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

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.