Cover not available

In:Hispanic Linguistics: Current issues and new directions
Edited by Alfonso Morales-Front, Michael J. Ferreira, Ronald P. Leow and Cristina Sanz
[Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics 26] 2020
► pp. 53–74

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

The licensing of wh-in-situ questions

Intonational evidence from Spanish

 | Florida State University
 | Florida State University
Published online: 13 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ihll.26.03gon
Abstract
This project investigates the intonational characteristics of information-seeking wh-in-situ and yes/no questions in Spanish. Data from eight Spanish-Basque bilinguals show that while the former tend to display final rising contours, the latter are primarily circumflex, especially in participants with higher Basque dominance. Our results provide evidence that both question types are licensed by a null intonational morpheme, as proposed by Cheng and Rooryck (2000) for French. However, this morpheme in Spanish is encoded as an elevated high tone, rather than a rising contour. Furthermore, Spanish wh-in-situ questions show higher tonal ranges than in French (Déprez et al. 2013). We suggest that this results from focus assignment on the wh-word and its obligatory placement at the end of the intonational phrase.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Wh-in-situ questions
    • 2.1Wh-in-situ in French
    • 2.2Wh-in-situ in Spanish
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Final contours and Global Tonal Range
    • 4.2Final contours and elevated pitch
    • 4.3The effect of language dominance
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (49)
References
Aguilar, L, De-la-Mota, C., & Prieto, P. (Eds.). (2009). Sp_ToBI training materials. <[URL]> (6 November, 2019).
Alvord, S. M. (2006). Spanish intonation in contact: The case of Miami Cuban bilinguals (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
Aoun, J., & Li, Y. A. (1993). WH-elements in situ: Syntax or LF? Linguistic Inquiry, 24(2), 199–238.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Birdsong, D., Gertken, L. M., & Amengual, M. (2012). Bilingual Language Profile: An easy-to-use instrument to assess bilingualism. COERLL, University of Texas at Austin. <[URL]> (6 Novemer, 2019).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boeckx, C. (2000). Decomposing French questions. In J. Alexander, N. R. Han, & M. Minnick Fox (Eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd annual Penn Linguistics Colloquium (pp. 69–80). University of Pennsylvania: Working Papers in Linguistics.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Boersma, P., & Weenink, D. (2015). Praat: Doing phonetics by computer [Computer program]. Version 5.4.17. Retrieved from <[URL]> (20 August, 2015).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bošković, Ž. (2000). Sometimes in Spec, CP, sometimes in situ. In R. Martin, D. Michaels, & J. Uriagereka (Eds.), Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik (pp. 53–87). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chang, L. (1997). Wh-in-situ phenomena in French (Unpublished MA thesis). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.
Cheng, L-S. L., & Rooryck, J. (2000). Licensing Wh-in-situ. Syntax, 3(1), 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1957). Syntactic structures. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1995). The minimalist program. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2000). Minimalist inquiries: The framework. In R. Martin, D. Michaels, & J. Uriagereka (Eds.), Step by step: Essays on minimalist syntax in honor of Howard Lasnik (pp. 89–155). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cole, P., & Hermon, G. (1998). The typology of wh-movement: Wh-questions in Malay. Syntax, 1(3), 221–258. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De la Mota, C. (1995). La representación gramatical de la información nueva en el discurso (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Déprez, V., Syrett, K., & Kawahara, S. (2013). The interaction of syntax, prosody, and discourse in licensing French wh-in-situ questions. Lingua, 124, 4–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elordieta, G. (1998). Intonation in a pitch accent variety of Basque. ASJU, XXXII(2), 511–569.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). The Spanish intonation of speakers of a Basque pitch-accent dialect. Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 2, 67–95. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Elordieta, G., & Hualde, J. I. (2014). Intonation in Basque. In S.-A. Jun (Ed.), Prosodic typology II: The phonology of intonation and phrasing (pp. 405–463). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Etxepare, R., & Ortiz de Urbina, J. (2003). Focalization. In J. I. Hualde & J. Ortiz de Urbina (Eds.), A grammar of Basque (pp. 459–515). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Etxepare, R., & Uribe-Etxebarria, M. (2005). In situ wh-phrases in Spanish: Locality and quantification. Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes, 33, 9–34. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Face, T. (2000). Prosodic manifestations of focus in Spanish. Southwest Journal of Linguistics, 19, 45–62.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). El foco y la altura tonal en español. Boletín de Lingüística, 17, 30–52.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Sp_ToBI and the phonological analysis of Spanish intonation: A critical perspective. Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 7, 185–210.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Face. T., & Prieto, P. (2007). Rising accents in Castilian Spanish: A revision of Sp_ToBI. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 6, 117–146. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ginzburg, J., & Sag, I. A. (2001). Interrogative investigations: The form, meaning, and use of English interrogatives. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
