Afro-Puerto Rican Spanish declarative intonation
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Piero Visconte
Abstract
This chapter applies the Autosegmental Metrical (AM) model of intonation (Pierrehumbert 1980; Hualde 2003; Ladd 2008) and the Spanish Tones and Break Indices (Sp_ToBI) annotation conventions (Beckman et al. 2002; Face/Prieto 2007; Aguilar et al. 2009; Prieto/Roseano 2010; Hualde/Prieto 2015) to provide a detailed description of declarative intonation in the Spanish of elderly Afro-Puerto Rican speakers from Loíza. Findings show some similarities and some differences from intonational patterns in other varieties of Spanish (Rao/Sessarego 2016, 2018; Sessarego/Rao 2016; Knaff et al. 2018; Butera et al. 2020; Korfhagen et al. 2021). The historical source of these differences is considered with respect to the “Spanish Creoles Debate” (Lipski 2005, chapter 9) over the origins and nature of Afro-Hispanic Languages of the Americas (AHLAs). Then, it is argued that remaining traces of historical contact-driven restructuring in Afro-Puerto Rican vernacular are consistent with moderate restructuring resulting from the fossilization in the speech community-level grammar of language features associated with advanced adult acquisition of Spanish as a second language (SLA), rather than as the results of a prior phase of decreolization (Sessarego 2013a). It is suggested that the reduced inventory of phonological targets found in the Afro-Puerto Rican Spanish data may be accounted for as being the result of SLA strategies associated with the (intonational) phonology/pragmatics interface. The empirical findings are also considered in light of ongoing issues of (linguistic) racism internal and external to the Afro-Puerto Rican marginalized community of Loíza.
Abstract
This chapter applies the Autosegmental Metrical (AM) model of intonation (Pierrehumbert 1980; Hualde 2003; Ladd 2008) and the Spanish Tones and Break Indices (Sp_ToBI) annotation conventions (Beckman et al. 2002; Face/Prieto 2007; Aguilar et al. 2009; Prieto/Roseano 2010; Hualde/Prieto 2015) to provide a detailed description of declarative intonation in the Spanish of elderly Afro-Puerto Rican speakers from Loíza. Findings show some similarities and some differences from intonational patterns in other varieties of Spanish (Rao/Sessarego 2016, 2018; Sessarego/Rao 2016; Knaff et al. 2018; Butera et al. 2020; Korfhagen et al. 2021). The historical source of these differences is considered with respect to the “Spanish Creoles Debate” (Lipski 2005, chapter 9) over the origins and nature of Afro-Hispanic Languages of the Americas (AHLAs). Then, it is argued that remaining traces of historical contact-driven restructuring in Afro-Puerto Rican vernacular are consistent with moderate restructuring resulting from the fossilization in the speech community-level grammar of language features associated with advanced adult acquisition of Spanish as a second language (SLA), rather than as the results of a prior phase of decreolization (Sessarego 2013a). It is suggested that the reduced inventory of phonological targets found in the Afro-Puerto Rican Spanish data may be accounted for as being the result of SLA strategies associated with the (intonational) phonology/pragmatics interface. The empirical findings are also considered in light of ongoing issues of (linguistic) racism internal and external to the Afro-Puerto Rican marginalized community of Loíza.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Afro-Hispanic linguistics. Challenges, misrepresentations, and assumptions 1
- An overview of recent research on the sociolinguistic role of Luso-Africans, ladino Africans, and criollos of African descent in the early colonial Spanish Americas 17
- Methodological choices and personal responsibility of researchers 133
- Afro-Puerto Rican Spanish declarative intonation 163
- San Andrean Spanish stylistic variation in academia 195
- Subject pronoun expression in Equatoguinean Spanish 225
- Issues of Spanish language maintenance among the Equatorial Guinean community in Houston 253
- Towards a social justice framework for marginalized linguistic communities 273
- Index 287
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- Afro-Hispanic linguistics. Challenges, misrepresentations, and assumptions 1
- An overview of recent research on the sociolinguistic role of Luso-Africans, ladino Africans, and criollos of African descent in the early colonial Spanish Americas 17
- Methodological choices and personal responsibility of researchers 133
- Afro-Puerto Rican Spanish declarative intonation 163
- San Andrean Spanish stylistic variation in academia 195
- Subject pronoun expression in Equatoguinean Spanish 225
- Issues of Spanish language maintenance among the Equatorial Guinean community in Houston 253
- Towards a social justice framework for marginalized linguistic communities 273
- Index 287
