Chapter 1. Introduction

Abstract

Question–answer sequences are arguably among the most basic building blocks for sequences of action in interaction and are ubiquitous among the languages of the world. This chapter reviews and synthesizes current interactional research on polar questions and answers across languages in order to contextualize the work assembled in this volume. We introduce grammatical and pragmatic resources for forming and recognizing polar questions, discuss principles of polar question design, and overview different types of polar responses. We conclude the chapter with a preview of the included studies, a discussion of their contributions, and suggestions for future research directions.