This paper aims to elucidate the licensing of wh-phrases in Korean and English. Wh-phrases in both wh-moving languages and wh-in-situ languages are assumed to have an interpretable wh-feature which is one of the criterial features to be realized in the left periphery. Adopting Rizzi (2006, 2009), criterial features are assumed to be satisfied by raising to the criterial position in the left periphery. I propose that wh-phrases move to CP, the left periphery, to satisfy this criterial feature under the copy theory of movement (Chomsky 1995, 2008). The parametric difference comes from whether the top copy is pronounced or the low copy is pronounced. It is suggested that the head C with the Edge Feature (EF) requires its Spec to be overtly filled, hence the pronunciation of the top copy whereas the head C without EF does not require its Spec to be overtly filled, hence the pronunciation of the low copy. The Locality based on phases and the Last Resort based on no intermediate feature checking are observed in wh-movement. Eliminating separate levels, a single output syntax is obserbed in this analysis.
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