The Syntax-Prosody Interface: Catalan interrogative sentences headed by que

This article explores the syntactic and prosodic characteristics of polar questions headed by unstressed particles such as que ‘that’ or o ‘or’ in different Catalan dialects (vg. Que plou? ‘Is it raining?’). The presence or absence of the conjunction, together with suprasegmental information, are used variously to encode a variety of systematic pragmatic meanings. In the case of neutral polar questions, while dialects such as Central Catalan, Majorcan and Eivissan express a modality difference between two types of polar questions through differences in the suprasegmental information and optionally through the presence of que, other dialects such as Minorcan, Northern Central Catalan and Valencian cue the modality distinction mainly through the intonation pattern. From a syntactic point of view, we claim that Catalan polar questions are headed by a force operator that occupies a peripheral position in the complementizer zone and that contains prosodic features. In this way we explain why in some dialects it is exclusively the suprasegmental information that distinguishes the two types of interrogatives and expresses the different modality meanings. * This research was supported by grants from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia-FEDER (HUM2006-01758/FILO to the first author and HUM2006-13295-C02-01 to the second author) and from the Generalitat de Catalunya (2005SGR-00753). We would like to thank Teresa Cabré, Roger Craviotto, Isidor Marí, Meritxell Mata, Joaquim Mallafrè, Joan Mascaró, Joan Peytaví, Vicent Pitarch, Jordi Suïls, and Francesc Josep Torres for help with the dialectal data, and especially Ignasi Mascaró i Pons, Marta Payà and Maria del Mar Vanrell for help with the Balearic data and for comments and crucial suggestions. Finally, we thank Magda Alemany for setting up the web page with the intonation examples and audio files contained in this article. The reader can find them at the following addresses: http://seneca.uab.es/pilarprieto/publications and http://seneca.uab.es/ggt/membres/rigau.htm. 30 Pilar Prieto & Gemma Rigau


Introduction
It is well known that linguistic variation and therefore dialectal diversity are a direct and unavoidable consequence of the very nature of human language. Moreover, the degree of variation allowed by the human linguistic capacity can only be understood through the comparison of different grammatical systems. Just as the contrasting of languages that belong to different families allows us to characterize the human faculty of language, the study of the syntactic diversity offered by dialects of a language helps us to better understand the limits of variation in the structuring of sentences. It is for this reason that the study of variation is necessary. As Hale (1997:72) argued, we will only be able to detect what is invariant in the grammars if we study and delimit what is variable.
The main aim of this article is to explore the syntax-prosody interface in Catalan polar (or yes/no) questions headed by the unstressed word que 'that' and other sentences related to them, together with their discursive and pragmatic implications. Catalan 1 has some particles -the conjunctions que 'that' and o 'or' -which can head polar questions under certain conditions, as shown in (1): (1) a. Que plou?
Central Catalan that rains 'Is it raining?' b. O vindran a Ciutadella? Menorcan, Majorcan Catalan or will-come to Ciutadella 'Are they coming to Ciutadella?' In this respect, Catalan behaves differently from some neighbouring Romance languages such as Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, which do not allow for the presence of such particles. Yet other Romance languages such as Sardinian and (Aranese) Occitan have been reported to display similar types of interrogative particles such as a or e, as the examples in (2) show: 2 tions headed by que is exclusively restricted to anti-expectational meaning, Northwestern Catalan, other subdialects of Central Catalan and Balearic dialects can resort to these utterances for neutral or non-presuppositional polar questions. Moreover, the dialects which use que for neutral polar questions differ in the way they express pragmatic differences related to proximity relations in the discourse. While in (non-Northern) Central Catalan the presence of the conjunction que appears optionally with the falling intonation pattern to express proximity and a low-cost interaction for both the speaker and the hearer, in Majorcan the use of the conjunction que is the exclusive mark of such an expression of modality, as the falling pattern is the general intonation pattern for yes-no questions. Finally, Minorcan uses sentences with que with a falling intonation pattern systematically for yes-no questions and resorts to other cues (namely pitch range relationships) to express such cost relationships in the discourse.
In Central Catalan, as well as in Majorcan Catalan, there is an optional presence of the particle que in neutral polar questions, as shown in (3). Crucially, when que is not overt, intonation (or the suprasegmental information) is the only property that allows us to detect the discourse function of this type of question.
(3) (Que) plou? that rains 'Is it raining?' We will argue that the conjunctions que and o in (1) are the 'visible' lexical indicator of the illocutionary force or meaning of the sentence. Crucially, depending on the dialect, the polar interrogative force may be realized either through an interrogative operator containing the suprasegmental information plus the segmental material -the particles que and o in (1) -or simply through the operator alone with suprasegmental information: Plou? 'Is it raining?' The article is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the prosodic features and pragmatic uses of neutral polar interrogative sentences in several dialects, whether headed by que 'that' or not. Usually, two types of neutral polar questions that have different modality meanings are identified. Our data corroborate the hypothesis that que and/or certain intonation features (falling intonation or pitch range, depending on the dialect) are associated with a 'low cost' in Leech's (1983) scale. Crucially, the presence of que being optional in some cases, intonation patterns are the main indicators of these modality effects. Section 3 is devoted to alternative polar questions, while Section 4 discusses different types of biased questions, mainly confirmatory and anti--expectational questions. Finally, Section 5 presents the basic syntactic analysis of the main polar interrogatives described in this article, taking into consideration the role of suprasegmental information and the presence of particles o and que.

