ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the impact of language shift from the point of view of expressive prosodic resources. Prosodic resources are less dependent upon lexico-grammatical rules than some other linguistic device. In Dalabon, the highly conventionalized contour under consideration is used primarily to express compassion. The comparison with how the same contour is used in Kriol sheds an interesting light upon the consequences of language shift, because the situation is converse to the one we observed with the lexicon. The chapter presents a formally identical contour in Kriol and highlights that it is used in slightly different contexts compared to Dalabon. The pattern is often realized over a whole clause, that is, typically between one and three polymorphemic words including a verb complex. The clause can also be longer, and speakers sometimes line up several consecutive realizations of this contour, extending it to coordinate clauses.
