THE PROSODIC COMPONENT: LACUNA IN TRANSFORMATIONAL THEORY,
Abstract
Two contradictory tendencies have characterized the treatment within the framework of transformational theory of the prosodic features of English. On the one hand much prosodic variation has been excluded from the linguist's immediate purview as being 'abnormal' or lacking in general systematic importance. This has been the fate of contrastive 'stress shift' and intonation for example. On the other hand a rather exaggerated role has been assigned to the melange of prosodic manifestations subsumed under the term stress -- in the analysis of which the transformationalists have taken over virtually intact the 'prosodic souse' of Trager and Smith (1951). This paper presents examples of consequences resulting from each of these vagaries, pointing out some significant regularities which have been ignored in result of the first and some imaginary distinctions which have been postulated in connection with the second. An alternative model is sketched which accounts for the grammatically relevant prosodic features of English in a way which is at once both simpler and more explanatory than the celebrated 'stress cycle' at the level beyond the word. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 25, 1968
- Accession Number
- AD0680742
Entities
People
- Ralph Vanderslice
Organizations
- RAND Corporation