Decoding Information Status by Type and Position of Accent in German

In two perception experiments on read German, we investigate how far different accent positions and accent types are related to degrees of perceived givenness both in sentences in isolation and in context. Results reveal a stepwise decrease in the degree of perceived givenness from deaccentuation and prenuclear accents through low and early peak nuclear accents to high and rising nuclear accents. In addition, the appropriateness of prenuclear accent placement and deaccentuation decreases while the appropriateness of nuclear accent placement increases from given through accessible to new referents. These variations suggest a difference in the cognitive activation of different types of information status, which a listener is able to decode by prosodic means.