Abstract
The relation between pragmatics and prosody in Danish is a complex one; it probably is in any language. But since such a relation undisputedly exists, empirical investigations of prosody can be used to test the usefulness of pragmatic theories. In this paper the theory of relevance is put to a test. The point in case is whether relevance theory is useful in predicting stress in spoken Danish from the city of Copenhagen. The results suggest that certain paths must be followed in order to provide adequate hypotheses about prosody in spoken Danish. In short, it seems necessary to go beyond the scope of syntax and semantics, but also beyond the scope of universal pragmatics, i.e. pragmatics based on purely universal principles. Socio-pragmatic and sociological insights must be incorporated in the description if accurate hypotheses are to be formulated; a framework based merely on universal principles of cognitive information processing cannot explain the prosodic phenomena encountered.
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