The P-diagram - A Syllable-based Approach to P-Structure

Abstract

This paper introduces a formal account of p-structure via a new conception, the p-diagram. It is based on the phonological unit of the syllable, which constitutes the phonological string. On top of this basic entity, prosodic layers are added ‘as needed’ and tied to the respective syllables via vectors. The result is a theory-independent and compact description of the speech signal itself, which allows for easy extraction of relevant information for other correspondence structures and can be adjusted to language- and theory-specific needs. An example of how this approach works is given by describing a solution to the syntactically ambiguous, but prosodically unambiguous phenomenon of constituent grouping in coordination.