Abstract
This squib investigates the semantic value, discourse context, syntactic structure and prosody of a polar question with a focus (F-polQ) in Korean, e.g., JONF-i oassni? ‘Did JOHNF come?’, which has not been paid much attention to. First we observe that in generating an alternative set, an F-polQ goes with a focused declarative sentence (F-Decl) on the one hand, and in that its ordinary semantic value is the set of positive and negative propositions, {p, ￢p}, it goes with an ordinary polar question on the other. Based on this, this study shows that i) the alternative set of propositions generated by an F-polQ refers to the presupposed wh-question, just like an F-Decl does, and that ii) whereas the wh-Question that provides a proper context for an occurrence of a F-Decl originates from the hearer part, forming a question-answer dialogue, the wh-Question generated by a F-polQ, indicated by the prosody of L- phrase accent, originates from the speaker part. Additionally, it is suggested that the rising boundary tone H% indicates the source of the wh-question presupposed by the F-polQ is the speaker herself.
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