An experimental investigation of why-stripping in Korean

The present study uses an acceptability judgment experiment designed to investigate whether the acceptability of Korean why-stripping is affected by (i) the polarity difference of the antecedent clause, (ii) the marker ani ‘not’ immediately preceding why, or (iii) the type (i.e., short-form or long-form) of negation in the antecedent clause. We propose that way ‘why’ in Korean why-stripping originates in CP and the non-wh remnant is a focus phrase associated with way ‘why’, following Yoshida et al.’s (2015) clausal ellipsis analysis of English why-stripping. Based on the experimental findings, we show that Korean why-stripping favors affirmative antecedent contexts over negative antecedent contexts, as expected from the processing perspective (Fischler et al. 1983; Herbert and Kübler 2011). We also show that the pre-why (i.e., clause-initial) ani ‘not’ in Korean why-stripping is not a negative marker but a discourse marker of conveying elements of surprise or disbelief (cf. Koo 2008). We further show that the type (i.e., short-form or long-form) of negation in the antecedent clause does not matter in why-stripping. In sum, we defend a grammar-plus processing analysis of Korean why-stripping.