This paper is an experimental investigation on the tonal structure and phonetic signaling of declarative questions by speakers of Manchego Peninsular Spanish, a dialect of Spanish for which little experimental research on intonation is currently available. Analysis 1 examines the scaling and timing properties of final rises produced by 16 speakers under various pressures of tonal crowding. The quantitative results provide evidence for two contrasting nuclear pitch accent specifications: L* vs. H*. These data are consistent with the findings and analyses of final rises in Dutch, although certain time pressure effects had not been reported in this previous body of research. Analysis 2 provides a phonetic comparison of the two question contours uncovered in Analysis 1 with those of lexically and syntactically identical declarative statements. The findings indicate that speakers differentiate the two question contours from corresponding statement contours in dissimilar fashion and that for the L*H% contour, the terminal rise may be the only F0 signal of its question intent. Some speculation on the possible causes of this variation is offered in conclusion.
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