Decomposing Multiple Wh‐Questions: Its Theoretical Implications

In this paper, I deal with multiple wh‐questions in Korean. I will show that any approach built on LF wh‐movement cannot offer a natural account for the grammaticality contrast in multiple wh‐questions. One thus needs a radically different approach for this, especially given the claim that wh‐words in Korean are construed in situ as wh‐interrogatives via unselective binding as claimed by Choi (2002) among others. As a matter of fact, the present research reveals that the intervention effect in multiple wh‐questions in Korean is not a movement but scope phenomenon. The present research also has important theoretical implications; a wh‐interrogative should take scope over a QP (Engdahl 1986, Chierchia 1991, 1993); the separation of a restriction from its wh‐operator by a scope bearing element leads to deviant status in grammaticality and lack of a pair list answer. The present research, if on the right track, may shed some light on the nature of multiple wh‐questions in languages typologically akin to Korean.