Chapter 3

Prosody and the organization of information in Central Pomo, a California indigenous language

In some theoretical frameworks, it is assumed that prosodic structure is a direct reflection of syntactic structure. Close examination of unscripted speech confirms that though the two often work in concert, they are distinct. Prosodic structure differs from grammatical structure in some fundamental ways. Prosody (pitch, intensity, rhythm) involves continua and can be more responsive to certain subtle differences in cognitive state, discourse context, and interactive goals. Grammar (morphology and syntax) can mark more distinctions, but these are categorical and conventionalized: an affix is either present or absent; one constituent either precedes or follows another. Here some prosodic structures, their functions, and their relation to grammatical structures are discussed with examples from Central Pomo, a language indigenous to Northern California.