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Focus and prosody in Spanish and Quechua

Insights from an interactive task
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Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study on the prosodic marking of broad and contrastive focus in three language varieties of which two are in contact: bilingual Peruvian Spanish, Quechua and Peninsular Spanish. An interactive communicative task revealed that the prosodic marking of contrastive focus was limited in all three language varieties. No systematic correspondence was observed between specific contour/accent types and focus, and the phonetic marking of contrastive focus was weak and restricted to phrase-final position. Interestingly, we identified two contours for bilingual Peruvian Spanish that were present in Quechua, but not in Peninsular Spanish, providing evidence for a prosodic transfer from Quechua to Spanish in Quechua-Spanish bilinguals.

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a study on the prosodic marking of broad and contrastive focus in three language varieties of which two are in contact: bilingual Peruvian Spanish, Quechua and Peninsular Spanish. An interactive communicative task revealed that the prosodic marking of contrastive focus was limited in all three language varieties. No systematic correspondence was observed between specific contour/accent types and focus, and the phonetic marking of contrastive focus was weak and restricted to phrase-final position. Interestingly, we identified two contours for bilingual Peruvian Spanish that were present in Quechua, but not in Peninsular Spanish, providing evidence for a prosodic transfer from Quechua to Spanish in Quechua-Spanish bilinguals.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction vii
  4. Foreword xiii
  5. Part I. Intonation, variation and contact
  6. Task-related effects in the prosody of Spanish heritage speakers and long-term immigrants 3
  7. Pitch accent tonal alignment in declarative sentences in the Spanish of the Basque Country 25
  8. Stylistic variation in the intonation of European Portuguese teenagers and adults 45
  9. Focus and prosody in Spanish and Quechua 69
  10. Part II. Intonational modeling, syntax and pragmatics
  11. Cost of the action and social distance affect the selection of question intonation in Catalan 93
  12. Intonation modeling in cross-linguistic research 115
  13. Prosody and Emotion in Brazilian Portuguese 135
  14. The Relation between Prosody and Syntax: The case of different types of Left-Dislocations in Spanish 153
  15. The intonational meaning of polar questions in Manchego Spanish spontaneous speech 181
  16. Declarative utterances in Buenos Aires Spanish 207
  17. Towards automatic language processing and intonational labeling in European Portuguese 227
  18. Part III. Intonation, acquisition and special populations
  19. Prosodic and gestural features distinguish the intention of pointing gestures in child-directed communication 251
  20. Prosody in Portuguese Children with HighFunctioning Autism 277
  21. Early Prosodic Development 295
  22. A preliminary study of wh-questions in German and Spanish child language 325
  23. Assessment of Spanish prosody in clinical populations 351
  24. Intonation and grammar in the visual-gestural modality 369
  25. Index 387
Intonational Grammar in Ibero-Romance
This chapter is in the book Intonational Grammar in Ibero-Romance
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.6.04mun

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction vii
  4. Foreword xiii
  5. Part I. Intonation, variation and contact
  6. Task-related effects in the prosody of Spanish heritage speakers and long-term immigrants 3
  7. Pitch accent tonal alignment in declarative sentences in the Spanish of the Basque Country 25
  8. Stylistic variation in the intonation of European Portuguese teenagers and adults 45
  9. Focus and prosody in Spanish and Quechua 69
  10. Part II. Intonational modeling, syntax and pragmatics
  11. Cost of the action and social distance affect the selection of question intonation in Catalan 93
  12. Intonation modeling in cross-linguistic research 115
  13. Prosody and Emotion in Brazilian Portuguese 135
  14. The Relation between Prosody and Syntax: The case of different types of Left-Dislocations in Spanish 153
  15. The intonational meaning of polar questions in Manchego Spanish spontaneous speech 181
  16. Declarative utterances in Buenos Aires Spanish 207
  17. Towards automatic language processing and intonational labeling in European Portuguese 227
  18. Part III. Intonation, acquisition and special populations
  19. Prosodic and gestural features distinguish the intention of pointing gestures in child-directed communication 251
  20. Prosody in Portuguese Children with HighFunctioning Autism 277
  21. Early Prosodic Development 295
  22. A preliminary study of wh-questions in German and Spanish child language 325
  23. Assessment of Spanish prosody in clinical populations 351
  24. Intonation and grammar in the visual-gestural modality 369
  25. Index 387
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