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Constraints on intonational phrasing in English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 1998

JOSEF TAGLICHT
JOSEF TAGLICHT
Affiliation:
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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Abstract

This paper argues that intonational phrasing in English is subject to two constraints formulated purely in terms of surface syntax. The first applies to all headed structures, and the second to all structures of coordination. It is claimed that these constraints account for the facts more adequately than Selkirk's Sense Unit Condition. Several problematic types of constructions are discussed in this context, including structures with parentheticals. In addition to the syntax, accent placement is also shown to be relevant to intonational phrasing. Finally, proposals are made for the incorporation of the syntactic constraints in an HPSG grammar of English.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Linguistics , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , March 1998 , pp. 181 - 211
Copyright
1998 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

I'd like to thank Ellen Prince for enabling me to do a substantial portion of the work on this paper as a visiting scholar in the Department of Linguistics of the University of Pennsylvania, while on sabbatical leave from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Parts of this paper were presented at the University of Pennsylvania (1993), at Ben Gurion University (1995), at the LAGB meeting at the University of Essex (1995), at the ESCOL meeting at Dartmouth College (1995) and at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1995). I am indebted to members of the audiences in all these places for their questions and comments. In addition, I am grateful to the following for critical comment and other help at various stages: Bob Borsley, Yehuda Falk, Eddie Levenston, Mark Liberman, Anita Mittwoch and Mark Steedman. Special thanks are due to Bob Ladd and an anonymous JL referee, for valuable criticism and suggestions. All remaining errors and omissions, of course, are my own responsibility.