Expressive questions in English and French: What the hell versus Mais qu'est-ce que - Université Paris Cité Access content directly
Book Sections Year : 2021

Expressive questions in English and French: What the hell versus Mais qu'est-ce que

Anne Jugnet
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 973706
  • IdHAL : annejugnet
Laure Lansari
  • Function : Author
  • PersonId : 972473

Abstract

This paper explores expressive questions in English and French. It is usage-based and draws upon a sample of naturally-occurring data. It focuses on what the hell questions in English and mais qu'est-ce que questions in French. A distinction is made between two types of expressivity, labelled emotional expressivity and iconic expressivity. They both convey intensification and may operate at the lexical, discursive, semantic and syntactic levels. In what the hell questions, the left periphery is a core area for activating expressivity. In mais qu'est-ce que questions, expressivity markers are varied and not restricted to the left periphery. Iconic expressivity is claimed to be unrelated to the speaker's emotional attitude and triggered by enactment markers.
Not file

Dates and versions

hal-03386387 , version 1 (19-10-2021)

Identifiers

  • HAL Id : hal-03386387 , version 1

Cite

Agnès Celle, Anne Jugnet, Laure Lansari. Expressive questions in English and French: What the hell versus Mais qu'est-ce que. Andreas Trotzke; Xavier Villalba. Expressive Meaning Across Linguistic Levels and Frameworks, Oxford University Press, pp.138-166, 2021, 9780198871217. ⟨hal-03386387⟩
49 View
0 Download

Share

Gmail Facebook Twitter LinkedIn More