초록 열기/닫기 버튼
The purpose of this study is to examine the homomorphism between wh-words and quantifiers in Korean and several other languages, and to argue that the two groups of language elements are fundamentally wh-words. It is argued that the reason why the same forms of words can be used as either wh-words or quantifers is that both groups are intrinsically indefinite words which have to undergo a process of scope interpretation. It is observed that the homomorphism exists quite universally in human languages, and that quantifiers are derived from quantifiers by attaching certain morphemes, which are very close in forms to interrogative morphemes in several languages. Here, if in the Lexicon wh-words are combined with an interrogative-like morpheme which is assumed to have the feature [+WH], they become quantifiers before being selected into the Syntax. And that wh-words which are not combined with such a morpheme in the Lexicon are licensed by the feature [+WH] in the Syntax is interpreted as a process of converting them into quantifiers: They have to undergo a scope interpretation like quantifiers.