Neutral Polar questions in some Catalan dialects
The presence of the complementizer que in neutral (or anti-expectational) polar questions in Catalan varies depending on the regional variety and on the semantic value of the sentence. For example, while the sentence in (4a) can be interpreted as a neutral polar question in varieties such as Central Catalan (Barcelonese, Tarragonese), Northwestern Catalan and Balearic Catalan, other dialects do not allow for such an interpretation. In Northern Central Catalan and Rossellonese Catalan, as well as in Valencian, neutral yes-no questions cannot begin with the complementizer que, as (4b) shows. In such dialects, Que plou? 'Is it raining?' can only be interpreted as an anti-expectational question (see § 3 below), that is, an expression of the lack of agreement between the facts and the speaker's own expectations ('I thought it would not rain'). As we will see in the following sections, the intonation pattern of questions optionally headed by que is characterized by a falling final intonation. Thus, a sentence like (4b) with a falling question intonation will be interpreted differently by the two groups of dialects (i.e. either as a neutral yes-no question or as an anti-expectational question) (4) a. Que plou?
(as neutral polar) Northern Central Catalan, that rains Rossellonese, Valencian 'Is it raining?' In the following sections, we describe the differences between the use of que in yes-no questions in dialects that interpret que polar questions as non--presuppositional utterances, namely, Central Catalan (mainly Barcelonese) and the Balearic Catalan dialects. 4 We will consider both their intonational patterns and their meaning (semantic and pragmatic uses).

