> Herb, The Policeman sentence is an excellent example -- one that you can still just say with understanding. Again one has to gabble 'the dog bit' at a very low level of pitch, and pause momentarily after 'called'. The 'House that Jack built' example is made more difficult at every level when the repetition of 'ate' kicks in. Bruce is clearly right over the part played by intonation here. I don't know of any studies -- they are obviously called for. Whether intonation can be neatly quantified is another matter -- for one thing, consider how to invest what you are saying with an ironic tone, or one of disbelief, or of boredom, etc. -- or perhaps you have to leave moods on one side and stick with grammatical effects. Edmond Dr. Edmond Wright 3 Boathouse Court Trafalgar Road Cambridge CB4 1DU England Email: [log in to unmask] Website: http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/elw33/ Phone [00 44] (0)1223 350256 I wish I were still teaching so I could use that one. My favorite had > been "The policeman the boy the dog bit called came," but Jack's > left-branching house beats that one hands down. > > Herb > > > To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list" Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/