Information structure and intonation in Andean Spanish

Authors

  • Antje Gerda Muntendam Radboud University Nijmegen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3765/exabs.v0i0.582

Abstract

This study examines information structure and intonation in Andean Spanish. The data come from picture-story tasks and an elicitation task with 22 Quechua-Spanish bilinguals from Peru. The target sentences were sentences with broad focus, (contrastive) focus on the subject, on the object, and on the VP. The duration of the stressed syllable/word, peak height, peak alignment, and intensity were measured. The results showed that in Andean Spanish pre-nuclear peaks are aligned early and there are fewer prominence-lending features than in non-Andean Spanish, possibly indicating a Quechua influence. The study contributes to research on intonation, bilingualism and language contact.

Author Biography

  • Antje Gerda Muntendam, Radboud University Nijmegen
    Assistant Professor Centre for Language Studies

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Published

2012-04-08