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Part of
Focus Realization in Romance and Beyond
Edited by Marco García García and Melanie Uth
[Studies in Language Companion Series 201] 2018
► pp. 71–98

Chapter 3
Focus realization at the prosody-syntax interface

Yucatecan Spanish opposed to Standard Mexican Spanish

| University of Cologne

This article investigates the prosodic and syntactic realization of broad and narrow contrastive focus in Yucatecan Spanish compared to standard Mexican Spanish. Based on data from two production experiments and one acceptability judgment test, it is suggested that Yucatecan Spanish is diametrically opposed to standard Mexican Spanish in this domain of syntactic-prosodic realization of Information Structure. Due to the interrelatedness and the general nature of the differences, Yucatecan Spanish is argued to instantiate a different type of language compared to standard (Mexican) Spanish in this regard. Finally, it is argued that this typological particularity is probably to be traced back to the variety’s long standing and intensive contact with Yucatec Maya.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data base and methodology
  • 3.Contrastive focalization in Yucatecan Spanish compared to standard Mexican Spanish
    • 3.1Word order
    • 3.2Pitch accents
  • 4.Syntax-prosody interface
  • 5.Language contact
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 28 November 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.201.03uth
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Uth, Melanie & Marco García García
2018. Chapter 1. Introduction. In Focus Realization in Romance and Beyond [Studies in Language Companion Series, 201], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo

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