Neutral polar questions in Central Catalan
Some Catalan dialects, such as Central Catalan, allow for two types of neutral or non-presuppositional polar questions, exemplified in (5). While type (a) sentences are characterized by a sharp intonation rise at the end, type (b) sentences are pronounced with a falling question intonation, as shown by the graphs in (6) and (7). Although the rising pattern has usually been considered the "canonical" intonation for polar interrogatives in Catalan (see Badia i Margarit 1994:257), other authors such as Bonet (1984) have acknowledged the use of both types of intonation patterns for neutral polar questions. Crucially, the presence of the complementizer que is incompatible with the rising intonation pattern. Consider the neutral polar questions in (5) As exemplified in (5a), Central Catalan allows for an optional presence of the particle que. As has been noted in the literature, the speaker's selection of sentences such as (5a) communicates a different type of pragmatic meaning than would be conveyed by (5b) (see, for example, Payrató 2002: §3.4.3). Crucially, when que is not overt, intonation is the only property that allows us to detect the discourse function of this type of question. Thus what distinguishes the two types of interrogatives and expresses the different discursive meanings is the suprasegmental information.
The two graphs in (6) and (7) show the waveforms and intonation contours of the two types of intonation patterns found in neutral polar questions in Barcelonese. The panel in (6) illustrates the typical falling intonation pattern of the polar question in (5a) Que l'heu llogado. This intonation contour is characterized by a steady high tone which spans from the beginning of the sentence to the syllable preceding the stressed syllable. After that, a falling pitch movement is aligned with the last stressed syllable in the utterance and by a low boundary tone sequence which reaches the bottom of the speaker's range. The panel in (7) illustrates the rising intonation pattern with the question in (5b), L'heu llogado?: the first stressed syllable of the utterance is pronounced with a falling tone followed by a rise, and the last stressed syllable is pronounced with a low tone followed by a sharp rise.
(6) Falling pattern (7) Rising pattern Previous work on the pragmatic value of que together with a falling intonation pattern in Central Catalan has proposed that sentences with que are characterized as being polite in general (Payrató 2002: §3.4.3, Prieto 2002and Payà 2003. Payrató (2002) further claims that the selection of neutral polar questions with the falling intonation pattern (and optionally headed by que) in Central Catalan is sensitive to the pragmatic cost-benefit scale on which the cost or benefit of the proposed action to the hearer is estimated, and which is related to politeness (see Leech 1983: 107ff). As Leech (1983:109) points out, "the propositional content of a given sentence is discourteous to the hearer in so far as it attributes some effort, trouble, or cost to the hearer". These descriptions are informed by studies on politeness within the pragmatics field, namely Brown and Levinson's (1987) theoretical model of politeness and Leech's politeness principle theory (1983).
Based on the results of our questionnaire and our observations, we confirm Payrató's hypothesis. Speakers use the falling intonation pattern when the cost of the proposed action to the hearer is considered low (and also if its benefit is considered high for the hearer). As soon as the cost of the action is believed to be relatively high, the use of que and the falling intonation pattern is not as felicitous as the sentences not headed with que and produced with a rising intonation pattern, as the examples in (8) show. The sentences with que will only be felicitous in the discourse if indeed the hearer has previously offered the apartment or his or her help with the kids: (8) a. # (Que) em deixes el teu apartament de la platja, aquest cap de setmana? / Em deixes el teu apartament de la platja, aquest cap de setmana? 'Would you lend me your apartment in the beach this weekend?' b. # (Que) et puc deixar els nens, aquest cap de setmana? / Et puc deixar els nens, aquest cap de setmana? 'Would you take care of the kids this weekend?' Likewise, depending on whether it follows a falling or rising intonation pattern, the utterance Puc fumar? in (9) will lead the hearer to infer two different beliefs on the part of the speaker. If he or she utters (Que) puc fumar? with a falling intonation pattern, as in (9a), the speaker is convinced that the hearer will interpret the action as low-cost, and thus will have no objection to inhaling tobacco smoke. Thus (9a) would not be appropriate when addressed to a person who is trying to quit smoking. On the other hand, Puc fumar? uttered with a rising intonation pattern, as in (9b), reveals that the speaker believes that the hearer will not necessarily interpret the action as a low-cost action. The existence of pragmatic restrictions on the cost-benefit scale explains why sentences with que are used extensively in invitations and offers, where the benefit of the proposed action is estimated to be relatively high for the hearer. Conversely, when participants in a court of law ask questions, something which generally implies a higher-cost interaction, the same intonation pattern and the use of que would be considered inappropriate (i.e. impolite). In general, polar sentences headed by que are not found in formal speech styles, for instance in a court of law, as the examples in (12)  Similarly, neutral polar questions optionally headed by que and produced with a falling intonation pattern are also absent in ceremonial formulas where people are committing themselves or engaging: Joan, vols per esposa la Maria i promets ser-li fidel...? John, want.2s as wife the Mary and promise.2s be-her loyal… 'John, do you take Mary to be your wife and promise to be faithful to her forever..?' We would like to point out that the condition of proximity or familiarity between the speaker and the hearer does not crucially select the use of que utterances. Polar questions with a falling intonation pattern and optionally headed by que are used both in contexts where the speaker wishes to convey complicity or emotional attachment with the hearer, as in (13a), and in contexts where the hearer is a stranger to the speaker, as in (13b), which constitutes an offer or an invitation. In the latter, notice that the third person singular (the so-called 'courtesy person') is used (vol 'want.3s') instead of the unmarked second person singular.
(13) a. Que vol seure? that want.3s sit.inf 'Do you want to sit here?' b. Que vol que li ho emboliqui? that want.3s that to-him it wrap.1s 'Do you want me to wrap this up for you?' Thus, in Central Catalan, both the use of que and the intonation choice can be regarded as lexical and prosodic markers that help guide the pragmatic interpretation of anti-expectational polar questions and help the addressee in inferring the specific illocutionary force of the utterance.

