Concept: constituent question construction

Definition

[[A constituent question construction is an interrogative sentence in which the unknown piece of the propositional content requested of the addressee is a semantic component of the proposition other than its polarity.]]

Croft's comparative concept

information question (CXN):

information question (a.k.a. content question, WH question) (INF/CXN) = an interrogative in which the unknown piece of the propositional content requested of the addressee is a semantic component of the proposition other than its polarity; and the construction expressing this function. Example: Who is coming? is an instance of the English information question construction, expecting an answer identifying the person(s) who is/are coming. Information questions, unlike polarity questions, contain an interrogative pronoun. (Section 12.3.1)

SIL Glossary

wh-question

Quotation

"We will refer to [the] three types as ‘polar interrogatives’, ‘constituent interrogatives’ and ‘alternative interrogatives’ respectively, but it should be noted that there is a multiplicity of labels to be found in the literature. Polar interrogatives have also been called ‘closed’ or ‘yes-no’ interrogatives/questions and the set of labels used for constituent interrogatives includes items such as ‘open’, ‘special’, ‘partial’, ‘question-word’, ‘wh’ and ‘information’ interrogatives." (Siemund 2001: 1011)

Sources

Siemund 2001