Production characteristics of accent in four dialects of Nahuatl

Abstract

Most descriptions of Nahuatl (Uto‐Aztecan, Mexico) describe regular penultimate accent, although production characteristics are unstudied. Recently, however, dialects from Guerrero state have been described with pitch‐accent from historical coda breathy /h/ in nonfinal position [Guion and Amith, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 117, S2490 (2005)]. In the current study, the acoustic correlates of this new pitch‐accent, as well as penultimate accent, are investigated. Speakers (n=6) from four dialects–two with innovated pitch‐accent and two with only penultimate accent–were recorded. The production characteristics of fundamental frequency (F0), duration, and voice quality, as indexed by the difference between the first two harmonics (H1‐H2), were investigated. Innovated pitch‐accent was found to be cued solely by F0. Penultimate accent varied in its production by dialect. In dialects with only penultimate accent, production exhibited characteristics typical of stress‐accent: Accented syllables had higher F0, longer durations, and more vocal effort (smaller H1‐H2 differences) than unaccented syllables. Dialects with innovated pitch‐accent had less stresslike penultimate accents, being cued primarily by F0, or with a relatively small durational difference, but no voice quality difference. This indicates that the innovation of a pitch‐accent has changed the formerly stresslike penultimate accent into a more pitch‐type accent.