Neutral polar questions in Balearic Catalan
The situation in Majorcan, Minorcan and Eivissan Catalan differs from that of Central Catalan. These Balearic dialects use the falling intonation pattern exclusively in neutral polar questions, that is, these dialects generally use the rising pattern for other types of interrogatives. The graphs in (15) and (16) show the waveforms and intonation contours of the neutral polar questions in (14) in Majorcan and Minorcan Catalan, respectively. As we can see, the two dialects usually use a canonical falling pattern similar to the one used in Central Catalan (see the Central Catalan contour in (6)). The main difference between the two contours is the height of the leading tone associated with the pretonic syllable, which is upstepped in the case of yes-no questions in Majorcan Catalan (see Vanrell 2005 for a detailed description of this intonation contour). On the other hand, the intonation pattern found in Minorcan is identical to the one used in Central Catalan, that is, with a falling tone in the nuclear accent and a non-upstepped leading tone (see Mascaró i Pons 1986 for a description of this contour type).
A crucial difference between the two dialects is the degree of use of the conjunction que. While in Minorcan the use of que is practically obligatory, in Majorcan and in Eivissan it is used as a pragmatic marker. 5 In Eivissan Catalan, it seems to be exclusively the use of the particle que (and not the choice of intonation pattern) that encodes similar pragmatic and discourse functions found in Central Catalan (see also Mascaró i Pons 1986 and Vanrell 2004 for potential differences according to idiolectal and sociolinguistic factors). Yet in Majorcan the use of que is very infrequent, and it is typically used in low-cost interactions, that is, in questions which imply an invitation or offer, as well as in questions addressed to children, as follows (see also Vanrell 2004): (17)  Importantly, the low-cost meaning is also expressed through a difference in the intonation pattern. As noted above, in Majorcan Catalan, neutral polar questions are characterized by a falling nuclear accent preceded by an upstepped leading tone aligned with the pretonic syllable. When yes-no questions express low-cost interactions, as in the case of invitations or offers, then they show an intonational difference with neutral polar questions, namely, that they do not show an upstepped leading tone, as the intonation of the utterance Voleu un caramel·lo? 'Do you want a sweet?' shows: (18) Majorcan Catalan (offering yes-no question intonation) As in Central Catalan, when participants in a court of law ask questions (which generally imply higher-cost interaction), the use of que would be considered inappropriate (i.e. impolite), as the examples in (19)  By contrast, in Minorcan Catalan, the use of que is practically obligatory in polar questions (written texts are perhaps the exception). In this dialect, que is a marker of neutral polar questions, and speakers use it in out-of-the-blue sentences without any previous contextual knowledge and regardless of the cost of the action (see Mascaró i Pons 1986: 30-31). 6 6 However, sometimes Minorcan polar questions appear without the conjunction que, as shown in the examples below. Yet in these cases, the questions are not really neutral: the speaker is presupposing that the event or situation expressed by the sentence is true and wants to get some information about it. Thus, in (a) the speaker believes that the hearer has seen John and is therefore asking how John is. In (b), the speaker is trying to find out how the interlocutor is doing, and his hope is that the interlocutor and his family are well. In both cases, intonation contours are characterized by a sentence-final rise in pitch (see also the rising intonation contour of a Minorcan anti-expectative utterance headed by o in the next section In Minorcan Catalan, neutral polar questions are quite systematically headed by que and characterized by a falling nuclear accent followed by a low boundary tone (see the example in 16). Invitations or offers, that is, utterances that express estimated low-cost interactions, are produced with a different intonation pattern and sometimes not preceded by que. The intonation contour of the utterance Voleu un caramel·lo? 'Do you want a sweet?', uttered by a speaker from Es Migjorn, reveals that both the pitch range of the nuclear falling accent and the boundary tone choice (a rising boundary tone) might convey this difference: (21) Minorcan Catalan (offering yes-no question intonation)

A summary of neutral polar questions across some of the Catalan dialects
As we have seen in the preceding sections, different dialects show different ways of encoding two types of neutral interrogatives. The table in (22) summarizes the different typology of dialectal strategies to convey type A questions (that is, prototypical polar questions) and type B questions (that is, neutral polar questions which express a low estimated cost or benefit of the action for the hearer). The use of the two variables, namely, the use of the que particle and the intonation contour, is codified. In Central Catalan, the difference between the two types of questions is expressed through intonation: while a falling nuclear accent with a low boundary tone conveys type A questions, a low nuclear accent accompanied by a rising boundary tone conveys type B questions. Central Catalan allows for an optional presence of the particle que with falling intonation patterns. Crucially, when que is not overt, intonation is the only property that allows us to detect the discourse function of this type of question.
In Majorcan, the difference between the two types of questions is expressed through an intonational difference. While type A utterances typically show a falling intonation contour with an upstepped leading tone associated with the pretonic syllable, type B utterances are typically produced with non-upstepped leading tones. Minorcan Catalan also express the difference between the two utterance types through intonation, using pitch range and the type of boundary tone to express this contrast. Finally, Northern Central Catalan and Valencian also use differences in the scaling of the boundary tone to express these discursive meanings: that is, the higher the boundary tone, the stronger the belief on the part of the speaker that the action presupposes clear benefits for the listener. Thus in Central Catalan, Majorcan and Eivissan, both the presence of que and the suprasegmental information are the cues that distinguish the two types of yes-no questions. Since in the latter two dialects the presence of que is optional, it is the suprasegmental information that distinguishes the two types of interrogatives and expresses the different modality meanings. In Minorcan, Northern Central Catalan and Valencian, the increased pitch span is the main cue to this modality distinction.

Alternative questions
Alternative polar questions express an explicit disjunction of the two possible answers to a neutral polar question, namely yes or no, as shown in (23), which belongs to Central Catalan.
come.2s to have-lunch, yes or no 'Are you coming for lunch or not?' In Central Catalan, these sentences are not introduced by que. Pragmatically, these questions can only be used under certain conditions (that is, when the hearer is not acting according to what he or she said previously, when the hearer does not answer questions clearly, etc.). With (23), the speaker is essentially forcing the hearer to answer, to make a decision.
Under the same pragmatic conditions, an alternative polar interrogative sentence can be built as a disjunction of the predicate, and the latter negated. Sometimes, repetition of the predicate is avoided in the disjunction, but negation has to be present: (24) a. Que véns a dinar o no (véns a dinar)? that come.2s to have-lunch or not (come.2s to have-lunch) 'Are you coming for lunch or not?' b. *Que véns o no vindreu? that come.2s or not will-come.2.pl c. Que parlarà, en Pere, o no parlarà? that will-speak the Peter or not will-speak 'Is Peter going to speak or not?' d. Que parlarà o no parlarà, en Pere? that will-speak the Peter or not will-speak the Peter 'Is Peter going to speak or not?' e. *Que parlarà, en Pere, o no parlarà, en Joan? that will-speak the Peter or not will-speak the John On the other hand, the disjunction in a alternative non-polar interrogative sentence can contain two opposite poles of a semantic or pragmatic scale appearing in one or the other element of the disjunction, as in (25a), which belongs to Central, Northwestern and Balearic Catalan. Moreover, in alternative interrogatives the disjunction can be established between two different verbal phrases, as in (25b), or between two different complements of the same verb, as in (25c) In Majorcan, Minorcan and Eivissan, alternative questions are generally introduced by que. In Central Catalan, we have discerned a difference between two subdialects: while in Tarragonese alternative questions are usually headed by que, this is not the case in Barcelonese. In the latter subdialect, the questions in (25b) and (25c) Huddleston and Pullum (2002:876s) oppose neutral questions to biased questions. In the latter, the speaker is biased in favour of one answer over another. In this section, we describe two types of biased questions, namely, anti--expectational questions and confirmatory questions.

