Análisis del sistema acentual de Ondarroa

Abstract

In this paper, we offer a description and analysis of the accentual system employed in Ondarroa. Among the northern Biscayan varieties, the Ondarroa system is particularly interesting because of the high degree of opacity that it presents. Like in other western varieties, there is an underlying distinction between accentually marked and unmarked morphemes. Marked morphemes place an accent on the penultimate syllable of the word (like in Lekeitio). Lexically unaccented phrases may receive phrasal accent, which falls on the penultimate syllable of the phrase. The interplay of these rules produces the result that many underlying distinctions are often neutralized on the surface. We also present evidence for positing empty vowels which need to be computed for the assignment ofaccents at the phrasal level, but play no role in word-level accentuation.