Prosodic boundaries in adjunct attachment

Five studies explored the processing of ambiguous sentences like Martin mai ntained that the CEO lied when the investigation started/at the start of th e investigation. The central question was why particular prosodic boundarie s have the effects they do. A written questionnaire provided baseline prefe rences and suggested that clausal adjuncts (when the investigation started) receive more high attachments than nonclausal adjuncts (at the start of th e investigation). Four auditory studies manipulated the prosodic boundary b efore the adjunct clause and the prosodic boundary between the matrix claus e and its complement. They disconfirm every version of an account where onl y the local boundary before the adjunct is important. whether the account i s based on the acoustic magnitude of the boundary or its phonological type tan intermediate boundary characterized by the presence of a phrase accent vs. an intonational phrase boundary characterized by both a phrase accent a nd a boundary tone). Instead the results support use of the global prosodic context. especially the relative size of the local boundary and the distan t boundary. 2001 Academic Press.