Anti-expectational questions.
Anti-expectational questions are used when the facts or the situation do not agree with the speaker's expectations. They can convey an additional meaning of surprise and astonishment (and even incredulity) on the part of the speaker. These sentences can either be headed by que and be pronounced with the canonical falling question intonation pattern described in (6) above (see 26a) or adopt a distinctive intonation pattern (see 26b).
Central Catalan that you cl. go2.pl I-myself thought that we would-dine together 'Are you leaving? I thought we were going to have lunch together!' b. Us n'aneu? Jo em pensava que dinaríem junts.
Central Catalan you cl. go2.pl I-myself thought that we would-dine together 'Are you leaving? I thought we were going to have lunch together!' The graphs in (27) and (28) illustrate the waveforms and intonation contours of the anti-expectational questions in (26) in Central Catalan. As we can see, the question Que us n'aneu? headed by que in (27) uses the canonical falling pattern used for neutral yes-no questions. The other possibility is to pronounce the utterance with no complementizer and using the intonation pattern in (28). Typically, the contour starts with a low tone that continues low until the beginning of the last stressed syllable in the utterance. This syllable is pronounced with a prominent rising tone, which then falls until the end of the utterance. Crucially, the presence of the complementizer que is incompatible with the intonation contour illustrated in the right panel (for a detailed description of this intonational contrast, see Prieto 2002).
(27) Anti-expectational headed by que (28) Anti-expectational not headed by que Anti-expectational questions can also be negative, as shown in (29). The intonation patterns shown by the sentences in (27-28) are similar to those shown in the panels above.
Central Catalan that not to-you it had.3pl said. So I-myself thought that it knew.2s 'Didn't they tell you? I thought you knew.' b. No t'ho havien dit? Doncs jo em pensava que ho sabies.
Central Catalan not to-you it had.3pl said. So I-myself thought that it knew.2s 'Didn't they tell you? I thought you knew.' In Northern Central Catalan and in Rossellonese, where neutral polar questions cannot be headed by que, this conjunction is used to head anti--expectational questions. Typically, the anti-expectational questions in (30) use the canonical falling question intonation found in neutral polar questions in Barcelonese (see (6) above). As we know, this contour is characterized by a steady high tone which spans from the beginning of the sentence to the last stressed syllable falling pitch movement aligned with the last stressed syllable in the utterance, and by a low boundary tone sequence. In Minorcan Catalan, anti-expectational questions are usually headed by the disjunctive conjunction o 'or', which is prosodically grouped together with the clause. The sentence in (31a) is the paraphrase of (29a) and (31b) is the paraphrase of (29b). or not will-come.2s to Barcelona. I-myself expected.1s that us go--with.2s 'Aren't you coming to Barcelona? I thought you were coming with us.' Graph (32) illustrates the intonation contour of the Minorcan anti--expectational utterance in (31a) headed by o. The contour is characterized by a falling tone on the nuclear part of the intonation contour (the stressed syllable in vindràs); however, this falling tone descends to a mid-level tone rather than a low tone (compare with the unmarked Minorcan falling intonation contour in (16), uttered by the same speaker). After that, the second prosodic phrase ends on a mid tone on the last stressed syllable followed by a scooped high boundary tone.
(32) Anti-expectational question headed by o (Minorcan) In Majorcan Catalan, anti-expectational questions can be headed by the conjunction o 'or' and also by the conjunction que. They can also be introduced by the sequence Que és que…? 'That is that...'. The anti-expectational question in (33c) has the flavor of a reproach. Finally, Eivissan can only use the particle que (and crucially, not o) to head anti-expectational questions. And it is worth noting that Valencian, another Catalan dialect, does not use either of these conjunctions in anti--expectational utterances.
The presence of the disjunctive conjunction o 'or' in anti-expectational questions in two Balearic subdialects is not surprising. This conjunction is also found inside alternative questions (see § 3). When they are negated, such questions presuppose the positive counterpart, and if they are not negated, they presuppose the negative counterpart. For example, in (34a) the speaker asks the question to be sure that his or her belief about the health of the interlocutor is not what he or she thought.

