An initial examination of Andalusian Spanish intonation: Data from an intonation survey

Abstract

Dialect variation in intonation is a widely attested phenomenon in the cross-linguistic literature (see Warren, 2005) and also in the literature on Spanish (Prieto & Roseano, 2010; Sosa, 1999). Prieto & Roseano (2010), in particular, provide an edited volume on the transcription of Spanish intonation for ten different dialects of the language. Two of these chapters provide a descriptive and theoretical account of the intonation of Spanish spoken in northern and central Spain, but no information is offered on the dialect spoken in the southern Andalusian area. In terms of the characterization of Andalusian Spanish at the segmental level, previous works have focused on syllable-final /s/-aspiration, merger of the /s/-/θ/ distinction, velarization of /n/, and the fricative pronunciation of /č/, to name a few relevant phenomena (see Alvar, 1996: 233-258 for general overview). The fact that Andalusian Spanish would not exhibit variation at the intonational level is almost unexpected, given what has been reported for other Spanish dialects known to undergo processes of phonological innovation. This paper is designed to fill this gap in the literature as it investigates the acoustic properties of a series of F0 contours produced by 9 speakers from Jerez de la Frontera, a coastal city located in the province of Cádiz, Spain. As for research protocol, 6 female and 3 male speakers read aloud test sentences designed to elicit pragmatic contexts for different types of declaratives, interrogatives, exclamations, and vocatives. The intonation survey contained 31 test sentences, for a total 279 productions (31 sentences x 9 speakers) submitted to acoustic analysis. This was the same survey used in Prieto & Roseano (2010), based on Prieto (2001). The speakers read each pragmatic context in silence prior to reading aloud each test sentence. Speech data were analyzed using Praat and labeled according to Sp_ToBI conventions (Beckman et al., 2002; Estebas-Vilaplana & Prieto, 2008). For this current analysis, we focus on F0 gestures related to nuclear and postnuclear segmental material only. As for results, broad focus statements show a falling F0 throughout the nuclear syllable and final lowering (H+L*L%, (1a)). Narrow focus statements contain a nuclear rising accent and a final fall (L+H*L%, (1b)), as do statements of the obvious (1c). The shared L+H*L% configuration for narrow focus and obvious statements has been reported for many varieties of American and European Spanish. As for questions, those of the information-seeking type have the L* HH% specification. Echo questions have high rising F0 throughout nuclear and postnuclear content, analyzed as L+H*HH% (1d). This melody appears to be particular to the Andalusian dialect for echo questions. Surprisingly, yes/no confirmation questions are identical to information-seeking questions, signaled by L*HH% (1e). Neutral wh-questions with one tonal unit consist of final falling F0 (H+L*L%, (1f)) and do not show variability between rising and falling F0 as was documented for Castilian Spanish. Imperative wh-questions are likewise signaled by the H+L*L% melody, whereas echo wh-questions have a final rise L+H*HH% (1g), similar to echo yes/no questions. Finally, 'neutral' vocatives are uttered with a nuclear rise and boundary fall (L+H*HL%, (1h)) and do not contain the boundary M% identified for most other Spanish dialects. These results are discussed with respect to previous findings on pan-Hispanic intonation and its dialect variability. While the Jerezano data share properties of certain European and American dialects of Spanish, there are clearly form-meaning associations yet to be attested in other varieties, as was seen with echo yes/no questions.

Full text

An initial examination of Andalusian Spanish intonation: Data from an intonation survey
Lorenzo J. García-Amaya1 & Nicholas C. Henriksen2
Indiana University1 & Northern Illinois University2
lgarciaa@indiana.edu & nhenriksen@niu.edu
Dialect variation in intonation is a widely attested phenomenon in the cross-linguistic
literature (see Warren, 2005) and also in the literature on Spanish (Prieto & Roseano, 2010; Sosa,
1999). Prieto & Roseano (2010), in particular, provide an edited volume on the transcription of
Spanish intonation for ten different dialects of the language. Two of these chapters provide a
descriptive and theoretical account of the intonation of Spanish spoken in northern and central
Spain, but no information is offered on the dialect spoken in the southern Andalusian area. In
terms of the characterization of Andalusian Spanish at the segmental level, previous works have
focused on syllable-final /s/-aspiration, merger of the /s/-/θ/ distinction, velarization of /n/, and
the fricative pronunciation of /č/, to name a few relevant phenomena (see Alvar, 1996: 233-258
for general overview). The fact that Andalusian Spanish would not exhibit variation at the
intonational level is almost unexpected, given what has been reported for other Spanish dialects
known to undergo processes of phonological innovation. This paper is designed to fill this gap
in the literature as it investigates the acoustic properties of a series of F0 contours produced by 9
speakers from Jerez de la Frontera, a coastal city located in the province of Cádiz, Spain.
As for research protocol, 6 female and 3 male speakers read aloud test sentences designed
to elicit pragmatic contexts for different types of declaratives, interrogatives, exclamations, and
vocatives. The intonation survey contained 31 test sentences, for a total 279 productions (31
sentences x 9 speakers) submitted to acoustic analysis. This was the same survey used in Prieto
& Roseano (2010), based on Prieto (2001). The speakers read each pragmatic context in silence
prior to reading aloud each test sentence. Speech data were analyzed using Praat and labeled
according to Sp_ToBI conventions (Beckman et al., 2002; Estebas-Vilaplana & Prieto, 2008).
For this current analysis, we focus on F0 gestures related to nuclear and postnuclear segmental
material only.
As for results, broad focus statements show a falling F0 throughout the nuclear syllable
and final lowering (H+L*L%, (1a)). Narrow focus statements contain a nuclear rising accent and
a final fall (L+H*L%, (1b)), as do statements of the obvious (1c). The shared L+H*L%
configuration for narrow focus and obvious statements has been reported for many varieties of
American and European Spanish. As for questions, those of the information-seeking type have
the L* HH% specification. Echo questions have high rising F0 throughout nuclear and
postnuclear content, analyzed as L+H*HH% (1d). This melody appears to be particular to the
Andalusian dialect for echo questions. Surprisingly, yes/no confirmation questions are identical
to information-seeking questions, signaled by L*HH% (1e). Neutral wh-questions with one
tonal unit consist of final falling F0 (H+L*L%, (1f)) and do not show variability between rising
and falling F0 as was documented for Castilian Spanish. Imperative wh-questions are likewise
signaled by the H+L*L% melody, whereas echo wh-questions have a final rise L+H*HH% (1g),
similar to echo yes/no questions. Finally, ‘neutral’ vocatives are uttered with a nuclear rise and
boundary fall (L+H*HL%, (1h)) and do not contain the boundary M% identified for most other
Spanish dialects. These results are discussed with respect to previous findings on pan-Hispanic
intonation and its dialect variability. While the Jerezano data share properties of certain
European and American dialects of Spanish, there are clearly form-meaning associations yet to
be attested in other varieties, as was seen with echo yes/no questions.

(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
(g)
(h)
Figure 1. F0 output and Sp_ToBI labels for: broad focus statement (a); narrow focus statement (b); statement of the obvious (c); echo
yes/no question (d); confirmation yes/no question (e); neutral wh-question (f); echo wh-qustion (g); vocative (h).
References
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