The prosodic structure in Basque
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2017/08/0016/000318Keywords:
Basque, prosodic structure, melodic slopeAbstract
Basque is a lexically stressed language where patterns in accented phrases have been reported to change from region to region (Olano, 2006). In order to better understand 1) the positioning of lexical stress in accent phrases and 2) the prosodic characteristics of stressed syllables in the indication of prosodic structures, we recorded 4 Basque native speakers form Alava, Gipuzkoa, and Labourd on a selection of sentences readings. Results showed that data on Gipuzkoa Basque were consistent with the contrast of melodic slope model (Martin, 1975). The lexical stress was found to be on the last syllable of the full lexical item, and not just on its stem. In a case study, we also evidenced a possible prosodic grammar of contours for Gipuzkoa Basque.
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