Confirmatory questions
Typically Catalan confirmatory questions are headed by a question marker followed by the conjunction que. Catalan dialects display a great lexical variety of such markers, as can be seen in (35), where all sentences are leading questions expecting an affirmative answer. 7 Correspondingly, if the sentences were negated the expected answer would also be negative (e.g. Oi/no/eh que no vindràs? 'You're not coming, are you?') (see Rigau 1998, Hernanz & Rigau 2006 Valencian Truth that will-come.2s 'You're coming, aren't you?' e. Fa que vindràs?
Northern Central Catalan makes that will-come. 2s 'You're coming, aren't you?' f. És ver que vindràs? Minorcan is true that will-come.2s 'You're coming, aren't you?' The element acting as an interrogative operator can belong to several categories: it can be a polarity adverb (no 'not' and probably oi 'yes'), a noun (veritat 'truth'), a verbal form (fa 'makes/does'), the copulative form és 'is' plus the adjective ver 'true'), etc. 8

Other biased questions 4.3.1. Rhetorical questions
Rhetorical questions are pragmatically equivalent to an assertion or a statement because typically the speaker knows the answer very well. With these questions, the speaker attempts to engage the hearer in the conversation. A response that is contrary to what he or she anticipates is not impossible, but it is unlikely and provocative. Rhetorical questions in a non-formal discourse can be optionally introduced by que, as shown in (36). When rhetorical questions are negative and headed by que, the expected answer is 'yes', but if they are positive they strongly presuppose a negative answer: 8 Alternatively, the interrogative operator can appear at the end of the clause, as in the following examples. In this case, the conjunction que does not appear and the sentence shows a question tag structure (see Cuenca 1997 In Central Catalan, the intonation of rhetorical questions is identical to the intonation patterns found in neutral polar questions. That is, both falling question intonation and rising question intonation can be used. Thus, both sentences in (36), headed by que, can only have the falling question intonation pattern.
The questions in (36) could be replaced by the sentences in (37), which are not interrogative, but assertive.
already would-have.2s of know that you love.1s 'You ought to know by now that I love you.' b. No tens en compte que només tinc dues mans, que no puc fer tantes coses. not have.2s in account that only have.1s two hands, that not can do so-many things 'You aren't taking into account that I only have two hands and can't do so many things at once.' Finally, in a formal discourse, rhetorical questions typically appear without que, as in (38).
Have.1p of be.inf slaves of the work 'Do we have to be slave workers?' b. No és valuosa la vida? not is worthwhile the life 'Isn't life worthwhile?'

Exploratory questions
Exploratory questions offer information in the form of a question (Escandell--Vidal 1996, 1999. Through the sentence in (39a) the speaker informs his or her interlocutors that he or she knows that they plan to run away. Pragmatically, it is equivalent to the strong assertion illustrated in (39b).
(39) a. (Que) us penseu que no sé que us voleu escapar? that you think.2pl that not know.1s that yourselves want.2pl to escape 'Do you think I don't know you want to escape?' b. Heu de saber que sé que us voleu escapar.
have.2pl of know that know.1s that yourselves want.2pl to escape 'You ought to know I am aware that you want to escape.' Another example of an exploratory question is given in (40), which is a paraphrase of (39a). The conjunction que heading the second question in (40) syntactically acts as the complementizer of the subordinate clause in (39a). This conjunction is obligatory in all Catalan dialects because it is a constituent of a subordinate clause.
(40) Què us penseu? Que no sé que us voleu escapar? that yourselves think.2pl That not know.1s that yourselves want.2pl to escape 'What do you think? That I don't know you want to escape?
In Central Catalan, exploratory questions receive a special intonation contour that is similar to the one used for anti-expectational questions (see § 4.1 above). The graph in (41) shows the waveform and intonation contour of the utterance in italics in (40). The contour starts with a low tone that continues low until the beginning of the last stressed syllable in the utterance, in this case the syllable par in escapar. This syllable is pronounced with a very prominent rising tone (more prominent than that found in anti--expectational questions), which falls after that until the end of the utterance.

