The influence of prosodic prominence on language processing in German

This dissertation investigates if and how prosodic prominence influences language processing in German. For that a word-monitoring task, measuring the effects of prosodic prominence on on-line language processing, and a word recognition memory task, measuring the effects of prosodic prominence on off-line language processing, are conducted. Contrary to previous studies, the word-monitoring task shows that prosodic prominence neither facilitates (when on the target word) nor impairs (when on the word preceding the target word) on-line language processing. The word recognition memory task reveals that prosodic prominence can indeed impair off-line language processing when manipulated on the word preceding the target word. Results thus indicate that on-line and off-line language processing are affected differently by prosodic prominence.