The phonetics and phonology of wh­-question intonation in Maltese

Abstract

This paper reports on an analysis of wh-question intonation in Maltese. The study aims to provide evidence for a characterisation of one aspect of the intonation of wh-questions. It focuses on the initial H tone reported to occur at the beginning of such questions in Maltese and tries to establish an empirical basis for an analysis of this H tone. Results show that a H tone target is indeed always present on the wh-word in Maltese wh-questions. Moreover, the H tone seems to be associated with the first syllable of the wh-word, whether this syllable is accented or not. Furthermore, the H tone in question is characterised by a raised F0 as compared to other H tone targets across a range of sentence types.