I would like to know if there is a shift in nuance in questions such as these:
誰が参加したんですか。 vs. 誰が参加しましたか。
いつ着いたんですか。 vs. いつ着きましたか。
I wish to limit discussion to only non-yes/no questions (so questions asking Who? When? Where? Why? and so on). I have read a paper (PDF) which states that adding ～のか indicates that the asker's feelings of wanting to know the answer are stronger, and that it puts more of a burden of responding on the askee. Can anyone confirm or contradict this?
Answer
の/ん often indicate that the speaker is attempting to explain or account for some fact. This can connect the question to a previous statement made by the addressee.
For example:
A: (Wow, some of the people who participated in the tournament were really good!)
B: 誰が参加したんですか。
Here B would like to know which people inspired A to make that statement.
A: (I got to this party so early that the host looked at me funny.)
B: いつ着いたんですか。
B wants to know how early A was to the party, thus explaining why the host looked at her funny.
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