This squib aims to provide a formal dynamic speech act analysis of the so-called Verum Focus (VF) as a polarity focus serving as an answer to a polar alternative question (PAQ). It is claimed that PAQs are the antecedents needed for licensing VFs contra Goodhue (2018), who argues for contrasting polar propositions as the antecedents for VF. Based on this, this study attempts to show how question-answer congruence for a pair of PAQ and VF can be analyzed in Krifka’s (2015, 2017, 2021, etc.) Commitment Space approach. The Commitment Space approach is a dynamic context update system for the speech acts of questions and answers. It is an extended framework of the classical model of Common Ground (Stalnaker 1978) that can deal with declarations only.
1. Introduction
2. VF as a Polarity Focus
3. Analysis of Verum Focus in Commitment Space
4. Conclusion
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