Abstract: Using auditory moving window technique and double-task paradigm, this study explored the effect of correspondence between accent and information structure on discourse comprehension and the mechanism of this effect. The results showed that: compared to control condition, inappropriate accentuation impeded discourse comprehension, but the facilitating effect of appropriate accentuate was not apparent during discourse processing; accentuation facilitated the processing of focal words, whereas deaccentuation facilitated the processing of nonfocal words, which suggested that the effect of accent in discourse processing came not only from its influence on attention allocation but also from its signaling different ways of information processing.

Key words: discourse, accent, information structure, focus