Tone-intonation interactions in Ede Chaabe

This paper presents an analysis of the intonation of yes/no questions, statements
and exclamations in Ede Chaabe (cbj, Benin). The paper shows that yes/no
questions in Ede Chaabe not only have a low boundary tone (i.e. L%), but also have an
extended pitch lowering effect that spans over the last few syllables of the
utterance, unlike in statements. The presence of the extended lowering in yes/no
questions is what differentiates them from exclamations with which they share the low
boundary tone. The L% is shown to be locally accommodated on the utterance-final
syllable, whereas the extended pitch lowering effect is superposed on the last few
syllables of the utterance. The extent of the extended lowering is experimentally
shown to vary as a function of utterance length, with potential prosodic phrasing
effects. The paper further argues that superposition in Ede Chaabe is
phonological, and best analyzed independently of the boundary tone it co-occurs with. The
implications of the results for existing models of intonation are discussed.