THE PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY OF WH-QUESTION INTONATION IN MALTESE

Alexandra Vella
University of Malta

ID 1677
[full paper]

This paper reports on a preliminary analysis of wh-question intonation in Maltese. The study aims to provide evidence for a characterisation of one aspect of the intonation of wh-questions in Maltese. It focuses on the initial H tone reported to occur at the beginning of such questions in Maltese and tries to establish an empirical basis for an analysis of this H tone. Results show that a H tone target is indeed always present on the wh-word in Maltese wh-questions. Moreover, the H target seems to be associated with the first syllable of the wh-word, whether this syllable is accented or not. Furthermore, the H tone in question is characterised by a raising in F0 as compared to other H tone targets across a range of different sentence types.

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