In this paper, we describe the Korean wh-doublet construction in detail and argue that the construction has an exhaustivity effect in questions. We show this by the distribution of questions and answers. In Korean, a wh-item/phrase can be reduplicated...
In this paper, we describe the Korean wh-doublet construction in detail and argue that the construction has an exhaustivity effect in questions. We show this by the distribution of questions and answers. In Korean, a wh-item/phrase can be reduplicated as in eti-eti ‘where-where’ or nwukwu-nwukwu ‘whowho’.
This is called wh-doublet/doubling construction (WDC). While previous studies have mainly focused on its plurality and morpho-syntactic properties, we show that WDC signals the speaker’s request for a complete exhaustive answer. Building on studies of Hong (2016), Chung (1999), and others, we analyze WDC as a product of syntactic copying and propose that it generates exhaustivity effects. We support this mainly through the distribution of answers, prosodic patterns, and cross-linguistic comparisons.