Question 今日は何の映画を見るか決めたの

[Zizka]

今日は何の映画を見るか決めたの
In the sentence above is the particle a marker for a yes/no question? If not, what purpose does it serve?

 

[Toritoribe]

It's not a yes-no question since 何の is there. か is necessary also for an indirect open-ended question.

 

[Zizka]

The way I understood it, the speaker is asking the person is asking "Have you decided on which movie to see?" Wouldn't the answer be yes or no in that case since the speaker isn't asking which movie is going to be seen?

"Have you decided on which movie to see?"
-Yes I have.
-No I haven't.
?

" か is necessary also for an open-ended question" you mean as an ending particle. Ok noted.

The only か left is the alternative. I'm used to seeing it in sentences like these:
私は電車かバスかで行く。

 

[Toritoribe]

" か is necessary also for an open-ended question" you mean as an ending particle.

I meant か is necessary not only for an indirect "yes-no" question but also for an indirect "what, which, who, when" question by "an indirect open-ended question" (I added "indirect" in my previous post probably while you were replying).

 

[bentenmusume]

Just to clarify Toritoribeさん's response (though it might already be clear to you)...

The way I understood it, the speaker is asking the person is asking "Have you decided on which movie to see?" Wouldn't the answer be yes or no in that case since the speaker isn't asking which movie is going to be seen?

The embedded question (question within the sentence) is "which movie are you going to see", which is not a yes/no question. The question being asked by the full sentence "Have you decided...?" is a yes/no question, but that's not the question being marked by か here. The yes/no question "Have you decided...?" is just being marked by の.

Actually, whether the full sentence ending in の is a question ("Have you decided which movie you're going to see?") or a statement ("I've decided which movie I'm going to see.") is unclear and would have to be determined by context/intonation. (If it's a statement, it would indicate a feminine speech style, as I mentioned in the other thread about の／ん)

 

[Zizka]

Just to clarify Toritoribeさん's response (though it might already be clear to you)...

Nope, it wasn't I was hoping for some more explanations .

Actually, whether the full sentence ending in の is a question ("Have you decided which movie you're going to see?") or a statement ("I've decided which movie I'm going to see.") is unclear and would have to be determined by context/intonation. (If it's a statement, it would indicate a feminine speech style, as I mentioned in the other thread about の／ん)

Really, you'd use 何 as part of the affirmative sentence? I would've thought:
今日は何の映画を見るか決めたの
Would've been better in the affirmative: "I've decided which movie to see."

The embedded question (question within the sentence) is "which movie are you going to see", which is not a yes/no question.

But why does it matter what the embedded question is if the whole sentence is to be answered by a yes/no answer? Can you expand on your explanation?

 

[bentenmusume]

Really, you'd use 何 as part of the affirmative sentence? I would've thought:
今日は何の映画を見るか決めたの
Would've been better in the affirmative: "I've decided which movie to see."

Where is the "which" in your version of the sentence?

Whether the full sentence is a question ("Have you decided...?") or a statement ("I've decided...") the embedded question is still "which movie to see?". "Which movie to see?" being a Wh-question, it requires the question word 何の～

But why does it matter what the embedded question is if the whole sentence is to be answered by a yes/no answer? Can you expand on your explanation?

I'm not quite sure what you're asking here. It's not a matter of what "matters", I was simply clarifying why your initial interpretation of か marking a yes/no question was incorrect by pointing out that the か is not marking the yes/no question "Have you decided...?", but rather goes with the embedded Wh-question "Which movie to see?"

In fact, the embedded question remains exactly the same regardless of what form the full sentence takes.

今日は何の映画を見るか、Aさんに聞きました。
I asked A what movie she's going to see today.
今日は何の映画を見るか、Facebookに投稿しましょう。
Let's post on Facebook about what movie we're going to see today.
今日は何の映画を見るか、教えてね。
Tell (lit. "teach") me what movie you're going to see.

This should make it clear that the か has nothing to do with the yes/no question "Have you decided...?" in the original sentence, yes?

 

[Toritoribe]

I would've thought:
今日は何の映画を見るか決めたの
Would've been better in the affirmative: "I've decided which movie to see."

As bentenmusume-san pointed out, there is no "which" in 今日は映画を見るか決めたの. This is an indirect speech "Have you decided if you see a movie or not?" or "I've decided if I see a movie or not." か is necessary whether the sentence is a question or statement. かどうか（を） would be more natural, though.