Visual cues in polar questions (ViPQuest)

• Applicants: Dr. Cornelia Loos; Professor Dr. Floris Roelofsen
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 568890344

Polar questions (PQs) are essential components of human communication and exist in most documented languages. Although their morpho-syntactic and prosodic forms and semantics have been extensively studied in spoken languages, important knowledge gaps remain: Little is known about a) the visual cues accompanying PQs in spoken languages and how they affect a PQ’s contexts of use; b) the forms and felicity conditions of (non-)canonical PQs in sign languages; and c) the semantic contribution and status of visual cues such as head and brow movements, squints, or shrugs. Further, we need a better understanding of the status of the form-meaning mappings in visual cues - whether they are arbitrary, or iconically / biologically motivated. Our project addresses these gaps via experimental and corpus-linguistic investigations of PQs in German Sign Language (DGS) and German. Specifically, our research questions are: 1. Which visual cues are used in different PQ types in DGS and German (e.g. positive/negative PQs, with interrogative vs. declarative syntax, particle use, tag questions)? 2. How do visual cues affect felicity conditions of different PQ types in DGS/German (parameters considered: previous speaker belief and preference; contextual evidence for/against a proposition)? 3. What is the semantic contribution of visual cues in both language modalities (e.g. signaling speaker belief/preference and whether contextual evidence surprises them)? 4. What are the similarities and differences between DGS and German w.r.t. the use of visual cues, and what do these tell us about the status of (some) visual cues as rooted in biological reflexes of mental states (e.g. surprise, doubt)? We address these questions using corpus-linguistic and experimental methods. WP1 focuses on DGS, identifying the different forms of PQs in the DGS Corpus (WP1a) and investigating contextual factors affecting their felicity through a production (WP1b) and a felicity judgment experiment (WP1c). WP2 turns to German, identifying potential visual cues accompanying the wide range of PQ types via audiovisual corpora (WP2a). We then manipulate contexts for speaker belief, preference, and contextual evidence, and ask German speakers to produce different PQ types in each context, recording their audiovisual productions (WP2b). Based on the empirical and analytical findings from WP1 and WP2, WP3 develops a formally articulated theory of the semantic contribution of visual cues in PQs in DGS and German. We also examine a more general theoretical issue, asking to what extent the form-meaning mapping in visual cues is arbitrary vs. biologically motivated through links between affective states and their motoric expression. Our project focuses on two central forms of visual communication, sign language and gesture, and thus fits well within the research domain of ViCom. We contribute to ViCom’s aim to advance linguistic theory by developing a formally precise multimodal account of PQ semantics.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 2392: Visual communication. Theoretical, empirical, and applied perspectives (ViCom)
• International Connection: Netherlands