Chapter 3. Focus realization at the prosody-syntax interface

This article investigates the prosodic and syntactic realization of broad and narrow contrastive focus in Yucatecan Spanish compared to standard Mexican Spanish. Based on data from two production experiments and one acceptability judgment test, it is suggested that Yucatecan Spanish is diametrically opposed to standard Mexican Spanish in this domain of syntactic-prosodic realization of Information Structure. Due to the interrelatedness and the general nature of the differences, Yucatecan Spanish is argued to instantiate a different type of language compared to standard (Mexican) Spanish in this regard. Finally, it is argued that this typological particularity is probably to be traced back to the variety’s long standing and intensive contact with Yucatec Maya.