In this paper we present data in Neapolitan Italian that show a clear phonological difference in intonation between a clitic left dislocated object topic in an exhaustive answer and in a partial answer. In the latter, the topic expression is set aside in its own prosodic phrase, made of a rising accent (H*) followed by a !H- boundary tone. An exhaustive answer does not show such phrasing pattern. The finding of a ‘partial' tune in Romance provides a solution to the pragmatic problem of defining sentence topic by supporting a bi-dimensional model of Information Structure.
Cite as: Brunetti, L., D'Imperio, M., Cangemi, F. (2010) On the prosodic marking of contrast in Romance sentence topic: evidence from Neapolitan Italian. Proc. Speech Prosody 2010, paper 202
@inproceedings{brunetti10_speechprosody,
author={Lisa Brunetti and Mariapaola D'Imperio and Francesco Cangemi},
title={{On the prosodic marking of contrast in Romance sentence topic: evidence from Neapolitan Italian}},
year=2010,
booktitle={Proc. Speech Prosody 2010},
pages={paper 202}
}