Editing Question (section)

{{short description|Request for information}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Asking|Asking (song)}}
[[File:Question_in_a_question_in_a_question_in_a_question.gif|thumb|right|alt=A question mark made of smaller question marks|A question mark made of smaller question marks]]

A '''question''' is an [[utterance]] which serves as a request for [[information]]. Questions are sometimes distinguished from [[interrogative]]s, which are the [[grammar|grammatical]] forms, typically used to express them. [[Rhetorical question]]s, for instance, are interrogative in form but may not be considered [[wiktionary:bona fide|bona fide]] questions, as they are not expected to be answered.

Questions come in a number of varieties. For instance; ''[[Polar question]]s'' are those such as the [[English language|English]] example "Is this a polar question?", which can be answered with [[yes and no|"yes" or "no"]]. ''Alternative questions'' such as "Is this a polar question, or an alternative question?" present a list of possibilities to choose from. ''[[Open-ended question|Open question]]s'' such as "What kind of question is this?" allow many possible resolutions.

Questions are widely studied in [[linguistics]] and [[philosophy of language]]. In the subfield of [[pragmatics]], questions are regarded as [[illocutionary act]]s which raise an issue to be resolved in [[discourse]]. In approaches to [[Formal semantics (natural language)|formal semantics]] such as [[alternative semantics]] or [[inquisitive semantics]], questions are regarded as the [[denotation]]s of interrogatives, and are typically identified as [[Set_(mathematics)|set]]s of the [[proposition]]s which answer them.