Emphasis does not always coincide with phrasal boundaries in spontaneous spoken French

________________________________________________________________________________________________________ The prosodic structure of French involves a tight connection between the location of prominent syllables and locations where the flow of speech is divided into prosodic units. Researchers agree that the final (full) syllable of the smallest prosodic unit is prominent. The possibility remains that other syllables or words may be emphasized that do not precede a prosodic boundary. This paper examines cases from two radio broadcasts where emphasis is found without a boundary, and illustrates some prosodic modifications that speakers use to create emphasis with or without boundaries. The data demonstrate that emphasis is not tied to a specific phrasal position, even though words preceding a boundary are more prominent than other words. MOTS-CLÉS : syntagmes prosodiques, proéminence, perception de la prosodie, français.