This paper investigates a special type of ettehkey ‘how’-question in Korean (henceforth, R-ettehkey-questions), where the wh-expression is used to form a ‘why’-question. This paper aims to answer two questions: Is R-ettehkey licensed in the same manner as way ‘why’? and How can R-ettehkey-questions receive ‘why’- interpretations? In answering the first question, I propose that R-ettehkey combines with CAUSE-Op in a functional head F, forming a functional projection FP; the whole FP is externally merged in a position adjoined to TP; and R-ettehkey LF-moves from within that FP to Spec-CP to take scope. To resolve the second question within a compositional semantic framework, I propose to treat R-ettehkey as denoting a proposition and CAUSE-Op as denoting a function from propositions (construed as sets of events) to a causal relation between two events. On this semantic analysis, R-ettehkey- questions are interpreted as asking about what proposition p is such that a p-event is the CAUSE of the definite event in question.
1. Introduction
2. Some Parallels with Way ‘Why’
3. Ko (2005): External Merge of Way in Spec-CP
4. Base Position of R-ettehkey: Two Possible Views
5. A Compositional Semantic Analysis
6. Some Welcome Predictions
7. Concluding Remarks and Future Work
References