How way ‘why’ in Korean obviates intervention and superiority

Abstract

This paper reconsiders the syntactic placement of way ‘why’ in Korean and Japanese (K/J). Contradicting Ko’s (2005) CP Modifier Hypothesis suggesting way’s generation in the [Spec,CP] position, this study argues that WHY (i.e., way and naze) in K/J does not stem from this specific syntactic location. To support this argument, we examine the behavior of the rationale or adjunct mwe-l ‘what-ACC’ in Korean. I go on to propose that WHY in these languages engages in preemptive scrambling at overt syntax, facilitating feature checking with the Q-particle in the same clause. This accounts for its clause-bounded scrambling behavior, explaining the observed anti-intervention with pre-WHY negative polarity items. However, intervention effects arise when WHY remains unlicensed without overt scrambling. Furthermore, instances of WHY-in-situ, coexisting with a higher wh-phrase, utilize Saito's (1994) adjunction strategy. This strategy allows WHY to adjoin to the higher wh-phrase, enabling it to establish licit scope.