : String

  NI interpretation

def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprLaddAmbiguityDatum.repr : LaddAmbiguityDatum → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprLaddAmbiguityDatum : Repr LaddAmbiguityDatum

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• Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprLaddAmbiguityDatum = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprLaddAmbiguityDatum.repr }

def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.laddJaneComing : LaddAmbiguityDatum

Classic Ladd example: too vs either.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.laddSomeAny : LaddAmbiguityDatum

Some vs any.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.laddAlreadyYet : LaddAmbiguityDatum

Already vs yet.

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theorem Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.ppi_diagnoses_pi : Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.isLicensed Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.too Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.NegQuestionReading.PI = true

PPIs diagnose PI readings; NPIs diagnose NI readings. Bridge to the VerumFocus polarity item licensing theory.

theorem Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.npi_diagnoses_ni : Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.isLicensed Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.either Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.NegQuestionReading.NI = true

theorem Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.ppi_blocks_ni : Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.isLicensed Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.too Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.NegQuestionReading.NI = false

theorem Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.npi_blocks_pi : Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.isLicensed Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.either Semantics.Questions.VerumFocus.NegQuestionReading.PI = false

structure Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.CrossLinguisticDatum : Type

Cross-linguistic negative question data.

• language : String

  Language

• sentence : String

  Sentence

• gloss : String

  Gloss

• translation : String

  Translation

• biasStrategy : String

  How the language marks bias

def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprCrossLinguisticDatum.repr : CrossLinguisticDatum → ℕ → Std.Format

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instance Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprCrossLinguisticDatum : Repr CrossLinguisticDatum

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• Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprCrossLinguisticDatum = { reprPrec := Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.instReprCrossLinguisticDatum.repr }

def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.germanNegQ : CrossLinguisticDatum

German: clitic position determines PI vs NI.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.spanishNegQ : CrossLinguisticDatum

Spanish: tampoco/también for NI/PI.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.koreanNegQ : CrossLinguisticDatum

Korean: morphological marking.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.bulgarianNegQ : CrossLinguisticDatum

Bulgarian: separate negation and question particles.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.greekNegQ : CrossLinguisticDatum

Modern Greek: dhen vs mi negation.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.generalization1 : String

Generalization 1: preposed negation forces positive epistemic implicature.

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def Phenomena.Questions.Studies.RomeroHan2004.generalization2 : String

Generalization 2: Ladd's p/¬p ambiguity.

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