Lexical Category and Downstep in Japanese

In pursuing the mapping between syntax and phonology/prosody, little attention has been paid to kinds of syntactic information that can affect prosody. this paper, we explore Japanese downstep, a process in phrasal phonology. What affects downstep what does not? Specifically, do lexical categories downstep? We investigate effects nouns, adjectives, verbs different settings (e.g., [X1 [X2 N]], [[X1 X2] N], predicative X) through production experiments. found adjectives N]] may block whereas other structures as well nouns generally not it. analyze phonological patterning being derivative an interaction categories.