The African lax question prosody: Its realisation and geographical distribution

Rialland, Annie

doi:10.1016/j.lingua.2007.09.014

Cited by 55 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Based on the statement and question markers observed in Ikaan and described by Rialland (2007Rialland ( , 2009, this section presents results for pitch onset, register expansion, final lowering, phonation mode, final lengthening, and intensity, as well as preliminary observations for downdrift and final high tones.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Ikaan speakers show both rich use of pitch as tone with multiple functions in the lexicon and grammar and rich use of pitch as one prosodic dimension in a wider prosodic range with additional strategies such as duration, intensity, and phonation mode. Based on an in-depth analysis of the data set, the study re-examines the discussions, arguments, and conclusions in Rialland (2007, 2009), Ohala (1984), and Gussenhoven (2004 from the perspective of Ikaan, offers an alternative perspective on the lax markers proposed by Rialland, and expands the set of prosodic strategies motivated by the frequency code, thus providing a broader range of data and evidence for the wider discussion of arbitrariness vs. motivation of form and meaning in general.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…A low-pitched statement, on the other hand, signals a strong position of informational independence. Rialland (2007Rialland ( , 2009) approaches yes/no question prosody from an Africanist perspective and provides evidence against a cross-linguistic universal that links high or rising pitch with questions. Using data from 78 and 119 African languages, Rialland (2007Rialland ( , 2009 shows that low-pitched questions are not an exception but the norm in many families of the Niger-Congo phylum, and that low-pitched questions also occur frequently in other languages of the Macro-Sudan belt.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rialland (2007Rialland ( , 2009) approaches yes/no question prosody from an Africanist perspective and provides evidence against a cross-linguistic universal that links high or rising pitch with questions. Using data from 78 and 119 African languages, Rialland (2007Rialland ( , 2009 shows that low-pitched questions are not an exception but the norm in many families of the Niger-Congo phylum, and that low-pitched questions also occur frequently in other languages of the Macro-Sudan belt. Moreover, Rialland (2007) includes other prosodic markers in addition to pitch in question and statement intonation and establishes a typology of polar question intonation based on co-occurrences of the various question markers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kanuri speakers (Nilo-Saharan) mark questions by adding /-wá/, combining an open vowel, which is a lax marker, with a high tone, which is a tense marker (Rialland, 2009, p. 944). Cahill (2012Cahill ( , 2013) uses Rialland's (2007Rialland's ( , 2009 typology to describe question formation in four Gur languages (Buli, Deg, Safaliba, Konni) and two Kwa languages (Adele, Chumburung). Unlike the clear lax prosody patterns found by Rialland, Cahill (2012, 2013 finds only hybrid prosodies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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West African languages enrich the frequency code: Multi-functional pitch and multi-dimensional prosody in Ikaan polar questions

Salffner

2017

Laboratory Phonology: Journal of the Association for Laboratory Phonology

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Cross-linguistically, statements tend to be pronounced with low or falling pitch and questions with high or rising pitch, a form-meaning pairing which has been attributed to the frequency code (Ohala, 1984). In many West African languages, however, questions are marked with a 'lax' prosody comprising falling intonation, low tones, lengthening, breathy termination, and open vowels ( Rialland, 2007). This paper presents prosody findings from Ikaan (Niger-Congo; ISO 639-3: kcf) and proposes a re-analysis of the West African lax question prosody to integrate it with the frequency code model. The paper shows that the pragmatic functions of statement and polar question are expressed prosodically in Ikaan. Audio recordings of statements and morphosyntactically identical polar questions by six speakers were annotated segmentally, tonally, and for the presence of prosodic question markers. Speakers mark questions by using higher onset pitch, wider drops to final low tones, final breathy voice and voicelessness, final vowel lengthening, vowel insertion, and increased intensity. Breathiness may further contrast with creaky voice and glottal stops in statements. Phonation mode, and the accompanying vowel lengthening and insertion, are argued to indicate friendliness and appeals for collaboration, linking phonation mode to similar functions of higher pitch in the frequency code.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%