A PROSODY TUTORIAL FOR INVESTIGATORS OF AUDITORY SENTENCE PROCESSING

In this tutorial we present evidence that, because syntax does not ful ly predict the way that spoken utterances are organized prosody ise si gnificant issue for studies of auditory sentence processing. We descri be the basic elements and principles of current prosodic theory, revie w the psycholinguistic evidence that supports an active role for proso dic structure in sentence representation, and provide a road map of re ferences that contain more complete arguments about prosodic structure and prominence. Because current theories do not predict the precise p rosodic shape that a particular utterance will take, it is important t o determine the prosodic choices that a speaker has made for utterance s that are used in an auditory sentence processing study. To this end, we provide information about practical tools such as systems for sign al display and prosodic transcription, and several caveats which we ha ve found useful to keep in mind.