PHRASE PROSODY AND INFORMATION STRUCTURE IN RUSSIAN DIALECTS: STATEMENTS

Comparative analisis of statements with various types of information focus in 62 Russian dialects has shown that the key dialectal distinctions in this field are distributed along the south — north direction. They consist primarily in the way of correlation between the type of the informational structure of an utterance (presentational, information, exhaustive, mirative, contrastive focus) and the type of the melodic contour used. Most of the dialects (including peripheral varieties in the Russian-Ukrainian and Russian-Belorussian borderlands) exhibit the one-to-one correspondence while others utilize only four prosodic types for five types of statements. Thus, in Central varieties, the same melodic contour with a bitonal falling pitch accent and low boundary tone is used to mark both presentational and informational foci. More phonological distinctions are found in the way how the statements with information and contrastive foci are distinguished in Northern and some South-Western dialects diff erent pitch accents are used while in others different initial boundary tones are utilized in this function.