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Article published In: Revue Romane
Vol. 60:2 (2025) ► pp.209–230

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Articles linguistiques

New observations on the grammaticalisation path of où est-ce que in Quebec French

A corpus- and judgement-based data analysis

ORCiD logo with link | Arizona State University
Published online: 25 November 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/rro.22012.kel
Abstract
This article provides new observations on où est-ce que (lit. ‘where is-it that’) in headed relatives (i.e. relatives with a nominal antecedent) in Quebec French from two different data sources (corpus research and acceptability judgements). These observations will be interpreted as an indicator for a more advanced stage of grammaticalisation of où est-ce que in this variety of French than in its European counterpart. Moreover, it will be shown that où est-ce que is more advanced in grammaticalisation in Quebec French than qu’est-ce que (lit. ‘what is-it that’). I will argue that this contrast is due to the adverbial function of où est-ce que, which leads to structural ambiguity between appositive and restrictive relative clauses. This ambiguity creates the possibility of structural reanalysis of clauses beginning with où est-ce que as headed relative clauses. I will support this analysis diachronically by comparison with other languages and with a related form oùsque, which is diachronically related to où est-ce que and has a distribution similar to that of où est-ce que, in that it is also used in headed relatives.
The article is structured as follows. In Section 1, I will describe the distribution of où est-ce que and related forms in French both synchronically and diachronically and present the steps of grammaticalisation that have been undergone by où est-ce que. In Section 2, I present new data from Quebec French that will show a more advanced stage of grammaticalisation of où est-ce que in Quebec French. In Section 3, I suggest an informal analysis to explain this new observation. Section 4 provides a detailed analysis of the informal suggestion based on a formal distinction between restrictive and appositive uses of relative clauses. Section 5 offers a summary and discussion.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Wh-(est)-ce que in quebec French
    • 2.1Methodology
    • 2.2Data description
  • 3.The grammatical status of où est-ce que
  • 4.Formal distinction between appositive and restrictive uses of relatives
  • 5.Summary and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
  • Primary Sources
  • Corpus
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