The prosodic properties of narrow information focus in Central Mexican Spanish: Pitch accents, de-emphasis and phrasing

Pedro Martín Butragueño,Rodrigo Gutiérrez-Bravo,Érika Mendoza Vázquez

doi:10.3989/loquens.2020.069

Abstract

This paper investigates the different prosodic strategies used for the marking of information focus in Central Mexican Spanish. For this purpose, we carried out a study of the prosodic properties of information focus both in clause final position and in situ. Our results show important differences when compared to other varieties of Spanish. Specifically, we observe that the most frequent accent signaling information focus is a monotonal pitch accent (L* or !H*) and not L+H*. Furthermore, in many cases we observe that the pitch accent is not the only mechanism used to signal the focus: this is because we observe the presence of prosodic edges to the left of the focus, presumably functioning as an additional prosodic cue to identify it. Additionally, while we do not observe deaccenting of post-focal material, we do observe a sequence of non-rising forms (a flat pattern or “de-emphasis”) following the pitch accent that signals an in situ information focus forced by the test. With respect to phonological phrasing, our results confirm the analysis in Prieto (2006), where it is proposed that syntactic constituency is not the primary factor that regulates phrasing in Spanish.

Highlights

Regarding the pitch accents associated with foci in Central Mexican Spanish, de-la-Mota et al (2010) have recorded a distinction between a L* L% pattern for broad focus statements, and L+ H* L% for narrow focus statements
In this paper we have presented the results of a reading task test designed to investigate the prosodic properties of information focus in Central Mexican Spanish
Our study reveals a number of previously undocumented properties of this variety of Spanish, and further sheds light on the debate on whether phonological phrasing in Spanish is primarily regulated by prosodic or syntactic considerations

Summary

Introduction

Regarding the pitch accents associated with foci in Central Mexican Spanish, de-la-Mota et al (2010) have recorded a distinction between a L* L% pattern for broad focus statements, and L+ H* L% for narrow focus statements (see Hoot, 2016). It should be noted that both in de-la-Mota et al (2010) and Martín Butragueño & Mendoza (2018), no distinction is made between information focus and contrastive focus; both are grouped together in the category of narrow focus statements. 372) do consider different types of focus (broad focus, narrow focus and contrastive focus), but report for their Mexico City data that there is no correlation between pitch accent and focus type. The L+H* L% pattern has been documented in other varieties of Spanish (Castilian, Cantabrian, Canarian, Venezuelan Andean, Dominican, Ecuadorian Andean, and Chilean Spanish) for declarative statements with narrow foci (Prieto & Roseano, 2010).

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Discussion

Conclusion