Two types of question and existential quantification
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Youngjun Jang
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is twofold: one goal is to establish that in languages like Korean question clauses are best characterized if classified into self-addressed vs. hearer-addressed questions, which are shown to be morphologically distinguished, along with the distinction of wh- vs. yes–no questions. The other is to show that the so-called existential quantifiers (or indeterminate nouns) are in fact embedded self-addressed questions, contra Kim's (1989, 1990) claim that Korean wh-phrases are pure quantifiers undergoing LF quantifier raising. I also show that the long standing “ambiguity problem” is only apparent: A wh-phrase, if c-commanded by a self-addressed question marker, gets interpreted as an existential quantifier, while it is interpreted as a pure wh-word if c-commanded by a hearer-addressed question marker.
© Walter de Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Optimality, markedness, and word order in German
- Duplex negatio non semper affirmat: a theory of double negation in Bavarian
- Two types of question and existential quantification
- On the function and distribution of the modifiers respective and respectively
- Complex words in complex words
- Scope and the structure of bare nominals: evidence from child language
- Book reviews
- Publications received between 2 June 1998 and 16 June 1999
Articles in the same Issue
- Optimality, markedness, and word order in German
- Duplex negatio non semper affirmat: a theory of double negation in Bavarian
- Two types of question and existential quantification
- On the function and distribution of the modifiers respective and respectively
- Complex words in complex words
- Scope and the structure of bare nominals: evidence from child language
- Book reviews
- Publications received between 2 June 1998 and 16 June 1999
