On a reason Wh-adjunct in Korean

Abstract All languages have a reason wh-adverb corresponding to why . But, some languages also allow other categories, such as wh-DPs, to be used as reason wh-adjuncts. In this paper, I discuss the properties of a reason wh-adjunct mwehale in Korean, which has received little attention in the literature. Mwehale is originally a phonologically reduced form of the purposive wh-phrase mwues-ul ha-le meaning ‘to do what’. I argue that mwehale has a dual status: on the one hand, it is simply a phonologically reduced version of the purposive wh-phrase; on the other hand, it is a separate reason wh-adjunct involving a wh-adverb. I show that when mwehale is used as a reason wh-adjunct, its behavior is rather different from when it is used as a purposive phrase. Based on this, I propose that mwehale has an independent status as a reason wh-adjunct, which is argued to be the result of grammaticalization.