Abstract
Abstract El Cantado Cuencano “Cuencano singing” constitutes the hallmark of Cuencano Spanish: a widely spoken Andean dialect in the Ecuadorian province of Azuay. This colloquially described “singing” makes Cuencano Spanish one of the most distinct dialects of Ecuador. The aim of the present study is to provide a preliminary analysis of intonation patterns from common utterance types in this under documented dialect. A sample of 550 utterances from 11 categories that included declarative statements, yes/no questions, exclamative statements, wh-questions, imperatives, lists, conditionals, tag-questions, interjections, negative statements, and vocatives was collected from five male and five female participants. The tokens were analyzed acoustically and labeled using the Spanish Tones and Break Indices system (Sp_ToBI). Results reveal the presence of a tritonal pitch accent (PA), labeled as L + H* + L and the extensive use of bitonal PAs (namely, L + H*). These three phenomena mark the singing quality of Cuencano Spanish and make it stand out from the dialects of Ecuadorian Spanish.
Highlights
The variety of Spanish spoken in the city of Cuenca, located in the Southern Andean region of Ecuador, is one of the most distinct Andean dialects spoken in the country
This study provides a preliminary description of basic intonational patterns in Cuencano Spanish with an analysis of the most common intonation patterns found across 11 utterance types
This article is a preliminary description of Cuencano Spanish intonation
Summary
The variety of Spanish spoken in the city of Cuenca, located in the Southern Andean region of Ecuador, is one of the most distinct Andean dialects spoken in the country. It is colloquially known as el Cantado Cuencano “Cuencano singing” and it is marked by its distinctive sing-song characteristics, which define the Cuencano accent. This study provides a preliminary description of basic intonational patterns in Cuencano Spanish with an analysis of the most common intonation patterns found across 11 utterance types
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