A Flexible Approach to the Syntax-Phonology Mapping of Intonational Phrases

Fatima Hamlaoui (1), Kriszta Szendrői (2)
(1) Universität zu Köln/Zentrum für Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, (2) University College London

This talk addresses the question of how to best characterize the notion of ‘clause’ in ALIGN/MATCH constraints related to the syntax-prosody mapping of intonational phrases. We propose that the notion of ‘clause’ should be determined in each construction and each language by making reference to the highest projection in the root clause, to which the verbal material (i.e. the verb itself, the inflection, an auxiliary, a question particle) is overtly moved or inserted, together with the material in its specifier. In other words, we argue that no particular functional head plays a role in the theory of intonational phrasing. In support of this flexibility in syntax-prosody mapping, we discuss data from the Bantu language, Bàsàá, and the Finno-Ugric language, Hungarian. We show that a left-peripheral constituent may be prosodically outside the core intonational phrase even though its syntactic position is relatively low, so long as the verb is even lower, and that conversely, a constituent may be phrased inside the core intonational phrase even if it is in a syntactically high position, so long as the verb also moves high.