(41) Exploratory question (Central Catalan)
Other biased questions such as exhortative questions cannot be headed by que. Exhortative questions endeavor to advise the hearer earnestly or even force him or her towards a given response. They can have the illocutionary force of an order, as in (42), which is equivalent to Calleu! 'Be quiet!'.
'Would you please be quiet once and for all?' The intonation of exhortative questions depends on the illocutionary force of the utterance: the intonation contours found in these sentences range from the canonical rising and falling question intonation pattern to a series of distinctive intonation patterns (for a review, see Prieto 2002). 9

On the syntactic properties of polar questions
In this section we analyze the structure of the main types of Catalan polar interrogative questions described above. We assume that the word que 'that' found at the beginning of some polar Catalan questions is the conjunction que, which appears in some subordinate finite clauses, as in the examples in (43). In both sentences, the conjunction acts as a complementizer which connects the subordinate proposition with a constituent in the higher clause.
she not wants that you come with me 'She doesn't want you to come with me' b. Jo estic content que tu vinguis amb mi.
I am happy that you come with me 'I am happy that you are coming with me' However, the Catalan complementizer que is not restricted to subordinate clauses. It also appears heading simple clauses together with some other elements such as emphatic focused elements (44a), modality adverbs (44b) and quantified temporal expressions (44c) (see Rigau 2001). Its presence is related to sentential modality: 10 9 In this article, we will not deal with other types of questions, such as repetitive questions, which Bolinger (1957) classifies as echo questions, ditto questions and reclamatory questions. Interestingly, the conjunction que cannot appear heading an echo question. For more on repetitive questions, see Rigau & Prieto (2005). 10 The complementizer que is also present in simple clauses in other Romance languages: a. Peut-être que Marie viendra. French perhaps that Mary will-come 'Perhaps Mary will come.' b. Seguramente que María vendrá. Spanish surely that Mary will-come 'Mary will surely come.' (44) a. La María sí que ve.
Mary yes that comes 'Mary is coming.' (though somebody else is not) b. Segurament que ella ho sap.
surely that she it knows 'Surely she knows.' c. Tot avui que plou.
all today that rains 'It has been raining all day.' Given the data in (44) it is not surprising that sentences with an interrogative or exclamative marker (or operator) select the complementizer que in order to link the force marker (or operator) with the clause. This is the case of the confirmatory question in (45a) (see also § 4.2 above), and the exclamative sentence in (45b).
Op. that me love.2s 'You love me, don't you?' b. Quin fred que fa! which cold that does 'How cold it is!' If we assume that Catalan polar questions are headed by a force operator with prosodic features, we will be able to properly analyze the intriguing presence of the complementizer que 'that' in initial position in Que plou? 'Is it raining?' 11 Actually, as mentioned before, many Catalan dialects can optionally use the complementizer que to mark a specific type of interrogative sentence. What is not optional is the use of a specific intonation pattern, which varies depending on the dialect.

The syntax of the neutral polar questions
In this section we focus on the basic syntactic properties of neutral polar interrogative sentences in one of the main Catalan dialects, Central Catalan, described in § 2.1 above. (46) repeats the examples given in (3). The conclusions of this analysis can be applied mutatis mutandis to other Catalan dialects.
(46) a. Plou? rains 'Is it raining?' b. Que plou? that rains 'Is it raining?' From a syntactic point of view, both types of interrogative sentences are headed by an interrogative operator visible not by segmental material, but only by suprasegmental or prosodic information. Because of its modal properties, the interrogative operator occupies a peripheral position in the complementizer zone. We assume the proposal put forth by Rizzi (1997Rizzi ( , 2001 on the complexity of the peripheral positions that head a sentence. The articulation of the complementizer zone proposed by Rizzi (2001) is reproduced in (47) In (48) we roughly represent the syntactic structure of (46a). Force Phrase (ForceP) shows neutral polar interrogative features and a neutral polar interrogative operator appears in its specifier position. This operator is realized by prosodic means that can vary depending on the dialect. ForceP in (48)  Similarly, (49) schematically represents the syntactic structure of (46b). Now the specifier position in ForceP is also occupied by an operator with a neutral polar interrogative meaning and specific prosodic features, which vary depending on the dialect. However, in this case, Force head is realized by the conjunction que, and the verb moves to Fin head position.
Following Rigau (1984), we assume that the interrogative operator in neutral polar questions is a yes-no quantifier originating inside IP, in the same position as polarity items yes and not, i.e, in Sigma (or Polarity) Phrase. Consequently, polar interrogative questions are neither true nor false. They are sentences that express a disjunction between the affirmation and the negation of their propositional content.
The movement of the yes-no quantifier from Sigma Phrase in IP to the specifier position in ForceP attracts the verb similarly to what happens with the movement of Wh-elements to the complementizer zone. 12 Consequently, when the interrogative sentence has an explicit (or non-elliptical) subject, it appears in a left or right peripherical position, as in (50). In both cases, the clause and the subject are produced with two separate intonational phrases. It does not matter if the conjunction que is present or not. The sentences in (50) are neutral yes-no questions. However, when the subject appears in postverbal position and the utterance is produced as a single intonational phrase, the resulting sentences are not neutral, as in (51). Interestingly, no element is dislocated in either sentence. Thus such sentences cannot be used out of the blue because they are anti-expectative.
(that) it has brought the John 'John brought it?' In fact, the sentences in (51) constitute a strategy to manifest surprise or disapproval on the part of the speaker after a statement from the interlocutor which contradicts his or her initial assumptions. Hence, these questions solicit a confirmation or a refutation on the part of the hearer.
In Northern Central Catalan and in Rossellonese Catalan, as well as in Valencian, FinP in neutral yes/no questions cannot contain the conjunction que, as shown in § 2.3. In such dialects, Que plou? 'Is it raining?' can only be interpreted as an anti-expectational question, that is, as an expression of the lack of agreement between the facts and the speaker's own expectations ('I thought it would not rain').
12 In (i) the movement of on 'where' from its original position inside IP to the complementizer zone attracts the verb: (i) a. On va en Pere? Where goes the Peter 'Where is Peter going?' b. *On en Pere va?
where the Peter goes

