Chapter 21
Prosody and head directionality
On the predictability of the prosody of conjunctive coordination
The relationship between prosodic encliticization of the conjunctive coordinator and OV word order
(or the equivalent correlation between VO and procliticization) is a strong descriptive universal. Namely, if a
language shows prosodic encliticization (prosodic attachment after the initial coordinand), as in “John-and
Peter”, then that language is necessarily OV, as is the case in Japanese. However, if a language has
procliticization of the conjunctive coordinator, as in “John and-Peter”, we cannot say whether it is
OV or VO, since, for example, English, Spanish and Basque display procliticization but English and Spanish are VO
while Basque is OV. Using experimental data from speakers of convergent (OV – enclisis and VO – proclisis) languages
such as Japanese, English, and Spanish and non-convergent (OV – proclisis) languages such as Basque, the study
addresses the strength of the relationship between the encliticization of conjunctive coordination and word order in
the mind of native speakers of these four languages.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Coordination in natural language
- 1.2The prosody of coordination at the light of formal linguistics, psycholinguistics, and applied
linguistics
- 2.Background
- 2.1Typology of coordinate constructions
- 2.2Variation in coordination strategies
- 2.3Proclisis and enclisis
- 3.The study
- 3.1Research questions and hypothesis
- 3.2Participants
- 3.3Data elicitation
- 3.4Experimental results
- 3.5Results beyond conjunctive coordination
- 4.Discussion
- 5.Conclusion
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Notes
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References
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Appendix