Word Order and Prosodic Phrasing in Breton

This preliminary study investigates the interaction between prosodic phrasing and word order in Breton, focusing on neutral, broad-focus declarative sentences with various V1 and V2 structures. We identify the phonological phrase as the domain for pitch accent association. Breton phonological phrases have a single pitch accent and are generally right-headed, except when the second element is a function word (e.g., an auxiliary or copula), in which case only the initial word (S or V) receives the sole pitch accent or a more prominent one. Additionally, when the copula emañ appears sentence-initially, it can be phrased alone and thus bear a pitch accent. These findings contribute to our understanding of the prosody-syntax interface in Breton, a language with a rich array of word orders in broad-focus contexts, and whose prosodic properties are still understudied.