This study investigates the interaction of lexical tone and intonation in embedded clauses in the two-tone Kwa language Akan. The claim is that embedded clauses show recursive prosodic phrasing at the level of intonation phrases (ι-phrase). The prosodic boundary of an embedded clause is expressed by means of a pitch register reset. At the boundary, lexical tonal distinctions are maintained in the recursively embedded ι-phrase. The amount of pitch register reset depends on the nature of the following tone, smaller reset in case of a following L tone, and larger reset in case of a following H-tone. I will argue that recursive prosodic phrasing at the level of an ι-phrase is thus achieved by means of a pitch register reset.
Cite as: Kügler, F. (2016) Embedded clauses and recursive prosodic phrasing in Akan. Proc. 5th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL 2016), 38-42, doi: 10.21437/TAL.2016-8
@inproceedings{kugler16_tal,
author={Frank Kügler},
title={{Embedded clauses and recursive prosodic phrasing in Akan}},
year=2016,
booktitle={Proc. 5th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL 2016)},
pages={38--42},
doi={10.21437/TAL.2016-8}
}