earticle

영어

The purpose of this paper is to find out why whyever does not exist even though the other wh-adjuncts(where, when and how) have the corresponding -ever form. It seems that the absence of whyever is not an accidental gap, but is due to an unspecified systematic reason. I have tried to illustrate that why is a PP whereas where and when are a DP (how is somewhat marginal). This categorial difference is closely linked to merger possibility of wh-words with -ever. On the basis of English and Korean examples, I have proposed that -ever can be merged only with wh-words of N category. I hope that by means of further study this proposal will be universally confirmed.