The intonation of yes–no questions in Luganda

Abstract

The intonation of yes–no questions in Luganda (Bantu, Uganda) has only been sketched in passing. Hyman states that Luganda yes–no questions are marked by a ‘super-high tone’ immediately following the last lexical high tone in the sentence, but there is little agreement in the literature about the intonation of yes–no questions if there is no lexical high tone in the sentence. To clarify the differences between statements and yes–no questions in Luganda, an acoustic production study was conducted. Nineteen speakers read aloud sentences differing in the location of the last lexical high tone relative to the end of the sentence. Each sentence was produced as a statement and as a question. Analysis of f0 measurements supported Hyman’s description of sentences with a lexical high tone, since the questions had an f0 peak that was higher and later than in the corresponding statements. For sentences without a lexical high tone, yes–no questions were found to begin with an interval in which f0 is higher than in corresponding statements, and end with a final f0 value lower than in statements. It is proposed that the yes–no question marker is a phrase accent (H–). Like the high phrase accent posited by Pierrehumbert for English, this intonational tone is associated after the last tone in the phrase, but in Luganda that last tone is lexical, rather than being an intonational focus marker as in English. This H– accent is subject to upstep in the position after a high tone.