The intonation of Portuguese spoken in Maputo, Mozambique: A case study

Serra, Carolina; Oliveira, Ingrid

doi:10.1590/1678-460X202258880

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Articles • DELTA 38 (3) • 2022 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-460X202258880 copy

The intonation of Portuguese spoken in Maputo, Mozambique: A case study

A entoação do português falado em Maputo, Moçambique: Um estudo de caso

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

ABSTRACT

This case study of Portuguese as spoken in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, describes the intonation of neutral declarative SVO sentences and neutral yes-no questions using the theory and methodological tools of Prosodic Phonology and Autosegmental-Metrical Intonational Phonology. In neutral declaratives, 1) prosodic phrasing of Subject and Predicate into independent (S)(VO) intonational phrases (IPs) predominated; 2) LH+L* L% and H+L* L% nuclear contours predominated in final IPs, while contours with high H% boundary were most frequent in medial IPs; 3) phrase accents frequently occurred between S and V, between V and O and even within S, separating the nucleus from its complements; and 4) an additional tone was possible in association with the pre-stressed syllables of long (5-syllable), mostly IP-initial, prosodic words. In neutral questions, the nucleus most often featured a rising-falling L+(<¡)H* L% movement. High tonal density was also found, with pitch accents associated with stressed syllables of all PWs in both declaratives and yes-no questions.

Keywords:
intonation; prosodic phrasing; neutral declaratives and yes-no questions; Portuguese spoken in Maputo

	Non-branching S				Branching S				Double Branching S
	Short N		Long N		Short N + AP or PP^*		Long N + AP or PP		Short N + AP + PP		Long N + AP + PP
Pattern	Tkns^**/total	%	Tkns/total	%	Tkns/total	%	Tkns/Total	%	Tkns/total	%	Tkns/total	%
(S)(VO)	26/44	59.1%	16/47	34%	35/48	73%	37/43	86%	13/18	72.2%	14/17	82.4%
(SVO)	17/44	38.6%	26/47	55.3%	10/48	20.8%	4/43	9.4%	2/18	11.1%	1/17	5.8%
(S)(V)(O)	-	-	2/47	4.3%	2/48	4.2%	1/43	2.3%	2/18	11.1%
(SV)(O)	1/44	2.3%	-	-	1/48	2%
(Others)	-	-	3/47	6.4%	-	-	1/43	2.3%	1/18	5.6%	2/17	11.8%

	Without boundary		IP boundary (major phrase breaks)		Phrase accent (minor phrase breaks)
	Tkns/total	%	Tkns/total	%	Tkns/total	%
(S)(V)	18/217	8.3	153/217	70.5	46/217	21.2
(V)(O)	61/217	28.1	10/217	4.6	146/217	67.3

	L-		H-
	Tkns/total	%	Tkns/total	%
(S)(V)	37/46	80.5	9/46	19.5
(V)(O)	15/143	10.5	128/143	89.5
Within the Subject (N)(AP+PP), (N)(PP) e (N)(AP)	52/52	100	-	-
Total	104/241	43	137/241	57

	Extra tone		No extra tone
Location of target word	Tkns/total	%	Tkns/total	%
S nucleus	58/107	54.2	49/107	45.8
(a libaNEsa ‘the Lebanese women’ and o namoRAdo ‘the boyfiend’)	58/107	54.2	49/107	45.8
V	19/107	17.8	88/107	82.2
(maraviLHAva ‘marvelled’, rememoRAva ‘remembered’, manuseAva ‘handled’, and memoriZAva ‘memorised’)	19/107	17.8	88/107	82.2
O nucleus	9/106	8.5	97/106	91.5
(a sereNAta ‘the serenade’ and a/uma meloDIa ‘the/a melody’)	9/106	8.5	97/106	91.5
O AP	5/37	13.5	32/37	86.5
(maraviLHOsa ‘marvellous’)	5/37	13.5	32/37	86.5

Final IPs			Medial IPs
Nuclear contours	Tkns/total	%	Nuclear contours	Tkns/total	%
LH+L* L%	129/217	59.4	L*+H H%	84/168	50
H+L* L%	87/217	40.1	L+H* L%	59/168	35.1
H+L* L%	87/217	40.1	(L+<H* L%)	59/168	35.1
H*+L L%	1/217	0.5	L+H* H%	14/168	8.3
			L*+H L%	8/168	4.8
			H*+L L%	2/168	1.2
			(H+L* L%)	2/168	1.2
			H+L* H%	1/168	0.6

	Melodic configuration	Tkns/ total	%
Rising-falling (90.3%)	L+H* L% (L+¡H* L%)	22/31	70.9%
	L+<¡H* L%	3/31	9.7%
	L*+H L%	3/31	9.7%
Rising (9.7%)	L+H* H% (L+¡H* H%)	3/31	9.7%

	MP Reading Task	MP Spontaneous Speech	STP	GBP	LbP	SEP	NEP	ALE	ALG
Prosodic phrasing	(S)(VO) 65%		(SVO) 100%	(SVO) 100%	(SVO) 96,8%	(SVO) 98%	(S)(VO) 53%	(S)(VO) 66%	(SVO) 65%
Pre-nuclear contour (Initial pitch accent)	L+H*	L+H*	L*+H	L*+H	L+H*	H*	L*+H
	L*+H	L+H*	L*+H	L*+H	L+H*	L+H*
	99.7%	90.2%	70.3%	77.2%	97.6%	L+H*
Additional tone	L+H			H
Nuclear contour - Final IP	LH+L* L%	(L)H+L* L%	L* L%	H+L* L%	H+L* L%	H+L* L%	L* L%	(H)+L* L%	H+L* L%
	59.4	65%	L* L%	H+L* L%	H+L* L%
	H+L* L%	L* L%	H+L* L%	L* L%	100%
	40.1%	25%	H+L* L%	L* L%	100%
Nuclear contour - Medial IP	L*+H H%	H+L* L% 60%		L+H* H%	L* H%	H+L* H%	L* H%
	L+H* H%	H+L* L% 60%		L+H* H%	L* H%
	58.3%	L+H* H%		L*+H H%	L*+H H%
	L+*H L%	L+H* H%		L* LH%	L*+H H%	L*+H H%
	L*+H L%	33.3%		70.2%	L+H* L%
	39.9%	33.3%		70.2%	L+H* L%
Phrase accent	PhP/Pw_L-		PhP_L-	PhP_L-	PhP_L-			_L-PhP)IP]
Phrase accent	PhP/Pw_H-		PhP_L-	PhP_L-	PhP_L-			_L-PhP)IP]
Tonal density	100%	43.2%	100%	94%	100%	17%	74%	83%	67%

	MP Reading Task	STP	GBP	LBP	SEP	NEP	ALE	ALG
Pre-nuclear contour (Initial pitch accent)	L+H*		L*+H	L+H*
Pre-nuclear contour (Initial pitch accent)	100%		H*	L+H*
Nuclear contour - Final IP	L+(¡)H* L%	L*+¡H HL%	(L+)H* L%	L+H* L%	H+L* LH%	L* HL%	L* L%	L*+H HL%
	L+<H* L%	L*+¡H HL%	(L+)H* L%	58.3%
	L*+H L%	84,6%	89.2%	L* LH%
	90.3%	84,6%	89.2%	41.7%
Tonal density	100%	87.3%	80.4%	61.8%	29%	43%	54%	50%

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[1] Conflict of interests

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest.