Die Kodierung der Informationsstruktur im Fersentalerischen: Die Syntax-Prosodie-Schnittstelle

By providing a syntactic-prosodic analysis of conversational data, this paper demonstrates that the distribution of OV/VO word orders in the main clauses of Mòcheno is fed by the interplay between syntax and information structure. More specifically, we show that nominal constituents can occupy the position before the lexical verb in the Satzklammer only if they are focussed and bear the nuclear pitch accent. Non-focussed nominal constituents on the other hand are hosted in either the position after the lexical verb in the Satzklammer or in the sentence-initial position and cannot bear the nuclear pitch accent. Our analysis provides evidence for the idea that the OV/VO variation results from language-internal rules at the interface between syntax and information structure.