Configuraciones tonales de los enunciados interrogativos absolutos en el español de Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas

This paper describes the nuclear and prenuclear configurations of the yes-no questions in the Spanish of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. We carried out an analysis of data obtained in discourse completion tasks. The findings show the nuclear pitch configuration L* (¡)H% y L+(¡)H* (¡)H% in neutral and no-neutral interrogatives, differentiated by the average rise in the boundary tone. These configurations are similar those that have been reported in Mexico City and Oaxaca. The characteristic of the Tuxtla variety is: i) the early peak alignment of pitch accents in prenuclear position, ii) the nuclear pitch configurations with falling boundary tones L* L%, L+>¡H* L%, L+¡H* HL% in non-neutral questions; iii) the production of the complex boundary tone H!H%. Thus, we suggested that the boundary tone H!H% could be an indicator (index) feature in this variety of Mexican Spanish.