Exploring extended focus and meaning in Chilean Spanish intonational plateau contours
Studies on the intonation of Spanish have been on the rise. While much of this research has been conducted on the ramifications of F0 modifications in human speech using laboratory speech, some researchers (e.g., Hirschberg 2002, Prieto 2015) assert that when established cross-linguistic interpretations of intonation are examined in natural speech, researchers frequently find data that counter to previously established assumptions.
One specific case of this potentially contradictory variation are Chilean Spanish declarative intonational plateaus, observed in the speech of a number of social groups in Chile. The current study uses natural speech and proposes that speakers use these contours as a form of extended focus whereby emphasizing entire ideas. We propose that compression of typical F0 excursions associated with L and H targets results in phonetic undershoot of the L, thus yielding the surface form of a series of Hs, or a plateau (inspired by Cho & Flemming, 2015).
