scholarly journals Prosody and branching direction of phrasal compounds

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Hisao Tokizaki

This paper investigates the prosody of phrasal compounds in Japanese, English and German. In a Japanese phrasal compound, a prosodic boundary can occur within a modifier phrase but not between the phrase and the head noun. Japanese phrasal compounds contrast with English and German phrasal compounds, where a pause may occur between the modifier phrase and the head noun but not within the modifier phrase. I argue that the prosodic differences between these languages are due to the branching direction of modifier phrases: Japanese phrasal compounds have left-branching modifiers while English and German phrasal compounds have right-branching modifiers. It is argued that the data of prosodic phrasing in these languages pose some problems for Match Theory (Elfner 2012), the edge-based theory (Selkirk & Tateishi 1988) and Generalized Insertion (Ackema & Neeleman 2004).

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-150
Author(s):  
Sun-Ah Jun ◽  
Xiannu Jiang

Abstract In studying the effect of syntax and focus on prosodic phrasing, the main issue of investigation has been to explain and predict the location of a prosodic boundary, and not much attention has been given to the nature of prosodic phrasing. In this paper, we offer evidence from intonation patterns of utterances that prosodic phrasing can be formed differently phonologically and phonetically due to its function of marking syntactic structure vs. focus (prominence) in Yanbian Korean, a lexical pitch accent dialect of Korean spoken in the northeastern part of China, just above North Korea. We show that the location of a H tone in syntax-marking Accentual Phrase (AP) is determined by the type of syntactic head, noun or verb (a VP is marked by an AP-initial H while an NP is marked by an AP-final H), while prominence-marking accentual phrasing is cued by AP-initial H. The difference in prosodic phrasing due to its dual function in Yanbian Korean is compared with that of Seoul Korean, and a prediction is made on the possibility of finding such difference in other languages based on the prosodic typology proposed in (Jun, Sun-Ah. 2014b. Prosodic typology: by prominence type, word prosody, and macro-rhythm. In Sun-Ah Jun (ed.), Prosodic Typology II: The Phonology of Intonation and Phrasing. 520–539. Oxford: Oxford University Press).


2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 850-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
Núria Esteve-Gibert ◽  
Pilar Prieto

Purpose Previous work on the temporal coordination between gesture and speech found that the prominence in gesture coordinates with speech prominence. In this study, the authors investigated the anchoring regions in speech and pointing gesture that align with each other. The authors hypothesized that (a) in contrastive focus conditions, the gesture apex is anchored in the intonation peak and (b) the upcoming prosodic boundary influences the timing of gesture and intonation movements. Method Fifteen Catalan speakers pointed at a screen while pronouncing a target word with different metrical patterns in a contrastive focus condition and followed by a phrase boundary. A total of 702 co-speech deictic gestures were acoustically and gesturally analyzed. Results Intonation peaks and gesture apexes showed parallel behavior with respect to their position within the accented syllable: They occurred at the end of the accented syllable in non–phrase-final position, whereas they occurred well before the end of the accented syllable in phrase-final position. Crucially, the position of intonation peaks and gesture apexes was correlated and was bound by prosodic structure. Conclusions The results refine the phonological synchronization rule (McNeill, 1992), showing that gesture apexes are anchored in intonation peaks and that gesture and prosodic movements are bound by prosodic phrasing.


2010 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 227-242
Author(s):  
Sabine Zerbian

The morpho-syntax of relative clauses in Sotho-Tswana is relatively well-described in the literature. Prosodic characteristics, such as tone, have received far less attention in the existing descriptions. After reviewing the basic morpho-syntactic and semantic features of relative clauses in Tswana, the current paper sets out to present and discuss prosodic aspects. These comprise tone specifications of relative clause markers such as the demonstrative pronoun that acts as the relative pronoun, relative agreement concords and the relative suffix. Further prosodic aspects dealt with in the current article are tone alternations at the juncture of relative pronoun and head noun, and finally the tone patterns of the finite verbs in the relative clause. The article aims at providing the descriptive basis from which to arrive at generalizations concerning the prosodic phrasing of relative clauses in Tswana.  


2010 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 53-67
Author(s):  
Laura J. Downing ◽  
Al Mtenje

This paper tests three current theories of the phonology-syntax interface – Truckenbrodt (1995), Pak (2008) and Cheng & Downing (2007, 2009) – on the prosody of relative clauses in Chewa. Relative clauses, especially restrictive relative clauses, provide an ideal data set for comparing these theories, as they each make distinct predictions about the optimal phrasing. We show that the asymmetrical phase-edge based approach developed to account for similar Zulu prosodic phrasing by Cheng & Downing also best accounts for the Chewa data.  


2016 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yosuke Sato ◽  
Yoshihito Dobashi

We propose here a new PF account of the that-trace effect. Adopting the phase-based theory of the syntax-phonology interface and independent principles of prosodic restructuring, we propose that the complementizer that cannot form a prosodic phrase on its own. We show that this analysis straightforwardly derives the core paradigm surrounding the that-trace effect and its well-documented exceptions triggered by focus, adverbs, parentheticals, resumption, and right node raising. We further argue that the relevant prosodic condition can be derived from the interaction of the Lexical Category Condition ( Truckenbrodt 1999 ) with Prosodic Vacuity ( Kandybowicz 2015 ), within the Match Theory of syntax-prosody correspondence ( Selkirk 2011 ).


1977 ◽  
Vol 16 (04) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Schümichen ◽  
B. Mackenbrock ◽  
G. Hoffmann

SummaryThe bone-seeking 99mTc-Sn-pyrophosphate compound (compound A) was diluted both in vitro and in vivo and proved to be unstable both in vitro and in vivo. However, stability was much better in vivo than in vitro and thus the in vitro stability of compound A after dilution in various mediums could be followed up by a consecutive evaluation of the in vivo distribution in the rat. After dilution in neutral normal saline compound A is metastable and after a short half-life it is transformed into the other 99mTc-Sn-pyrophosphate compound A is metastable and after a short half-life in bone but in the kidneys. After dilution in normal saline of low pH and in buffering solutions the stability of compound A is increased. In human plasma compound A is relatively stable but not in plasma water. When compound B is formed in a buffering solution, uptake in the kidneys and excretion in urine is lowered and blood concentration increased.It is assumed that the association of protons to compound A will increase its stability at low concentrations while that to compound B will lead to a strong protein bond in plasma. It is concluded that compound A will not be stable in vivo because of a lack of stability in the extravascular space, and that the protein bond in plasma will be a measure of its in vivo stability.


1977 ◽  
Vol 16 (03) ◽  
pp. 100-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Schümichen ◽  
J. Waiden ◽  
G. Hoffmann

SummaryThe kinetic data of two different 99mTc-Sn-pyrophosphate compounds (compound A and B) were evaluated in non-adult rats. Only compound A concentrated in bone. Both compounds dispersed rapidly in the intravascular as well as the extravascular space. The plasma protein bond of both compounds increased with time after injection and impaired both the renal clearance of both compounds and the bone clearance of compound A. The renal clearance of both compounds was somewhat above that of 5 1Cr-EDTA. It is concluded that compound A and B is mainly excreted by glomerular filtration. About one fourth of the glomerular filtrate of compound B is reabsorbed and accumulated by the tubular cells.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document