Embedded clauses and recursive prosodic phrasing in Akan

This study investigates the interaction of lexical tone and intonation in embedded clauses in the two-tone Kwa language Akan. The claim is that embedded clauses show recursive prosodic phrasing at the level of intonation phrases (ι-phrase). The prosodic boundary of an embedded clause is expressed by means of a pitch register reset. At the boundary, lexical tonal distinctions are maintained in the recursively embedded ιphrase. The amount of pitch register reset depends on the nature of the following tone, smaller reset in case of a following L tone, and larger reset in case of a following H-tone. I will argue that recursive prosodic phrasing at the level of an ι-phrase is thus achieved by means of a pitch register reset.