Contrast For Two

Abstract

Bridge accents in German are known for their pragmatic effects. In this paper, these effects are accounted for by a new analysis claiming that bridge accent sentences implicate the possibility of a true statement where both accented elements are replaced by alternatives. This account is compared to the one by Büring (1997) and shown to handle some data in a more accurate way. Finally, an attempt is made to relate the phenomenon intonationally to other phenomena, in particular series and pair-lists, and to show how it could be derived from more basic principles of intonation.