Language-specific intonation in the Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals

Abstract

Caribbean creoles exhibit a hybrid prosodic system with tones from African languages, and stress from European languages. It is uncertain whether the bilingual Palenquero/Spanish speakers keep their two languages intonationally distinct with tonal-like patterns in Palenquero creole, and intonation patterns in Caribbean Spanish. This study examined this conjecture in statements and yes/no questions from 10 Palenquero/Spanish bilinguals. Penultimate and final lengthening, as well as F0 contours from 196 statements and 201 yes/no questions were tested with functional principal component and linear regression analyses. Elder bilinguals kept their two languages prosodically more distinct than adult bilinguals, showing high-peak plateauing and L% tones in Palenquero, and downdrift and H% tones in Spanish.