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Chapter 19. Timing properties of (Brazilian) Portuguese and (European) Spanish

  • Irene Vogel , Angeliki Athanasopoulou and Natália Brambatti Guzzo
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Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 14
This chapter is in the book Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 14

Abstract

Linguistic rhythmic or timing categories, usually defined in terms of isochrony, remain controversial as a meaningful typology for classifying languages, despite decades of research. Romance languages offer an opportunity to address this question since closely related languages are proposed to be at different ends of the typology. We test two such languages: European Spanish (ES) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Instead of investigating isochrony per se, however, we examine the interface between timing and prominence properties. Since duration is associated with prominence, we test the hypothesis that syllable-timed languages (ES) do not alter duration to express prominence, while non-syllable-timed languages (BP) do. Comparisons of lexical and sentential prominence effects on duration support our hypothesis, confirming the proposed distinction between the rhythmic classes of the two languages.

Abstract

Linguistic rhythmic or timing categories, usually defined in terms of isochrony, remain controversial as a meaningful typology for classifying languages, despite decades of research. Romance languages offer an opportunity to address this question since closely related languages are proposed to be at different ends of the typology. We test two such languages: European Spanish (ES) and Brazilian Portuguese (BP). Instead of investigating isochrony per se, however, we examine the interface between timing and prominence properties. Since duration is associated with prominence, we test the hypothesis that syllable-timed languages (ES) do not alter duration to express prominence, while non-syllable-timed languages (BP) do. Comparisons of lexical and sentential prominence effects on duration support our hypothesis, confirming the proposed distinction between the rhythmic classes of the two languages.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction LSRL 46 Stony Brook 1
  4. Chapter 1. Expletive negation is not expletive 5
  5. Chapter 2. Long-distance binding of French reflexive soi 21
  6. Chapter 3. French negative concord and discord 35
  7. Chapter 4. Dimensions of variation 53
  8. Chapter 5. Ma non era rosso? (But wasn’t it red?) 69
  9. Chapter 6. Dime una cosa : Are wh-in-situ questions different in Spanish? 85
  10. Chapter 7. Parametric comparison and dialect variation 103
  11. Chapter 8. Morphological doublets in Brazilian Portuguese wh -constructions 135
  12. Chapter 9. Clitic doubling, person and agreement in French hyper-complex inversion 153
  13. Chapter 10. Licensing conditions on null generic subjects in Spanish 185
  14. Chapter 11. Bridging and dislocation in Catalan 201
  15. Chapter 12. Dependent numerals and dependent existentials in Romanian 215
  16. Chapter 13. Stressed enclitics are not weak pronouns 231
  17. Chapter 14. Causativization of verbs of directed motion in Romance languages 245
  18. Chapter 15. Latin denominal deponents 263
  19. Chapter 16. Against control by implicit passive agents 279
  20. Chapter 17. Romance evaluative que/che/să sentences as inverted optatives 293
  21. Chapter 18. Resumed phrases (are always moved, even with in-island resumption) 309
  22. Chapter 19. Timing properties of (Brazilian) Portuguese and (European) Spanish 325
  23. Language index 341
  24. Subject index 343
https://doi.org/10.1075/rllt.14.19vog

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction LSRL 46 Stony Brook 1
  4. Chapter 1. Expletive negation is not expletive 5
  5. Chapter 2. Long-distance binding of French reflexive soi 21
  6. Chapter 3. French negative concord and discord 35
  7. Chapter 4. Dimensions of variation 53
  8. Chapter 5. Ma non era rosso? (But wasn’t it red?) 69
  9. Chapter 6. Dime una cosa : Are wh-in-situ questions different in Spanish? 85
  10. Chapter 7. Parametric comparison and dialect variation 103
  11. Chapter 8. Morphological doublets in Brazilian Portuguese wh -constructions 135
  12. Chapter 9. Clitic doubling, person and agreement in French hyper-complex inversion 153
  13. Chapter 10. Licensing conditions on null generic subjects in Spanish 185
  14. Chapter 11. Bridging and dislocation in Catalan 201
  15. Chapter 12. Dependent numerals and dependent existentials in Romanian 215
  16. Chapter 13. Stressed enclitics are not weak pronouns 231
  17. Chapter 14. Causativization of verbs of directed motion in Romance languages 245
  18. Chapter 15. Latin denominal deponents 263
  19. Chapter 16. Against control by implicit passive agents 279
  20. Chapter 17. Romance evaluative que/che/să sentences as inverted optatives 293
  21. Chapter 18. Resumed phrases (are always moved, even with in-island resumption) 309
  22. Chapter 19. Timing properties of (Brazilian) Portuguese and (European) Spanish 325
  23. Language index 341
  24. Subject index 343
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