González, C., & Reglero, L. (2018). Dime una cosa: Are wh-in-situ different in Spanish? Evidence from intonation. In L. Repetti & F. Ordóñez (Eds.), Selected papers from the 46th Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Stony Brook, NY (pp. 85–102). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hualde, J. I. (2003). El modelo métrico-autosegmental. In P. Prieto (Ed.), Teorías de la entonación (pp. 155–184). Barcelona: Ariel.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hualde, J. I., & Prieto, P. (2015). Intonational variation in Spanish: European and American varieties. In S. Frota & P. Prieto (Eds.), Intonation in Romance (pp. 350–391). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Huang, C.-T. J. (1982). Logical relations in Chinese and the theory of grammar (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). MIT.
Jiménez, M. L. (1997). Semantic and pragmatic conditions on word order in Spanish (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
Lasnik, H, & Saito, M. (1992). Move-Alpha: Conditions on its applications and output. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mathieu, E. (2004). The mapping of form and interpretation: The case of optional wh-movement in French. Lingua, 114, 1090–1132. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
May, R. (1985). Logical form: Its structure and derivation. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Navarro Tomás, T. (1944). Manual de entonación española. New York, NY: Hispanic Institute in the United States.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pàmies-Bertrán, A., Fernández-Planas, A. M., Martínez-Celdrán, E, Ortega-Escandell, A., & Amorós, M. C. (2002). Umbrales tonales en español peninsular. In Actas del II Congreso de Fonética Experimental (pp. 272–278). Universidad de Sevilla.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pesetsky, D. (1982). Paths and categories (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). MIT.
Prieto, P., & Roseano, P. (2010). Transcription of intonation of the Spanish language. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reglero, L. (2003). Non-wh-fronting in Basque. In C. Boeckx & K. Grohmann (Eds.), Multiple Wh fronting (pp. 187–227). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2007). Wh-in-situ interrogatives in Spanish. Probus, 19, 267–297. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reglero, L & Ticio, E. (2013). A unified analysis of wh-in-situ in Spanish. The Linguistic Review, 30, 1–47. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Robles-Puente, S. (2011). Absolute questions do not always have a rising pattern: Evidence from Bilbao Spanish. In S. M. Alvord (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 5th Conference on Laboratory Approaches to Romance Phonology (pp. 98–107). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2012). Two languages, two intonations? Statements and yes/no questions in Spanish and Basque. In R. Campos-Astorkiza & J. Franco (Eds.), Papers in linguistics by the BIDE generation, Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca ‘Julio de Urquijo’, XLVI-1: 251–262.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sosa, J. M. (1999). La entonación del español: Su estructura fónica, variabilidad y dialectología. Madrid: Cátedra.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2003). Wh-questions in Spanish. Meanings and configuration variability. Catalan Journal of Linguistics, 2, 229–243. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stjepanović, S. (2003). A word order paradox resolved by copy deletion at PHON. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 3, 139–177. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Uribe-Etxebarria, M. (2002). In situ questions and masked movement. Linguistic Variation Yearbook, 2, 259–303. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Willis, E. (2004). Dominican Spanish absolute interrogatives in broad focus. In T. Face (Ed.), Laboratory approaches to Spanish phonology (pp. 61–91). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zubizarreta, M. L. (1998). Prosody, focus and word order. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2001). Intervention effects in the French wh-in-situ construction: Syntax or interpretation? In R. Núñez Cedeño, L. López, & R. Camero, (Eds.), A Romance perspective in language knowledge and use. Selected papers from the 31st Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (pp. 359–380). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue