Guinea-Bissau Portuguese: What the intonation of yes-no question shows about this variety

ABSTRACT In Guinea-Bissau, Portuguese is the only official language, and, for historical and sociopolitical reasons, European Portuguese (EP) is assumed as the variety spoken. However, we find a multilingual space in which Kriol is the national unity language and Portuguese is spoken as a second language. In this context, we analyzed the intonation of neutral yes-no questions of Guinea-Bissau Portuguese (GBP), to examine whether the intonation of this sentence type resembles that found SEP (spoken in Lisbon) or whether we are facing a Guinea-Bissau Portuguese variety in formation. Using the theoretical framework of Prosodic Phonology and Intonational Phonology, we analyzed neutral yes-no questions produced through a reading task performed by four Guinea-Bissau participants, native speakers of Kriol, and speakers of Portuguese as a second language. Our results show that, for the pre-nuclear and nuclear contour as well as tonal density, the intonation of GBP neutral yes-no questions differs from SEP and is closer to Brazilian and African varieties already studied. This outcome was previously pointed out in the literature for declarative sentences, suggesting that GBP is developing its own intonational grammar.摘要：在几内亚比绍，葡萄牙语是唯一官方语言，且基于历史与社会政治因素，学界通常认定其使用欧洲葡萄牙语（European Portuguese, EP）变体。然而该国实则存在多语言语境：克里奥尔语（Kriol）为国家通用语，葡萄牙语则作为第二语言被使用。在此背景下，本研究针对几内亚比绍葡萄牙语（Guinea-Bissau Portuguese, GBP）的中性是非问句展开语调分析，以考察该句式的语调模式更接近里斯本口语欧洲葡萄牙语（SEP, spoken in Lisbon），抑或是属于正在形成中的几内亚比绍葡萄牙语变体。本研究依托韵律音系学（Prosodic Phonology）与语调音系学（Intonational Phonology）的理论框架，对4名母语为克里奥尔语、以葡萄牙语为第二语言的几内亚比绍受试者完成朗读任务时产出的中性是非问句进行了分析。结果表明，无论核前语调轮廓、核心语调轮廓还是语调密度，几内亚比绍葡萄牙语中性是非问句的语调模式均与里斯本口语欧洲葡萄牙语存在显著差异，反而与已被学界研究的巴西及其他非洲葡萄牙语变体更为接近。这一发现此前在陈述句相关研究中已有提及，这意味着几内亚比绍葡萄牙语正在形成其独有的语调语法体系。