Intonation in information-seeking yes-no questions of Catalan from Majorca. Comparison with the central Catalan of Barcelona.

Abstract

Our aim in this paper is the description of the intonation of information-seeking yes-no questions. Within the framework of the AMPER project (Atlas Multimedia de la Prosodia del Espacio Románico), we analysed acoustically the information-seeking yes-no questions in the Majorcan variety of Catalan. Three types of sentence structures were analysed: SVO, SEVO (where E stands for expanded subject), SVOE (where E stands for expanded object) structures. We analyse the values of F0, intensity and duration of the vowels. As for as the melodic line is concerned, our analysis revealed the existence of different intonational contours in Majorcan Catalan, which are different from those described for Barcelona dialect (Fernández Planas y otros, 2004; Szmidt y otros, 2008). In respect of the duration and intensity, both Majorcan and Barcelonan dialects displayed identical characteristics: the longest duration in the nuclear or final part of the sentence and the highest intensity in the prenuclear or initial part of the sentence.