Les relatifs de surface

We have here examined some types of sentences which include a relative pronoun, for which we would like to suggest that the outwardly relative clause may not be a 'true' relative clause: C'est Pierre qui m'accompagnera à la gare Il y a des enfants qui jouent au ballon dans le jardin Il est / existe /se trouve des gens qui pensent que... J'ai une mélodie qui me trotte dans la tête Tu as ton jupon qui dépasse Cyril partait gagnant mais Pierre est celui qui a été élu All such structures are interpreted here as resulting, not from a reunion of two clauses through relativization, but from the rearrangement of a single simple clause: Son mari n 'aime pas les voyages → Elle a un mari qui n 'aime pas les voyages . This rearrangement is motivated by focalization or rethematization purposes. It involves the use of a new beginning for the sentence (to set out the focus or to indicate the new theme); as a consequence, the rest of the sentence is marked with a qu- form. We thus call the qu- clause a 'pseudo-relative'.