The syntax of alternative questions
In alternative questions, the yes-no quantifier originating inside IP (in the same position as polarity items) in polar questions is partially or totally explicit. For example, it is totally explicit in (52a) and partially so in (52b).
(52) a. Ell ho sap, sí o no? he it knows yes or no 'Does he know it or not?' b. (Que) plou o no plou?
(that) rains or not rains 'Is it raining or not?' Our claim is that in (52a) the yes-no quantifier -which has segmental and suprasegmental content: sí or no 13 -moves to specifier position in ForceP. After that, as an instance of remnant movement 14 , the IP node moves to a previous position to ForceP, i.e., to an extra Topic position, leaving the quantifier in specifier position in ForceP, as shown in (53) Crucially, question (52a) cannot be headed by que.
In (52b) the polar interrogative operator originating in Sigma (or Polarity) Phrase inside IP is rendered partially visible by segmental material, i.e., the disjunction of the VP (plou o no plou), but also through the suprasegmental properties expressed by the operator in the specifier position in ForceP.

The syntax of biased questions
The interrogative operators in biased questions, such as anti-expectative and confirmatory questions, do not affect the syntactic order in the sentence because they originate directly in ForceP, not inside IP. Consequently, their subject can appear in the preverbal or postverbal position, as shown in (54a) 13 The structure of the disjunctive phrase that acts as an operator is (i), where o is its head. Remnant movement requires strict cyclicity and also requires that locality is checked directly after each movement operation (see Kayne 1998 andMüller 2002, among others). 15 On the need for an extra Topic position on the left of ForceP, see Hernanz & Rigau (2006) and Mata (2007). and (51). Moreover, in contrast with polar interrogative sentences, biased questions can be negative, as in (54b) or (54c).
(54) a. Oi que en Pere no va a Barcelona? (confirmatory question) Op. that Peter not goes to Barcelona 'Peter isn't going to Barcelona, is he?' b. Que no volies un collaret?
(anti-expectative question) or not wanted.2s a necklace. 'Didn't you want a necklace?' In (55) we schematically represent the structure of the sentences in (54). In (55a) the specifier position in ForceP is occupied by an operator with segmental and suprasegmental properties (oi), while the operator in ForceP in (55b) only has suprasegmental properties. In both structures the conjunction que occupies Fin head (cf. Hernanz & Rigau 2006). On the other hand, (55c) shows that in Balearic Catalan the conjunction that relates the operator with suprasegmental features and the clause (IP) might be the disjunctive conjunction o, which we hipothesize that is is originated in Fin head: (55)

Conclusions
The linguistic diversity offered by the Catalan dialects with respect to the realization of neutral polar questions provides evidence that both syntactic properties and intonation, defined by interrogative operators, are used to encode a variety of systematic modality meanings. In this article, we have presented a detailed description of the presence or absence of the conjunction que in several types of questions in different Catalan dialects. In the case of neutral polar questions, dialects such as Central Catalan, Majorcan and Eivissan express a modality difference between two types of polar questions through the presence of que and through differences in the suprasegmental information. On the other hand, in Minorcan, Northern Central Catalan and Valencian, the intonation pattern is the main cue to this modality distinction. From a syntactic point of view, we have claimed that both types of interrogative sentences are headed by an interrogative operator that occupies a peripheral position in the complementizer zone. These neutral interrogative operators determine the prosodic properties of the sentence; that is to say, they are 'visible' by virtue of not segmental material but rather suprasegmental or prosodic information. The Catalan linguistic area is not very extensive geographically and Catalan dialects are not very distant typologically. Hence, Catalan dialects and subdialects constitute an excellent laboratory where we can detect and compare the grammatical properties that allow microvariation. The great dialectal variety of que questions reveals that in order to guarantee the reliability of linguistic descriptions it is necessary to take into account complementary linguistic information, namely prosody, syntax and semantics. Studies which analyze one particular aspect in an isolated way might run into a methodological problem because there is a risk of misinterpreting the linguistic data. This line of research is also advisable, not only because it enables us to fully understand languages and their dialects, but also because it paves the way for future studies on comparative syntax, prosody and pragmatics. It is through descriptions of sentences such as those analyzed in this article that we realize how much linguistic diversity exists among the dialects of a language.