Some thoughts on que: Description, theory, and L2

To study the alleged ambiguity of bare que it is necessary to contrast the "bare que hypothesis"- a prepositionless que is always a complementizer and never a relative pronoun-to the "unique que hypothesis"-que is a complemen tizer even when preceded by a preposition. The argumentation favors the "ba re que hypothesis," a hypothesis which also demonstrates that the determine r in prepositionless are+que is the indicator of a partial antecedent. Peda gogical recommendations for the teaching of relative clauses close the disc ussion.