Interrogative Feature Checking in Japanese and Korean

Language, Information and Computation(PACLIC 11), 1996, 257-266 Interrogative Feature Checking in Japanese and Korean* Keiko Yoshida Waseda University yoshidak@mn.waseda.ac.jp Tomoyuki Yoshida International Christian University yoshidat@icu.ac.jp Abstract This paper discusses the feature checking mechanism of interrogative sentences in Japanese and Korean. We first focus on a phenomenon of omitting question markers in informal speech in Japanese and attempt to provide an account for it within the framework of Principles and Parameters approach. We argue that question markers can be omitted only if interrogative features of the sentence can be properly checked. In particular we claim that I-to-C head-movement is me of the options for interrogative feature checking in Japanese as well as languages without question markers. A close examination of Korean reveals certain differences between Korean and Japanese. Some theoretical consequences from this analysis are also discussed. 1. Introduction It has been pointed out in the linguistic literature that Japanese allows question markers to be optionally omitted in informal speech (Lasnik & Saito, 1992; Inoue, 1996).1 (1) a. John-wa doko-ni ik-imashi-ta (ka)?� 'Where did John go?' John-Top where-to go-Polite-Past (Q) b. hon-o kat-ta� (no)?� Did you buy a book?' book-A buy-Past (Q) The question marker drop (QM-drop) phenomenon is commonly observed in informal speech, but it is not the case that it applies freely without any constraint.2 Our major goal is to provide an analysis of the QM-drop phenomenon within the framework of Principles and Parameters (P&P) approach. Adopting a standard assumption that the interrogative force is carried by C° with the LF interpretable feature [+wh] or [+Q],3 we will argue that there are three basic ways to license the interrogative feature of the sentence in Japanese: (i) by overt realization of the [+wh] or [+Q] feature with morphological question markers, (ii) by dynamic agreement of Rizzi (1996), an instance of Spec-head agreement of [+wh] feature, and (iii) by I-to-C head-movement. The paper is organized as follows. In the next section, we provide a brief description of the QM-drop phenomenon. 4 In section 3, we discuss QM-drop in wh-questions, based on Rizzi (1996). Section 4 focuses on QM-drop in yes/no- questions. Section 5 deals with embedded questions, and we discuss some theoretical consequences from our analysis of QM-drop. In section 6, we examine Korean data. The final section is a summary. 2. QM-Drop in Japanese QM-drop is always possible with regular lexical verbs as in (1) above while it is sometimes blocked with copulative verbs (Inoue, 1996). Thus, the non-past tense copula presents a grammatical contrast with or without wh-elements as in (2), but the past tense copula does not as in (3). (2) a. sono hito-wa John desu�*(ka)?5� 'Is that person John?' that person-T John Cop (polite) *(Q) b. sono hito-wa dare desu�(ka)?� 'Who is that person?' that person-T who Cop (polite) (Q) 257 (3)� sono hito-wa John / dare deshi-ta� Ocar that person-T John / who Cop-Past (polite) (Q) 'Lit. Was that person John / who?' In embedded questions, QM-drop is completely banned (Lasnik & Saito, 1992). (4)� John-wa …

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