ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2002
ISCA Archive SpeechProsody 2002

Structures intonatives en berb&# 8;re: l²&# 9;nonc&# 9; pr&# 9;dicatif

Naïma Louali, Amina Mettouchi

In this paper, the authors investigate the role of intonation in relation to syntax and information structure, through the study of a versatile grammatical structure: the non-verbal predicate. This structure can form a single utterance, but it can also function as a clause, in cleft sentences for instance. F0 contours for those two types are different. The prosodic study of focalization in cleft sentences is then confronted to that of topicalization, both structures presenting similar F0 patterns. Despite the obvious differences at the level of information structure, this similarity points to a common property of topicalization and focalization: both structures are departures from the unmarked Berber word order (VSO). Note: The body of this paper is written in French.