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The French wh interrogative system

Evolution and clefting
  • Sandrine Tailleur
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Variation within and across Romance Languages
This chapter is in the book Variation within and across Romance Languages

Abstract

Today French speakers have access to at least five different variants of wh questions, which shows the inherent complexity of the wh interrogative system. This article aims at providing new pieces of evidence for the analysis of French wh interrogatives. Through the study of the evolution and usage of all variants, we show that the wh+est-ce que variants are at the center of the system’s evolution. They explain why so many variants have been preserved, and they are also the trigger of a possible structural change affecting the interrogative left periphery. Assuming the diglossic approach, some registers of French lack wh movement, and now produce wh interrogatives that are similar to syntactic clefting. Such an analysis predicts that wh in situ is to be expected, since it is part of the same register – grammar – as the wh est-ce que. This article provides ample empirical evidence, and it represents a first step towards a cleft-like analysis of French wh interrogatives.

Abstract

Today French speakers have access to at least five different variants of wh questions, which shows the inherent complexity of the wh interrogative system. This article aims at providing new pieces of evidence for the analysis of French wh interrogatives. Through the study of the evolution and usage of all variants, we show that the wh+est-ce que variants are at the center of the system’s evolution. They explain why so many variants have been preserved, and they are also the trigger of a possible structural change affecting the interrogative left periphery. Assuming the diglossic approach, some registers of French lack wh movement, and now produce wh interrogatives that are similar to syntactic clefting. Such an analysis predicts that wh in situ is to be expected, since it is part of the same register – grammar – as the wh est-ce que. This article provides ample empirical evidence, and it represents a first step towards a cleft-like analysis of French wh interrogatives.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword and Acknowledgments vii
  4. Editors’ introduction 1
  5. Part I. Sound patterns
  6. Sibilant voicing assimilation in peninsular Spanish as gestural blending 17
  7. Phonology-morphology opacity in Harmonic Serialism 39
  8. Morphologically conditioned intervocalic rhotacism in Algherese Catalan 63
  9. Muta cum liquida in the light of Tertenia Sardinian metathesis and compensatory lengthening Latin tr > Old French Vrr 77
  10. Schwa at the phonology/syntax interface 101
  11. Weight effects across verbal domains 119
  12. Part II. Syntax and semantics
  13. On truth persistence 135
  14. Pick some but not all alternatives! 155
  15. Polarity fronting in Romanian and Sardinian 173
  16. Degree quantification and scope in Puerto Rican Spanish 199
  17. ‘Minimal link constraint’ violations 213
  18. On subjunctives and islandhood 233
  19. When control can’t be a fact 255
  20. Part III. Historical aspects
  21. Prevocalic velar advancement in Chilean Spanish and Proto-Romance 277
  22. The role of the copula in the diachronic development of focus constructions in Portuguese 297
  23. The French wh interrogative system 315
  24. On the relation between functional architecture and patterns of change in Romance object clitic syntax 331
  25. Part IV. Interactions across dialects and languages
  26. Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish 351
  27. English questions, Spanish structure 379
  28. French oral proficiency assessment 401
  29. Name index 417
  30. Subject index 423
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.333.21tai

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword and Acknowledgments vii
  4. Editors’ introduction 1
  5. Part I. Sound patterns
  6. Sibilant voicing assimilation in peninsular Spanish as gestural blending 17
  7. Phonology-morphology opacity in Harmonic Serialism 39
  8. Morphologically conditioned intervocalic rhotacism in Algherese Catalan 63
  9. Muta cum liquida in the light of Tertenia Sardinian metathesis and compensatory lengthening Latin tr > Old French Vrr 77
  10. Schwa at the phonology/syntax interface 101
  11. Weight effects across verbal domains 119
  12. Part II. Syntax and semantics
  13. On truth persistence 135
  14. Pick some but not all alternatives! 155
  15. Polarity fronting in Romanian and Sardinian 173
  16. Degree quantification and scope in Puerto Rican Spanish 199
  17. ‘Minimal link constraint’ violations 213
  18. On subjunctives and islandhood 233
  19. When control can’t be a fact 255
  20. Part III. Historical aspects
  21. Prevocalic velar advancement in Chilean Spanish and Proto-Romance 277
  22. The role of the copula in the diachronic development of focus constructions in Portuguese 297
  23. The French wh interrogative system 315
  24. On the relation between functional architecture and patterns of change in Romance object clitic syntax 331
  25. Part IV. Interactions across dialects and languages
  26. Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish 351
  27. English questions, Spanish structure 379
  28. French oral proficiency assessment 401
  29. Name index 417
  30. Subject index 423
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