(Non)maximality and Distributivity: a Decision Theory Approach

Following Merin’s (1999) approach to relevance, van Rooy (1999) uses Decision Theory (DT) to give a formal definition of relevance in its application to questions. In his analysis, questions are inherently underspecified or vague (1): their denotation contains a variable Op (1b) that depends on a decision problem facing the speaker (i.e., the questioner). In the context of the decision problem, vagueness is resolved: a partition is chosen as the true import of the question (1d).