This is the final dissertation I wrote for the Grado de Estudios Ingleses at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). Its official title was Tonicity: exceptions to the Last Lexical Item Rule. A taxonomy, and it was tutored by professor Eva Estebas Vilaplana. Here I just called it Sentence Stress, which is simpler and self-explanatory. I tried to do a thorough, useful job, which at the same time would be engaging and easy to read. I hope you will enjoy it.

 

• Introduction
• Grounding concepts
• Exceptions to the LLI rule
  • Old information: repeated words, synonyms and contextual information
    • Every speaker involved
    • Synonyms and superordinates
    • Context
  • Objects of general reference
  • Constrastive accentuation
    • Lexical words
    • Prefixes
    • Pronouns, prepositions
    • Do-operator, copula and empathic do
  • Event sentences
  • Verbs + Particles
    • Separable phrasal verbs
  • Nouns + adjectives/participles
  • Nouns + infinitive
  • Wh-questions ending with a verb
  • Embedded questions
  • Final relative defining clauses
  • Cleft sentences
  • Indefinite pronouns
  • Final adverbials
    • Place
    • Time
    • Sentence adverbials
  • Open compounds
    • Other types of compounds
    • The -ing conundrum
  • Possesive’s
  • Final vocatives
  • Final demonstratives
  • Reflexive vs. Emphatic pronouns
  • Idioms
• Conclusions
• References