CONSTRAINTS ON INTONATIONAL PHRASING IN ENGLISH

This paper argues that intonational phrasing in English is subject to two constraints formulated purely in terms of surface syntax. The firs t applies to all headed structures, and the second to all structures o f coordination. It is claimed that these constraints account for the f acts more adequately than Selkirk's Sense Unit Condition. Several prob lematic types of constructions are discussed in this context, includin g structures with parentheticals. In addition to the syntax, accent pl acement is also shown to be relevant to intonational phrasing. Finally , proposals are made for the incorporation of the syntactic constraint s in an HPSG grammar of English.