Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
Home John Benjamins Publishing Company Chapter 2. Prosodic separation of postverbal material in Georgian
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 2. Prosodic separation of postverbal material in Georgian

A corpus study on syntax-phonology interface
  • , and

Abstract

A striking property of Georgian intonation is that focused postverbal material is prosodically separated from the core clause. The challenge of the present study is to assess the external validity of this experimental result by means of a corpus study. Corpus data is known to contain immense variability due to uncontrolled factors related to spontaneous speech production, such as segmental effects, intra-speaker variation, etc. The corpus study confirmed that the right edge of the verb is frequently associated with a prosodic boundary that separates the prosodic constituent encompassing the verb and the preverbal material from the postverbal domain. This boundary can be overwritten by information structure, in particular by postfocal dephrasing.

Abstract

A striking property of Georgian intonation is that focused postverbal material is prosodically separated from the core clause. The challenge of the present study is to assess the external validity of this experimental result by means of a corpus study. Corpus data is known to contain immense variability due to uncontrolled factors related to spontaneous speech production, such as segmental effects, intra-speaker variation, etc. The corpus study confirmed that the right edge of the verb is frequently associated with a prosodic boundary that separates the prosodic constituent encompassing the verb and the preverbal material from the postverbal domain. This boundary can be overwritten by information structure, in particular by postfocal dephrasing.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Investigating information structure in lesser-known and endangered languages 1
  4. Part I. Prosody and information structure
  5. Chapter 2. Prosodic separation of postverbal material in Georgian 17
  6. Chapter 3. Prosodic and morphological focus marking in Ixcatec (Otomanguean) 51
  7. Chapter 4. On being first 85
  8. Chapter 5. Factors behind variation in marking information structure 119
  9. Chapter 6. Macrosyntactic corpus annotation 157
  10. Part II. Syntax and information structure
  11. Chapter 7. Focus marking and differential argument marking 195
  12. Chapter 8. A topic-marking cleft? 217
  13. Chapter 9. Subjects and focus in clefts 245
  14. Chapter 10. The influence of the state distinction on word order and information structure in Kabyle and Siwi (Berber) 265
  15. Chapter 11. Information structure in the Neo-Aramaic dialect of Telkepe 297
  16. Chapter 12. Information structure in a spoken corpus of Cameroon Pidgin English 329
  17. Part III. Views from better described languages
  18. Chapter 13. The illocutionary basis of information structure 359
  19. Chapter 14. Annotation guidelines for Questions under Discussion and information structure 403
  20. Language index 445
  21. Notion index 447
Information Structure in Lesser-described Languages
This chapter is in the book Information Structure in Lesser-described Languages
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.199.02sko

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Investigating information structure in lesser-known and endangered languages 1
  4. Part I. Prosody and information structure
  5. Chapter 2. Prosodic separation of postverbal material in Georgian 17
  6. Chapter 3. Prosodic and morphological focus marking in Ixcatec (Otomanguean) 51
  7. Chapter 4. On being first 85
  8. Chapter 5. Factors behind variation in marking information structure 119
  9. Chapter 6. Macrosyntactic corpus annotation 157
  10. Part II. Syntax and information structure
  11. Chapter 7. Focus marking and differential argument marking 195
  12. Chapter 8. A topic-marking cleft? 217
  13. Chapter 9. Subjects and focus in clefts 245
  14. Chapter 10. The influence of the state distinction on word order and information structure in Kabyle and Siwi (Berber) 265
  15. Chapter 11. Information structure in the Neo-Aramaic dialect of Telkepe 297
  16. Chapter 12. Information structure in a spoken corpus of Cameroon Pidgin English 329
  17. Part III. Views from better described languages
  18. Chapter 13. The illocutionary basis of information structure 359
  19. Chapter 14. Annotation guidelines for Questions under Discussion and information structure 403
  20. Language index 445
  21. Notion index 447
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Winner of the OpenAthens UX Award 2026
Winner of the OpenAthens UX Award 2026
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2026 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 2.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/slcs.199.02sko/html
Scroll to top button