Prosodic prominence in the acquisition of the morphosyntax of Q’anjob’al (Maya)

Keywords: stress, accent, thematic suffix, language, prosody, grammar

Abstract

Prosodic prominence at phrase level plays a central role in the acquisition of the morphosyntax in Q’anjob’al. The final boundary of the prosodic phrase in adult grammar is marked by suffixes exclusive to this context, but children under three years old sometimes suppress them when they are in the final position of the phrase; or they insert suffixes in medial position. Although these changes have been analyzed as errors, this study shows that children’s prosodic phrases can be shorter than the adult ones, but that the suffixes produced by both groups will always occur in the final position of the phrase. Thus, children have internalized the prosody of their language and they use the suffixes without errors.

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Published
2019-12-06
How to Cite
Mateo Toledo, E., & Mateo Pedro, P. (2019). Prosodic prominence in the acquisition of the morphosyntax of Q’anjob’al (Maya). Signos Lingüísticos, 13(25). Retrieved from https://signoslinguisticos.izt.uam.mx/index.php/SL/article/view/261
Section
Artículos