Intonation Phrase formation in sentences with clausal embedding

Abstract This study investigates if and how pre- and post-focal givenness affects the insertion of Intonation Phrase (henceforth, ι) boundaries in sentences with an embedded object clause in German. This is particularly interesting because sentence-internal clause edges were found to induce prosodic structure (by ι-boundary insertion) whereas focus and givenness were found to prevent prosodic structure (by destressing or dephrasing). Thus, these aspects might constitute opposing forces in the formation of ι-structure. A production experiment was conducted which tested ι-boundary insertion in s... Mehr ...