The relative “qui/que” in function of subject in relatives with antecedent according to Pompeu Fabra

Abstract

This contribution is part of a broader research focused on studying the impact of the standardization process carried out around the Pompeu Fabra’s work on the evolution of Catalan, from the end of the 19th century. Usually, the ancient language is a reference in the establishment of the Fabrian norm. Lexical and grammatical materials are taken from medieval Catalan to avoid Castilianisms or to satisfy the speaker’s communicative needs. Surprisingly, the same did not happen in the case of the relative pronoun “qui/que” in the function of subject with antecedent. Contemporary Catalan had opted for the relative pronoun “que” in this function. From the data of the digital corpus of middle and modern Catalan, the treatment of previous grammarians and contemporaries of Fabra and their own uses, we analyze the evolution of the Master’s thinking about the prescription of this syntactic construction in contemporary Catalan. What were the real uses of “qui” and “que” in function of the subject with antecedents in medieval and modern Catalan? How did these usages evolve until reaching the contemporary situation? What led Fabra to accept the use of “que”, a usage that apparently distanced itself from the ancient language?